Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T18:15:14.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Induction of Emesis by the Sodium Channel Activator Veratrine in the Lesser Spotted Dogfish, Scyliorhinus Canicula (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

P.L.R. Andrews
Affiliation:
Department of Physiology, St George's Hospital Medical School, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 ORE.
D.W. Sims
Affiliation:
Marine Biology Group, Plymouth Environmental Research Centre, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA.
J.Z. Young
Affiliation:
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3UD.

Extract

This study provides the first quantitative description of the emetic reflex (vomiting) in the dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) by using veratrine HC1 (lOmgkg−1, i.p.), the sodium channel activator as a stimulus. Vomiting occurred within 10 min of injection. The most notable features of the response in the correct temporal sequence were: (i) head shaking with wide gaping of the mouth; (ii) lowering of the ventral buccal cavity and expansion of the pharyngeal cavity; (iii) contraction of the gill arches, the buccopharyngeal musculature and lowering of the jaw rapidly followed by the expulsion of gastric contents (pieces of fish). The expulsion sequence (ii and iii) took ~ 1 s. The significance of the vomiting reflex in the dogfish is discussed in terms of its protective function and as a component of normal feeding to periodically eject indigestible food residues.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, P.L.R. & Davis, C.J., 1995. The physiology of emesis induced by anti-cancer therapy. In Serotonin and the scientific basis of anti-emetic therapy (ed. D.J.M., Reynolds et al.), pp. 2549. Oxford: Oxford Clinical Communications.Google Scholar
Andrews, P.L.R. & Young, J.Z., 1993. Gastric motility patterns for digestion and vomiting evoked by sympathetic nerve stimulation and 5-hydroxytryptamine in the dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 342, 363380.Google Scholar
Blackman, J.G., Borison, H.L. & Milne, R.J., 1975. Intracellular recording of after discharge induced by veratrum alkaloids in the guinea-pig nodose ganglion. Brain Research, 98, 369372.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bobkov, Y.G., 1964. Role of nodose ganglion in vomiting reflex to aconitine and veratrine. Fiziologicheskii Zhurnal SSSR imeni I.M. Sechenova, 50, 187191.Google Scholar
Borison, H.L. & Fairbanks, V.F., 1952. Mechanism of veratrum-induced emesis in the cat. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 105, 317325.Google ScholarPubMed
Borison, H.L. & Wang, S.C., 1953. Physiology and pharmacology of vomiting. Pharmacology Reviews, 5, 193230.Google ScholarPubMed
Clarke, M.R., 1972. New technique for the study of sperm whale migration. Nature, London, 238, 405406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, M.R. & Stevens, J.D., 1974. Cephalopods, blue sharks and migration. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 54, 949957.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coronas, R., Pitarch, L. & Mallol, J., 1975. Blockade of reserpine emesis in pigeons by metoclopramide. European Journal of Pharmacology, 32, 380382.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gerhart, D.J., 1984. Prostaglandin A2: an agent of chemical defense in the Caribbean gorgonian Plexaura homomalla. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 19, 181187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerhart, D.J., 1991. Emesis, learned aversion, and chemical defense in octocorals: a central role for prostaglandins? American Journal of Physiology, 260, 839843. [Regulatory Integrative Comparative Physiology, 29.]Google ScholarPubMed
Handy, R.D., 1996. Dietary exposure to toxic metals in fish. In Toxicology of aquatic pollution: physiological, molecular and cellular approaches (ed. E., Taylor), pp. 2960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harvey, A.L., Anderson, A.J. & Rowan, E.G., 1993. Toxins affecting ion channels. In Natural and synthetic neurotoxins (ed. A., Harvey), pp. 129185. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Jansson, S.-E., Albuquerque, E.X. & Daly, J., 1974. The pharmacology of batrachotoxin. VI. Effects on the mammalian motor nerve terminal. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 189, 525537.Google ScholarPubMed
Lyle, J.M., 1983. Food and feeding habits of the lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula (L.) in Isle of Man waters. Journal of Fish Biology, 23, 725737.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naitoh, T., Imamura, M. & Wassersug, R.J., 1991. Interspecific variation in the emetic response of anurans. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 100C, 353359.Google ScholarPubMed
Naitoh, T. & Wassersug, R.J., 1992. The emetic response in urodele amphibians. Zoological Science, 9, 713718.Google Scholar
Ohta, M., Narahashi, T. & Keeler, R.F., 1973. Effects of veratrum alkaloids on membrane potentials and conductance of squid and crayfish giant axons. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 184, 143154.Google Scholar
Paintal, A.S., 1957. The influence of certain chemical substances on the initiation of sensory discharges in pulmonary and gastric stretch receptors and atrial receptors. Journal of Physiology, 135, 486510.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sampson, S.R. & Jaffe, R.A., 1975. Excitatory effects of 5-hydroxytryptamine, veratridine and phenyldiguanide on sensory ganglion cells of the nodose ganglion of the cat. Life Sciences, 15, 21572165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schapiro, H., 1978. Retching responses in Caiman sklerops elicited by telencephalic stimulation: efferent connections. Experimental Neurology, 60, 244253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sims, D.W. & Andrews, P.L.R., 1996. The emetic reflex in African walking catfish develops with age. Journal of Fish Biology, 48, 12311237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sims, D.W. & Davies, S.J., 1994. Does specific dynamic action (SDA) regulate return of appetite in the lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula? Journal of Fish Biology, 45, 341348.Google Scholar
Sims, D.W., Davies, S.J. & Bone, Q., 1996. Gastric emptying rate and return of appetite in lesser spotted dogfish, Scyliorhinus canicula (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchii). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 76, 479–191.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sisneros, J.A. & Nelson, D.R., 1993. Effect of molecular structure on the shark repellent potency of anionic surfactants. In Proceedings of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists/American Elasmobranch Society Annual Meetings, 27 May-2 June 1993, University of Texas, Austin, Texas, p. 285286. [Abstracts.]Google Scholar
Swiss, E.D., 1952. The emetic properties of veratrum derivatives. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 104, 7686.Google ScholarPubMed
Tiersch, T.R. & Griffith, J.S., 1988. Apomorphine-induced vomiting in rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, 91A, 721725.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wassersug, R.J., Izumi-Kurotani, A., Yamashita, M. & Naitoh, T., 1993. Motion sickness in amphibians. Behavioural and Neural Biology, 60, 4251.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Weaver, L.C., Rahdert, E., Richards, A.B. & Abreu, B.E., 1964. Effect of anti-emetics and other compounds on protoveratrine induced emesis in dogs. Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 53, 417421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, J.Z., 1980. Nervous control of stomach movements in dogfishes and rays. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, 60, 117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar