Blood oxygen requirements in resting crab (Carcinus maenas) 24 h after feeding

Abstract

Numerous resting unfed water-breathers have a strategy of gas-exchange regulation that consists of setting the arterial partial pressure of oxygen (Pao2) at 1-3 kPa. This raises a question concerning the extent to which physiological functions are limited in this situation. To obtain insight into this problem, we studied the steady-state adaptation of the blood-oxygen transfer system in the crab Carcinus maenas during the doubling of the oxygen consumption rate, Mo2(i.e., during the period of specific dynamic action of food (SDA)), that occurs 24 h after feeding. We showed that this increase in the oxygen consumption rate 24 h after a meal is not limited by a blood partial pressure of oxygen (Po2) as low as 0.8-1.5 kPa in either normoxia or hypoxia (Po2of the inspired water = 4 kPa). In normoxia, adaptation of the oxygen-transport system, if any, consisted of a combined set of adaptations of small amplitude (in absolute value), rather than major changes in blood oxygenation status, blood flow rate, or oxygen affinity (although blood pH decreases). In hypoxia, the SDA was mainly associated with an increase in blood flow rate and blood pH, with no changes in blood lactate, urate, calcium, and haemocyanin concentrations. The results are discussed, in an environmental context, in terms of minimal oxygen requirements in water-breathers.