Edwin William Taylor | University of Birmingham - Inglaterra

• Grant number: 10/50270-6
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International
• Start date: October 05, 2010
• End date: March 04, 2011
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Augusto Shinya Abe
• Grantee: Augusto Shinya Abe
• Visiting researcher: Edwin William Taylor
• Visiting researcher institution: University of Birmingham, England
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Our previous collaborative work, funded in part by FAPESP, has focused on the cardiorespiratory physiology of mature reptiles and the present project will extend this work to the embryological development of autonomic control of the heart and circulation. The detailed morphology of the heart and associated major blood vessels varies between the different reptilian groups and we will focus on their progressive development. The study will also include developmental changes in the central nervous system associated with control of the cardiorespiratory system. A collaborative morphological study will establish developmental stages for a range of reptilian species including: chelonians (turtles), squamates (lizards and snakes) and crocodilians (caimans), using eggs raised under controlled conditions in incubators. The detailed staging of these embryos will then be used to identify the progressive development of the circulatory system and the neuro-anatomy and neuro-pharmacology of its control. Heart rate variability studies on late embryos and hatchlings, coupled with the pharmacological study, will enable us to establish the ontogeny of cardiac innervation and then to relate it to developmental changes in the CNS. Techniques will include stereo- and fluorescence microscopy, histochemistry, electrophysiology together with power spectral analysis to identify heart rate variability and application of specific agonists and antagonists to simulate control from the autonomic nervous system. (AU)