Under laboratory conditions, the rate of oxygen consumption and changes of inotropic and chronotropic parameters of work of the crayfish heart were studied under conditions of hypoxia and anoxia. In all studied crayfishes regardless of species and sex there exists regulation of the rate of oxygen consumption until its concentration in water about 1 mg/l at room temperature, the rate of standard metabolism being independent of oxygen concentration above 24% from saturation; below this level the rate of oxygen consumption amounts to 54% of its standard consumption. The ability to regulate metabolism in hypoxia is also presents in small crayfishes; however, their respiration rate is several times higher than in adult animals. Under conditions of severe hypoxia the cardiovascular system (CVS) of crayfish functions in economic regime with use of dependent regimes of initiation of inotropic and chronotropic heart parameters; with increase of severity of the hypoxic factor, a tendency is observed for a decrease of the heart rate (HR) and for an increase of amplitude parameters. Under anoxic conditions the crayfish demonstrated the heart contractile activity for almost 10 h; analysis of the HR by the method of variation pulsometry has shown deterioration of the crayfish functional state, which was due to desynchronization of regulatory processes in the central and peripheral chains of control of CVS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)60-69
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology
Volume42
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2006

    Scopus subject areas

  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Biochemistry
  • Physiology

ID: 39891362