Alligator Mississippiensis): an XROMM Analysis Robert J
© 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd | Journal of Experimental Biology (2017) 220, 3181-3190 doi:10.1242/jeb.156166 RESEARCH ARTICLE Rib kinematics during lung ventilation in the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis): an XROMM analysis Robert J. Brocklehurst1,*, Sabine Moritz2, Jonathan Codd3, William I. Sellers1 and Elizabeth L. Brainerd2 ABSTRACT these, the two most important are costal aspiration and the hepatic The current hypothesis regarding the mechanics of breathing in piston (Movie 1) (Claessens, 2009b). crocodylians is that the double-headed ribs, with both a capitulum and The mechanics of the hepatic piston are relatively straightforward tuberculum, rotate about a constrained axis passing through the two and have been extensively studied (Farmer and Carrier, 2000; articulations; moreover, this axis shifts in the caudal thoracic ribs, as Uriona and Farmer, 2006; Munns et al., 2012), but costal aspiration the vertebral parapophysis moves from the centrum to the transverse is more complex. Ventilation is powered by the hypaxial muscles, process. Additionally, the ventral ribcage in crocodylians is thought to with the transverse abdominal responsible for exhalation, and the possess additional degrees of freedom through mobile intermediate intercostal muscles powering inhalation and exhalation (Gans and ribs. In this study, X-ray reconstruction of moving morphology Clark, 1976; Carrier, 1989; Brainerd and Owerkowicz, 2006). (XROMM) was used to quantify rib rotation during breathing in However, muscles can only do positive work and hence contribute American alligators. Whilst costovertebral joint anatomy predicted to ventilation when actively shortening, but in order to power overall patterns of motion across the ribcage (decreased bucket inhalation this muscular contraction must be converted into handle motion and increased calliper motion), there were significant expansion of the thorax (Brainerd and Owerkowicz, 2006; deviations: anatomical axes overestimated pump handle motion and, Brainerd, 2015).
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