The baroreflex in aquatic and amphibious teleosts: Does terrestriality represent a significant driving force for the evolution of a more effective baroreflex in vertebrates?

All vertebrates have baroreflexes that provide fast regulation of arterial blood pressure (P) to maintain adequate tissue perfusion and avoid vascular lesions from excessive pressures. The baroreflex is a negative feedback loop, where altered P results in reciprocal changes in heart rate (f) and systemic vascular conductance to restore pressure. In terrestrial environments, gravity usually leads to blood pooling in the lower body reducing venous return, cardiac filling, cardiac output and P.

Cardiovascular and ventilatory interactions in the facultative air-breathing teleost Pangasianodon hypophthalmus.

All vertebrates possess baroreceptors monitoring arterial blood pressure and eliciting reflexive changes in vascular resistance and heart rate in response to blood pressure perturbations imposed by, e.g., exercise, hypoxia, or hemorrhage.

The Effects of Feeding on Cardiac Control of the Broad-Nosed Caiman (Caiman latirostris): The Role of the Autonomic Nervous System and NANC Factors.

The metabolic increment that occurs after feeding demands cardiovascular adjustments to be maintained, as increased heart rate (f ) and cardiac output. In mammals, postprandial tachycardia seems to be triggered by an increase in adrenergic activity and by nonadrenergic noncholinergic (NANC) factors, while in ectothermic vertebrates, this adjustment seems to be linked to a withdrawal of vagal drive as well as to NANC factors. Because the factors behind postprandial tachycardia have not yet been investigated in crocodilians, the present study sought to evaluate the postprandial tachycardia mediators in the broad-nosed caiman.

Gill denervation eliminates the barostatic reflex in a neotropical teleost, the tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum).

The baroreflex is one of the most important regulators of cardiovascular homeostasis in vertebrates. It begins with the monitoring of arterial pressure by baroreceptors, which constantly provide the central nervous system with afferent information about the status of this variable. Any change in arterial pressure relative to its normal state triggers autonomic responses, which are characterized by an inversely proportional change in heart rate and systemic vascular resistance and which tend to restore pressure normality.

Autonomic control of post-air-breathing tachycardia in Clarias gariepinus (Teleostei: Clariidae).

The African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is a teleost with bimodal respiration that utilizes a paired suprabranchial chamber located in the gill cavity as an air-breathing organ. Like all air-breathing fishes studied to date, the African catfish exhibits pronounced changes in heart rate (f H) that are associated with air-breathing events. We acquired f H, gill-breathing frequency (f G) and air-breathing frequency (f AB) in situations that require or do not require air breathing (during normoxia and hypoxia), and we assessed the autonomic control of post-air-breathing tachycardia using an infusion of the β-adrenergic antagonist propranolol and the muscarinic cholinergic antagonist atropine.