It has been hypothesised that insects display discontinuous gas-exchange cycles (DGCs) as a result of hysteresis in their ventilatory control, where CO2-sensitive respiratory chemoreceptors respond to changes in haemolymph PCO2 only after some delay. If correct, DGCs would be a manifestation of an unstable feedback loop between chemoreceptors and ventilation, causing PCO2 to oscillate around some fixed threshold value: PCO2 above this ventilatory threshold would stimulate excessive hyperventilation, driving PCO2 below the threshold and causing a subsequent apnoea. This hypothesis was tested by implanting micro-optodes into the haemocoel of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and measuring haemolymph PO2 and PCO2 simultaneously during continuous and discontinuous gas exchange.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrophysiometry is a powerful technique to study metabolic parameters and detect changes to external stimuli. However, applying this technique for automated label-free and real-time measurements within cell-laden three-dimensional (3D) cell culture constructs remains a challenge. Herein, we present an entirely automated microphysiometry setup that combines needle-type microsensors with motorized sample and sensor positioning systems inside a standard tissue-culture incubator.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOxygen tension plays an important role in overall cell function and fate, regulating gene expression, and cell differentiation. Although there is extensive literature available that supports the previous statement, little information is to be found about accurate O measurements during culture. In fact, O concentration at the cell layer during culture is commonly assumed to be equal to that of the incubator atmosphere.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl
February 2019
Tissue engineering (TE) approaches typically envisage the structural and functional reconstitution of previously damaged tissue in situ. An adequate three-dimensional environment is therefore of fundamental importance for the designated cells associated to the scaffold material. The sufficient supply with nutrients and oxygen in vitro and in vivo mark thereby critical challenges of TE.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDragonflies (Odonata, Anisoptera) are amphibiotic; the nymph is aquatic and breathes water using a rectal gill before metamorphosing into the winged adult, which breathes air through spiracles. While the evolutionary and developmental transition from water breathing to air breathing is known to be associated with a dramatic rise in internal CO levels, the changes in blood-gas composition experienced by amphibiotic insects, which represent an ancestral air-to-water transition, are unknown. This study measured total CO (TCO) in hemolymph collected from aquatic nymphs and air-breathing adults of , (Aeshnidae), and (Libellulidae).
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