Résumé
The role of sensory afferent information from the gills of Amia calva in cardiovascular and ventilatory control was investigated by bilateral branchial denervation and pseudobranch ablation. Aquatic hypoxia or 1 mg of sodium cyanide (NaCN) in the water flowing over the gills stimulated bradycardia, and gill and air ventilation in sham-operated fish. Sodium cyanide, noradrenaline (NA) and adrenaline (A) infusion into the dorsal aorta increased gill ventilation, and NA and A infusion also stimulated tachycardia and an increase in blood pressure. Following denervation and pseudobranch ablation, O2 consumption (V˙O2) air-breathing frequency (fAB) and arterial O2 tension (PaO2) declined, and circulating NA levels increased, as compared with sham-operated fish. Cardiovascular and air-breathing responses to hypoxia were abolished and gill ventilatory responses attenuated. All ventilatory and cardiovascular responses to NaCN were abolished and gill ventilatory responses to NA and A were attenuated in animals following denervation and pseudobranch ablation. These results demonstrate that O2-sensitive chemoreceptors in the gills and pseudobranch control reflex bradycardia and air-breathing responses in Amia, but that gill ventilatory responses to hypoxia, NA and A are partially mediated by extrabranchial mechanisms. Plasma NA levels increased during hypoxia in sham-operated and denervated animals, indicating that circulating NA may have mediated gill ventilatory responses in denervated animals.