An inquisitive laboratory exercise puts emphasis on physiologic motion taught in this exercise such as the comparison between metabolic rate and oxygen consumption, the methods employed in measuring oxygen rate consumption, as well as differentiation between ectotherms and endotherms in terms of metabolic rate size and relation between the shape of surrounding temperature and metabolic rate (Rowland, Bal & Periasamy, pg. 283, 2015). One would ask the following question concerning the endothermic nature of most parent birds and mammals; what is the thermoregulatory method used by the chicken embryos? This paper discusses a few laboratory procedures for data collection, as well as the materials required to experiment. The growth of body functions begins very early during the period at which the embryonic stage in precocial birds particularly chicken. This early growth is far much significant for organisms to adapt to the life afterward.
Materials and Methods Used in This Experiment
The experiment is to be conducted with chicken embryos where the incubation period lasted for at least 21 days and at a temperature of 37.5° Celsius, after which they were then transferred to the hatcher. To check on the development of thermoregulation, the eggs are to be grouped into two groups; one group is incubated at 34.5° while the other group is incubated at 38.5°. On hatching, the birds are to be kept for ten days at a constant temperature of 25° Celsius, while providing food and water. Embryonic temperature, recorded from the allantoic fluid (TAF) using a miniature thermistor probe, is determined before internal piping is done. All this is done by drilling a hole into the eggshell taking care not to damage the significant blood capillaries. Via this hole, a thermocouple is inserted between the embryo and the chorioallantoic membrane. Colonic temperature (Tc) should also be measured as well as the allantoic fluid, which is to be closely monitored during the entire process. (Price & Dzialowski, 2017)
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Oxygen consumption should also be continuously measured using an oxygen analyzer. This is done by placing a single egg into a metabolic chamber while controlling incubation temperature using a temperature controlled water bath. The rate of oxygen consumption is measured after the embryo adapts to the incubation temperature.
Using a Statham element, which is to be put inside the air cell, pressure fluctuations caused by the breathing of the lungs is recorded. These figures give the rate of respiration. Then, to determine the blood flow rate in the chorioallantoic membrane, MBF3 laser Doppler instrument is used. For this to be successful, the laser Doppler machine is placed on the egg membrane directly. But before any recording was made, handling of the egg is done to search for an area where there’s a large number of small blood vessels concentrated. A small piece of the egg is then taken and used to obtain a concentration of red blood cells, mean speed of the red blood cells.
Neuronal activity recordings were made from nerve cell of the preoptic area of the inner part of the hypothalamus (PO-AH). This is done by placing the brain slices in a recording chamber, where they were suffused nonstop to using artificial cerebrospinal fluid. The bath temperature is continuously changed to aid in the identification of thermosensitivity of a single neutron. From the experiment, it is found that the central nervous thermoregulatory in chicks begins in the antenatal ontogenesis, although they mature at a postnatal development stage.
References
Lynn, S. E., & Kern, M. D. (2018). Interactions of body temperature and nutritional status on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity in pre-thermoregulatory eastern bluebirdchicks (Sialia sialis). General and comparative endocrinology.
Price, E. R., & Dzialowski, E. M. (2017). Development of endothermy in birds: patterns and mechanisms. Journal of Comparative Physiology B, 1-19.
Rowland, L. A., Bal, N. C., & Periasamy, M. (2015). The role of skeletal‐muscle‐based thermogenic mechanisms in vertebrate endothermy. Biological Reviews, 90(4), 1279- 1297.
Sirsat, S. K., Sirsat, T. S., Faber, A., Duquaine, A., Winnick, S., Sotherland, P. R., & Dzialowski, E. M. (2016). Development of endothermy and concomitant increases in cardiac and domestica). Journal of Experimental Biology, jeb-132282.
