Intermittent hypoxia and plasticity of respiratory chemoreflexes in metamorphic bullfrog tadpoles.

We tested the hypothesis that intermittent hypoxia elicits plasticity in respiratory chemoreflexes in bullfrog tadpoles. Metamorphic tadpoles (Taylor-Kollros stages XVI-XX) were subjected to intermittent hypoxia (PW(O(2))=45 Torr; 12 h/day) or constant normoxia (PW(O(2))=156 Torr) for 2 weeks before ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercarbia were measured. Buccal pressure changes were used to quantify the frequency and amplitude of movements associated with gill and lung ventilation. Morphometric assessment showed that intermittent hypoxia delayed development in comparison with controls. Oxygen consumption was enhanced in tadpoles subjected to intermittent hypoxia; however, this increase was not sufficient to affect basal ventilatory activity or the hypoxic ventilatory response. During acute hypercarbic exposure, tadpoles subjected to intermittent hypoxia showed (1) a greater decrease in gill ventilation frequency and (2) a greater increase in lung ventilation frequency than tadpoles maintained under control conditions. We conclude that intermittent hypoxia augments the responsiveness to hypercarbia, thereby promoting lung ventilation when animals face this stimulus. This manifestation of respiratory plasticity may reflect uncoupling between physiological and morphological development in the bi-modally breathing bullfrog tadpole.