Responses to chronic hypoxia in embryonic alligators

✍ Scribed by Warburton, Stephen J. ;Hastings, Dulynn ;Wang, Tobias

• Book ID: 102894391
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 665 KB
• Volume: 273
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1402730106

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

To investigate developmental responses to chronic hypoxia, we incubated alligator eggs at 17% O~2~ and 21% O~2~ for the entire course of embryonic development and for 5 months post‐hatching. Hypoxic‐incubated alligators hatched later and at a smaller size. Hematocrit was significantly higher in hypoxic‐incubated animals immediately post‐hatch. Allosteric modification of hemoglobin oxygen affinity did not appear to play a role in the adaptation to hypoxia, given equal nucleotide triphosphate‐to‐hemoglobin ratios in the hypoxic and normoxic groups. When acutely exposed to 21% O~2~, hypoxic‐incubated alligators maintained oxygen consumption relative to their normoxic siblings despite their lower mass. © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.