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Effects of temperature on the locomotor performance and contraction properties of skeletal muscle from two Phrynocephalus lizards at high and low altitude

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Abstract

Locomotor performance and skeletal muscle contraction are critical for animals and are susceptible to changes in the external thermal environment, especially for ectotherms. Phrynocephalus erythrurus, which is endemic to the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau, is known for living at the highest elevation among all reptiles in the world (4500–5300 m). In this study, which compares P. erythrurus with the lowland Phrynocephalus przewalskii, we evaluated the locomotor performance at different body temperatures, the effects of temperature and oxygen partial pressure (PO2) on the contractile properties of iliofibularis (IF) muscle in vitro, ATPase activity of IF muscle at different temperatures, and the fiber types of IF muscle. Lowland P. przewalskii runs significantly faster than highland P. erythrurus at all test body temperatures. Almost all contractile properties of the IF muscle of P. przewalskii were better than that of P. erythrurus under all test temperatures and PO2. However, P. erythrurus could achieve both optimal isometric (e.g., dPo/dt) and optimal isotonic (e.g., Vmax) contraction at a lower temperature compared with P. przewalskii. Multi-factor analysis further revealed that temperature has a significant effect on the contractile properties of IF muscle for both species. Although the proportion of fibers types and ATPase activities of IF muscle have no significant interspecies difference, the changing pattern of ATPase activities with temperature is consistent with certain contractile properties and locomotor performance. The interspecies differences in locomotor ability and contractile properties of skeletal muscle in high- and low-altitude lizards may be the results of long-term adaptation to the local environment.

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Abbreviations

IF muscle:

Iliofibularis muscle

P t :

Maximal twitch tension

TPT:

Time-to-peak twitch tension

1/2 RT :

Time of half relaxation from peak twitch tension

P o :

Tetanic tension

dP o/dt :

Maximum rate of rise in tetanic tension

P/m :

Maximal power output

V max :

Maximal velocity of shortening

PO2 :

Oxygen partial pressure

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank Wangjie Cao, Xingwen Yang and Yaofeng Zhao for their support and help in this study.

Funding

Research funding was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 31971416 and NO. 31472005 to Q. Chen) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (lzujbky-2017-150 to X. Tang) and Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M691380 to H. Wang).

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Author notes

  1. Zhiyi Niu and Mei Li contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Biomedical Sciences, School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, No. 222 Tianshui South Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Zhiyi Niu, Mei Li, Peng Pu, Tao Zhang, Xiaolong Tang & Qiang Chen

  2. School of Stomatologymatology, Lanzhou University, No. 199 Donggang West Road, Lanzhou, 730000, Gansu, China

    Huihui Wang

Authors
  1. Zhiyi Niu
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  6. Xiaolong Tang
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Contributions

Conceptualization: QCh, ZhN, ML; methodology: ZhN, ML, PP; software: ZhN, PP, TZh; formal analysis: ZhN, PP, TZh, HW; investigation: QCh, ZhN, XT, TZh; resources: QCh, XT; data curation: QCh, YZh, ML; writing-original draft: ZhN, ML, PP; writing review and editing: QCh, XT, PP, ZhN, ML; visualization: PP, ZhN, ML; supervision: QCh, XT; project administration: QCh; funding acquisition: QCh, XT.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Xiaolong Tang or Qiang Chen.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Communicated by P. Withers.

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Niu, Z., Li, M., Pu, P. et al. Effects of temperature on the locomotor performance and contraction properties of skeletal muscle from two Phrynocephalus lizards at high and low altitude. J Comp Physiol B 191, 907–916 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01391-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-021-01391-9

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