This study reports the cardiovascular physiology of the Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) in an in situ heart preparation. The performance of the Pacific bluefin tuna heart was examined at temperatures from 30°C down to 2°C. Heart rates ranged from 156·beats·min -1 at 30°C to 13·beats·min -1 at 2°C. Maximal stroke volumes were 1.1·ml·kg -1 at 25°C and 1.3·ml·kg -1 at 2°C. Maximal cardiac outputs were 18.1·ml·kg -1 ·min -1 at 2°C and 106·ml·kg -1 ·min -1 at 25°C. These data indicate that cardiovascular function in the Pacific bluefin tuna exhibits a strong temperature dependence, but cardiac function is retained at temperatures colder than those tolerated by tropical tunas. The Pacific bluefin tuna's cardiac performance in the cold may be a key adaptation supporting the broad thermal niche of the bluefin tuna group in the wild. In situ data from Pacific bluefin are compared to in situ measurements of cardiac performance in yellowfin tuna and preliminary results from albacore tuna.

Bluefin tuna are endothermic and have higher temperatures, heart rates, and cardiac outputs than tropical tuna. We hy pothesized that the increased cardiovascular capacity to deliver oxygen in bluefin may be associated with the evolution of higher metabolic rates. This study measured the oxygen consumption of juvenile Pacific bluefin Thunnus orientalis and yellowfin tuna Thunnus albacares swimming in a swim-tunnel respirometer at 2 0�C. Oxygen consumption ( Mo 2 ) of bluefin (7.1-9.4 kg) h rates than yellowfin tuna at all swimming speeds tested. At a given speed, bluefin had higher metabolic rates and swam with higher tailbeat frequencies and shorter stride lengths than yel lowfin. The higher Mo 2 recorded in Pacific bluefin tuna is consistent with the elevated cardiac performance and enhanced capacity for excitation-contraction coupling in cardiac myo cytes of these fish. These physiological traits may underlie thermal-niche expansion of bluefin tuna relative to tropical tuna species.

This study was designed to further characterize peripheral skeletal muscle alterations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and to evaluate the possible relationship between myosin heavy chain (MyoHC) isoform expression and exercise tolerance in these individuals.MyoHC composition from biopsy of the vastus lateralis muscle was examined in 12 COPD patients (forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1)=319% predicted, peak oxygen consumption (V 'O 2 )=154 mL . kg -1 . min -1 ) and 10 age-matched normal male subjects (peak). The proportion of MyoHC type I was smaller in COPD than in normals (2717% versus 419%, p<0.05) with an increase in MyoHC type IIa (5115% versus 399%, p<0.05) and the proportion of MyoHC type IIx being comparable between both groups. A significant relationship was found between peak V 'O 2 mL . kg -1 . min -1 and FEV1 % pred (r=0.91, p<0.0001) and the percentage of MyoHC type I (r=0.61, p=0.016). In stepwise multiple regression, only FEV1 % pred was found to be a significant determinant of peak V 'O 2 (p<0.0001). This variable explained 83% of the total variance of peak V 'O 2 .In summary, this study showed considerable modifications in the phenotypic expression of the myosin heavy chain in the vastus lateralis muscle in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. An independent effect of myosin heavy chain expression on exercise capacity was not found. These results suggest that chronic inactivity and muscle deconditioning may not be the sole factors explaining peripheral muscle dysfunction in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Eur Respir J 1999; 13: 850±854.

Tunas are capable of exceptionally high maximum metabolic rates; such capability requires rapid delivery of oxygen and metabolic substrate to the tissues. This requirement is met, in part, by exceptionally high maximum cardiac outputs, opening the possibility that myocardial Ca(2+) delivery is enhanced in myocytes from tuna compared with those from other fish. In this study, we investigated the electrophysiological properties of the cardiac L-type Ca(2+) channel current (I(Ca)) to test the hypothesis that Ca(2+) influx would be large and have faster kinetics in cardiomyocytes from Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) than in those from its sister taxon, the Pacific mackerel (Scombe japonicus). In accordance with this hypothesis, I(Ca) in atrial myocytes from bluefin tuna had significantly greater peak current amplitudes and faster fast inactivation kinetics (-4.4 +/- 0.2 pA/pF and 25.9 +/- 1.6 ms, respectively) than those from mackerel (-2.7 +/- 0.5 pA/pF and 32.3 +/- 3.8 ms, respectively). Steady-state activation, inactivation, and recovery from inactivation were also faster in atrial myocytes from tuna than from mackerel. In ventricular myocytes, current amplitude and activation and inactivation rates were similar in both species but elevated compared with those of other teleosts. These results indicate enhanced I(Ca) in atrial myocytes from bluefin tuna compared with Pacific mackerel; this enhanced I(Ca) may be associated with elevated cardiac performance, because I(Ca) delivers the majority of Ca(2+) involved in excitation-contraction coupling in most fish hearts. Similarly, I(Ca) is enhanced in the ventricle of both species compared with other teleosts and may play a role in the robust cardiac performance of fishes of the family Scombridae.

SUMMARY Pacific bluefin tuna inhabit a wide range of thermal environments across the Pacific ocean. To examine how metabolism varies across this thermal range,we studied the effect of ambient water temperature on metabolic rate of juvenile Pacific bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, swimming in a swim tunnel. Rate of oxygen consumption(ṀO2) was measured at ambient temperatures of 8–25°C and swimming speeds of 0.75–1.75 body lengths (BL) s–1. Pacific bluefin swimming at 1 BL s–1 per second exhibited a U-shaped curve of metabolic rate vs ambient temperature, with a thermal minimum zone between 15°C to 20°C. Minimum ṀO2 of 175±29 mg kg–1 h–1 was recorded at 15°C, while both cold and warm temperatures resulted in increased metabolic rates of 331±62 mg kg–1 h–1at 8°C and 256±19 mg kg–1 h–1 at 25°C. Tailbeat frequencies were negatively correlated with ambient temperature. Additional experiments indicated that the increase in ṀO2 at low temperature occurred only at low swimming speeds. Ambient water temperature data from electronic tags implanted in wild fish indicate that Pacific bluefin of similar size to the experimental fish used in the swim tunnel spend most of their time in ambient temperatures in the metabolic thermal minimum zone.