TY - JOUR
T1 - Hemoglobin-oxygen-affinity and acid-base properties of blood from the fossorial mole-rat, Cryptomys hottentotus pretoriae
AU - van Aardt, W. J.
AU - Bronner, G.
AU - Buffenstein, Rochelle
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was funded in part by the National Research Foundation grants to GB, RB and WJVA. Thanks to Mynhart Hough for allowing us to bleed him, and for laboratory assistance, and to Nigel Bennett for providing us with data on C. h. mahali prior to publication. Roy E. Weber and three anonymous reviewers kindly commented on a draft manuscript.
PY - 2007/5
Y1 - 2007/5
N2 - Oxygen affinity and other hematological parameters in strictly subterranean mole-rats, Cryptomys hottentotus (subspecies pretoriae) were measured immediately upon capture and after 14-21 days in captivity. The pH, hematocrit, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, blood oxygen content, 2,3 bisphosphoglycerate (2,3 BPG) concentration and oxygen dissociation curves (ODC), as well as tonometric measurements, were determined using whole blood. Additionally ODCs were also determined for stripped hemolysates of individual animals. Compared to other mammals, blood of freshly caught animals had low pH (7.32 ± 0.22), elevated hematocrits (48.4 ± 3.8 %) and significantly lower P50 values for whole blood (21.1 ± 1.6 mm Hg at pH 7.4) than those reported for other similar-sized fossorial and terrestrial mammals. Blood carbon dioxide content (22.4 ± 3.9 mMol L- 1), hemoglobin concentration (1.9 ± 0.15 mMol L- 1), oxygen content (164.8 ± 26 mL L- 1), bicarbonate concentrations (22.5 ± 3.5 mMol L- 1) were within the range of values reported for similar-sized mammals. We conclude that high blood-oxygen affinity, low body temperature and possibly also high hematocrit enable C. h. pretoriae to maintain an adequate oxygen supply to the tissues in a potentially hypoxic burrow atmospheres, but that the blood of this species shows no exceptional CO2 sensitivity or buffering capacity.
AB - Oxygen affinity and other hematological parameters in strictly subterranean mole-rats, Cryptomys hottentotus (subspecies pretoriae) were measured immediately upon capture and after 14-21 days in captivity. The pH, hematocrit, hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, blood oxygen content, 2,3 bisphosphoglycerate (2,3 BPG) concentration and oxygen dissociation curves (ODC), as well as tonometric measurements, were determined using whole blood. Additionally ODCs were also determined for stripped hemolysates of individual animals. Compared to other mammals, blood of freshly caught animals had low pH (7.32 ± 0.22), elevated hematocrits (48.4 ± 3.8 %) and significantly lower P50 values for whole blood (21.1 ± 1.6 mm Hg at pH 7.4) than those reported for other similar-sized fossorial and terrestrial mammals. Blood carbon dioxide content (22.4 ± 3.9 mMol L- 1), hemoglobin concentration (1.9 ± 0.15 mMol L- 1), oxygen content (164.8 ± 26 mL L- 1), bicarbonate concentrations (22.5 ± 3.5 mMol L- 1) were within the range of values reported for similar-sized mammals. We conclude that high blood-oxygen affinity, low body temperature and possibly also high hematocrit enable C. h. pretoriae to maintain an adequate oxygen supply to the tissues in a potentially hypoxic burrow atmospheres, but that the blood of this species shows no exceptional CO2 sensitivity or buffering capacity.
KW - Acid-base balance
KW - Hemoglobin
KW - Hypercapnia
KW - Mole-rat
KW - P
KW - Whole blood
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U2 - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2006.11.016
DO - 10.1016/j.cbpa.2006.11.016
M3 - Article
C2 - 17276113
AN - SCOPUS:33947512739
VL - 147
SP - 50
EP - 56
JO - Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
JF - Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology - A Molecular and Integrative Physiology
SN - 1095-6433
IS - 1
ER -