The influence of altered head, thorax and pelvis mass on the postnatal development of the air-righting reaction in albino rats

Laouris, Yiannis; Kalli-Laouri, Joulietta; Schwartze, P

doi:10.1016/0166-4328(90)90016-8

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This pattern of reflex development is due to continuous differentiation and maturation of the present cerebellar neurons. These results go parallel with [54]. It reaches 100% at D22 in Mongolian gerbil [31] and at D21 in both rabbit and Guinea pig [18].…”

Section: Sensorimotor Reflexessupporting

confidence: 55%

Prenatal and perinatal exposure of acrylamide disrupts the development of spinal cord in rats

El-Bakry¹,

Abdul-Hamid²,

Allam³

2013

WJNS

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Acrylamideis neurotoxic to the experimental animals and humans. Also, it has mutagenic and carcinogenic effects. Acrylamide was orally administered to non-anesthetized pregnant females by gastric intubation (10 mg/kg/day). The animals were divided into three groups as follows: 1) Group A, newborn from control animals; 2) Group B, newborns from mothers treated with acrylamide from day 7 (D7) of gestation till birth (prenatal intoxicated group); 3) Group C, newborns from mothers treated with acrylamide from D7 of gestation till D28 after birth (perinatally intoxicated group). In the present study acrylamide-induced histopathological and histochemical changes in brachial and lumber regions of spinal cord, including some pyknotic neurons and marked decrease of colour intensity of DNA contents as well as obvious retardation of sensorimotor reflexes of rat newborns. Thus acrylamide and its toxic metabolites resulted in teratogenicity in the rat newborns if their mother exposed to them chronically during gestation and lactation periods. As the spinal motor neurons are the final output neurons of motor systems, so a detailed developmental study is important for a greater understanding motor reflexes development. Moreover, the data on the acrylamide-induced effects on the embryonic and postnatal development is relatively rare. So, the present study was carried out to examine its effects on the development of spinal cord.

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Section: Sensorimotor Reflexessupporting

confidence: 55%

Prenatal and perinatal exposure of acrylamide disrupts the development of spinal cord in rats

El-Bakry¹,

Abdul-Hamid²,

Allam³

2013

WJNS

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“…Such postural changes include movements of the torso, appendages or tail, which modulate the instantaneous moment of inertia (Jusufi et al, 2011). Specifically, the mammalian righting reflex is largely driven by a combination of axial flexion, extension and torsion (Laouris et al, 1990). In contrast, lizards primarily rely on the movement of the tail to generate a corrective rolling (Jusufi et al, 2011) or pitching moment while airborne (Libby et al, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduce torques and stick the landing: limb posture during landing in toads

Azizi

Larson

Abbott

et al. 2014

Journal of Experimental Biology

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A controlled landing, where an animal does not crash or topple, requires enough stability to allow muscles to effectively dissipate mechanical energy. Toads (Rhinella marina) are exemplary models for understanding the mechanics and motor control of landing given their ability to land consistently during bouts of continuous hopping. Previous studies in anurans have shown that ground reaction forces (GRFs) during landing are significantly higher compared with takeoff and can potentially impart large torques about the center of mass (COM), destabilizing the body at impact. We predict that in order to minimize such torques, toads will align their COM with the GRF vector during the aerial phase in anticipation of impact. We combined high-speed videography and force-plate ergometry to quantify torques at the COM and relate the magnitude of torques to limb posture at impact. We show that modulation of hindlimb posture can shift the position of the COM by about 20% of snout-vent length. Rapid hindlimb flexion during the aerial phase of a hop moved the COM anteriorly and reduced torque by aligning the COM with the GRF vector. We found that the addition of extrinsic loads did not significantly alter landing behavior but did change the torques experienced at impact. We conclude that anticipatory hindlimb flexion during the aerial phase of a hop is a critical feature of a mechanically stable landing that allows toads to quickly string together multiple, continuous hops.

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“…ARA is one of the important abilities for animals who move on high. It has been shown that ARA probably starts developmentally as a reflex and within days/weeks matures into CPG [ 9 ]. From an evolutionary point of view, this is a relatively later evolutionary state.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preventing the brain injury from the falling and impacting to the ground, a sort of self-protection is one of the important survival skills gained from natural selection and evolution in animals. Aerial maneuverability or air-righting performance is the most important mechanism of self-protection in insects [ 6 , 7 ], cats [ 1 – 4 ], rats [ 8 , 9 ], rabbits [ 10 ], frogs [ 11 ], and geckos [ 5 ]. However, the air-righting is not always performed perfectly in geckos.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Actually, the ARA might be weaker in Gekko geckos , because the relevant air-righting reflex did not mature, developmentally speaking, into a complete central program. The published data [ 9 ] provided evidence that the ARA probably starts developmentally as a reflex and within days/weeks mature into a central pattern generator (CPG) by showing that the completion of the ARR maturation process had no dependency on loads attached to different parts of the body. In our behavior experiments, not all geckos could turn around successfully in abdomen-up falling down.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Passive Cushiony Biomechanics of Head Protection in Falling Geckos

Wang

Song

et al. 2018

Applied Bionics and Biomechanics

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Gekko geckos are capable to crawl on the steep even on upside-down surfaces. Such movement, especially at great altitude, puts them at high risks of incidentally dropping down and inevitable body or head impactions, though they may trigger air-righting reaction (ARR) to attenuate the landing shocks. However, the air-righting ability (ARA) in Gekko geckos is not fully developed. The implementation of ARR in some geckos is quite slow; and for those without tails, the ARR is even unobservable. Since ARA is compromised in Gekko geckos, there must be some other mechanisms responsible for protecting them from head injuries during falls. In this study, we looked into a Gekko gecko's brain to study its internal environment and structure, using the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique. The results showed that the brain parenchyma was fully surrounded by the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the skull. A succulent characteristic was presented, which meant the intracalvarium was significantly occupied by the CSF, up to 45% in volume. Then a simplified three-dimensional finite element model was built, and a dynamic simulation was conducted to evaluate the mechanical property of this succulent characteristic during the head impactions. These implied the succulent characteristic may play certain roles on the self-protection in case of head impaction, which is adaptable to the Gekko gecko's locomotion and behavior.

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The influence of altered head, thorax and pelvis mass on the postnatal development of the air-righting reaction in albino rats

Cited by 5 publications

References 4 publications

Prenatal and perinatal exposure of acrylamide disrupts the development of spinal cord in rats

Prenatal and perinatal exposure of acrylamide disrupts the development of spinal cord in rats

Reduce torques and stick the landing: limb posture during landing in toads

Passive Cushiony Biomechanics of Head Protection in Falling Geckos

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