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Evidence of dominant parasympathetic nervous activity of great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo)

Journal of Comparative Physiology A volume 195, pages 365–373 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

The characteristics of autonomic nervous activity were examined on captive great cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo hanedae, using a power spectral analysis of heart rate variability. Heart rates were calculated from recordings of the electrocardiograms of the birds via embarked data loggers. We investigated the effects of blockades of the sympathetic or parasympathetic nervous systems using the indices of autonomic nervous activity such as high frequency (0.061–1.5 Hz) component, low frequency (0.02–0.060 Hz) component and the low frequency power component to high frequency power component ratio. Resting heart rate (85.5 ± 6.1 bpm) was lower than the intrinsic heart rate (259.2 ± 15.3 bpm). The heart rate drastically increased after the injection of the parasympathetic nervous blocker, on the other hand it slightly decreased after the injection of the sympathetic nervous blocker. The sympathetic, parasympathetic and net autonomic nervous tones calculated from heart rate with and without blockades were 40.9 ± 27.6, −44.5 ± 7.4 and −29.5 ± 9.0%, respectively. The effect of the parasympathetic nervous blockade on low frequency and high frequency power was greater than that of the sympathetic nervous blockade. Those data suggested that the parasympathetic nervous activity was dominant for great cormorants.

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Abbreviations

bpm:

Beat per minute

IHR:

Intrinsic heart rate

HF:

High frequency

LF:

Low frequency

S-tone:

Sympathetic tone

P-tone:

Parasympathetic tone

N-tone:

Net autonomic tone

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Dr. H. Tanaka, Dr. K. Yoda, Dr. A. Takahashi, and Dr. E. Ayukawa for their help in experiments and JSPS for financial support. The experiments complied with the “Principles of animal care”, publication No. 86-23, revised 1985 of the National Institute of Health, and also with the current laws of Japan.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioengineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, 940-2188, Japan

    Maki Yamamoto

  2. National Institute of Polar Research, Itabashi, Tokyo, 173-8515, Japan

    Akiko Kato & Yasuhiko Naito

  3. DEPE, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien UMR 7178, 23 Rue Becquerel, 67087, Strasbourg, France

    Yan Ropert-Coudert

  4. Department of Comparative Pathophysiology, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Masayoshi Kuwahara

  5. Department to Veterinary Science, Nippon Veterinary and Life Science University, Musashino, 180-8602, Japan

    Shinichi Hayama

Authors
  1. Maki Yamamoto
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  2. Akiko Kato
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  3. Yan Ropert-Coudert
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  4. Masayoshi Kuwahara
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  5. Shinichi Hayama
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  6. Yasuhiko Naito
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Correspondence to Maki Yamamoto.

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Yamamoto, M., Kato, A., Ropert-Coudert, Y. et al. Evidence of dominant parasympathetic nervous activity of great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo). J Comp Physiol A 195, 365–373 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-009-0414-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-009-0414-y

Keywords

  • Heart rate variability
  • Great cormorant
  • Power spectral analysis
  • Autonomic nervous activity
  • Electrocardiogram