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First published online March 9, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 1379-1385 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00896

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Ventilatory compensation of the alkaline tide during digestion in the snake Boa constrictor

Denis V. Andrade¹, Luis Felipe De Toledo¹, Augusto S. Abe¹ and Tobias Wang^2,*

¹ Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Estadual Paulista, 13506-900, Rio Claro SP, Brazil
² Department of Zoophysiology, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

View larger version (27K): [in a new window]   Fig. 1. Temporal changes rate of in oxygen uptake (O2) in Boa constrictor before and after ingestion of a meal in untreated control animals (solid circles) and snakes treated with omeprazole to inhibit gastric acid secretion (open circles). The prey was ingested at time 0 h. Values are means ± 1 S.E.M. (N=5 in each group).

View larger version (16K): [in a new window]   Fig. 2. Acid–base parameters of arterial blood before and following feeding in Boa constrictor after ingestion of a meal in untreated control animals (solid circles) and snakes treated with omeprazole to inhibit gastric acid secretion (open circles). (A) pHa, arterial pH; (B)[HCO3–]pl, plasma [HCO3–]; (C) and PaCO2, arterial PCO2. The values obtained from fasting animals are presented at 0 h. Values are means ± 1 S.E.M. (N=5–7), and mean values that are significantly different (P<0.05) from the fasting value are marked with an asterisk. 1 mmHg=0.133 kPa.

View larger version (23K): [in a new window]   Fig. 3. Davenport diagram with calculated PCO2 isoclines showing changes in extracellular acid–base status of Boa constricta when fasting and during digestion. Numbers indicate time (h) after digestion. Untreated control snakes, solid circles; omeprazole-treated snakes, open circles. For comparison, acid–base values predicted in the case of no ventilatory compensation (i.e. maintained PaCO2) are shown in red, while the predicted acid–base status in case of a maintained pHa is shown in blue. The dotted line represents the non-bicarbonate buffer line obtained on Python molurus (Overgaard and Wang, 2002).