Journal
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
Volume 217, Issue 7, Pages 1024-1039Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.085381
Keywords
Arctic ground squirrel; Cetacean; Hypoxia; Naked mole-rat; Seal; Turtle
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [744979]
- US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command [10917352, 05178001]
- National Institutes of Health [1R15AG033374-01]
- American Heart Association
- American Federation of Aging Research
- Florida Atlantic University Foundation
- US Army Research Office [W911NF05-1-0280]
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke [NS041069-06, R15NS070779]
- Alaska IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence
- Alaska Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
- Norwegian Research Council [164791/V40]
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [Bu956/10, Bu956/12, Ha2103/3]
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0744979] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Many vertebrates are challenged by either chronic or acute episodes of low oxygen availability in their natural environments. Brain function is especially vulnerable to the effects of hypoxia and can be irreversibly impaired by even brief periods of low oxygen supply. This review describes recent research on physiological mechanisms that have evolved in certain vertebrate species to cope with brain hypoxia. Four model systems are considered: freshwater turtles that can survive for months trapped in frozen-over lakes, arctic ground squirrels that respire at extremely low rates during winter hibernation, seals and whales that undertake breath-hold dives lasting minutes to hours, and naked mole-rats that live in crowded burrows completely underground for their entire lives. These species exhibit remarkable specializations of brain physiology that adapt them for acute or chronic episodes of hypoxia. These specializations may be reactive in nature, involving modifications to the catastrophic sequelae of oxygen deprivation that occur in non-tolerant species, or preparatory in nature, preventing the activation of those sequelae altogether. Better understanding of the mechanisms used by these hypoxia-tolerant vertebrates will increase appreciation of how nervous systems are adapted for life in specific ecological niches as well as inform advances in therapy for neurological conditions such as stroke
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