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Differences in in vitro cerebellar neuronal responses to hypoxia in eider ducks, chicken and rats

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Abstract

Ducks are well-known to be more tolerant to asphyxia than non-diving birds, but it is not known if their defences include enhanced neuronal hypoxia tolerance. To test this, we compared extracellular recordings of spontaneous activity in the Purkinje cell layer of 400 μm thick isolated cerebellar slices from eider ducks, chickens and rats, before, during and after 60 min hypoxia (95%N2–5%CO2) or chemical anoxia (hypoxia + 2 mM NaCN). Most slices rapidly lost activity in hypoxia, with or without recovery after rinse and return to normoxia (95%O2–5%CO2), but some maintained spontaneous activity throughout the insult. Proportions of ‘surviving’ (i.e. recovering or active) duck slices were significantly higher than for chickens in anoxia, and relative activity levels were higher for ducks than for chickens during hypoxia, anoxia and recovery. Survival of rat slices was significantly poorer than for birds under all conditions. Results suggest that (1) duck cerebellar neurons are intrinsically more hypoxia-tolerant than chicken neurons; (2) avian neurons are more hypoxia-tolerant than rat neurons, and (3) the enhanced hypoxic tolerance of duck neurons largely depended on efficient anaerobiosis since it mainly manifested itself in chemical anoxia. Mechanisms underlying the observed differences in neuronal hypoxic responses remain to be elucidated.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Jan-Marino Ramirez and Arnoldus Schytte Blix for advice throughout the study, Samuel Geiseler and Julie Jonstrup for technical assistance and the Department of Medical Physiology, University of Tromsø, for lending us some of the instruments. This work was supported by grants from the Norwegian Research Council (no. 164791/V40) and the Roald Amundsen Centre for Arctic Research.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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  1. Department of Arctic Biology and Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, Breivika, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Stian Ludvigsen & Lars P. Folkow

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  1. Stian Ludvigsen
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  2. Lars P. Folkow
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Correspondence to Stian Ludvigsen.

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Ludvigsen, S., Folkow, L.P. Differences in in vitro cerebellar neuronal responses to hypoxia in eider ducks, chicken and rats. J Comp Physiol A 195, 1021–1030 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-009-0476-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-009-0476-x

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