Respirometry is a general term that encompass a number of powerful techniques for obtaining estimates of the rates of metabolism of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, tissues, cells, or microorganisms via an indirect measure of heat production (calorimetry). Overview of the citric acid cycle The citric acid cycle, one of the central metabolic pathways in aerobic organisms. ... Typical classes Petromyzontidae (lampreys) Placodermi - extinct Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Acanthodii - extinct Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) Actinistia (coelacanths) Dipnoi (lungfish) Amphibia (amphibians) Reptilia (reptiles) Aves (birds) Mammalia (mammals) Vertebrata is a subphylum of chordates, specifically, those with backbones or spinal columns. ... Invertebrate is a term coined by Chevalier de Lamarck to describe any animal without a backbone or vertebra, like insects, squids and worms. ... u fuck in ua ... A microorganism or microbe is an organism that is so small that it is microscopic (invisible to the naked eye). ... Calorimetry is the science of measuring the heat of chemical reactions or physical changes. ...

Whole animal metabolic rates

The metabolism of an animal is estimated by determining rates of carbon dioxide production (VCO₂) and oxygen consumption (VO₂) of individual animals, either in a closed or an open-circuit respirometry system. Two measures are typically obtained: standard (SMR) or basal metabolic rate (BMR) and maximal rate ([[VO₂max]]). SMR is measured while the animal is at rest (but not asleep) under specific laboratory (temperature, hydration) and subject-specific conditions (e.g., size (see allometry^[1], age, reproduction status, post-absorptive to avoid thermic effect of food) ^[2]. VO₂max is typically determined during aerobic exercise at or near physiological limits ^[3]. In contrast, field metabolic rate (FMR) refers to the metabolic rate of an unrestrained, active animal in nature ^[4]. Whole animal metabolic rates refer to these measures without correction for body mass. If SMR or BMR values are divided by the body mass value for the animal, then the rate is termed mass-specific. It is this mass-specific value that one typically hears in comparisons among species. Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment, in the post-absorptive state (meaning that the digestive system is inactive, which requires about twelve hours of fasting in humans). ... Allometry is the science studying the differential growth rates of the parts of a living organisms body part or process. ... Thermic effect of food (also commonly known simply as thermic effect when the context is known), or TEF in shorthand, is the increment in energy expenditure above resting metabolic rate due to the cost of processing food for storage and use. ...

Closed respirometry

Respirometry depends on a "what goes in must come out" principle. Consider a closed system first. Imagine that we place a mouse into an air-tight container. The air sealed in the container initially contains the same composition and proportions of gases that were present in the room: 20.95% O₂, 0.03% CO₂, water vapor (the exact amount depends on air temperature, see dew point), 71% (approximately) N₂, and a variety of trace gases making up the rest (see Earth's atmosphere). As time passes, the mouse in the chamber produces CO₂ and water vapor, but extracts O₂ from the air in proportion to its metabolic demands. Therefore, as long as we know the volume of the system, the difference between the concentrations of O₂ and CO₂ at the start when we sealed the mouse into the chamber (the baseline or reference conditions) compared to the amounts present after the mouse has breathed the air at a later time must be the amounts of CO₂/O₂ produced/consumed by the mouse. In a closed system, the mouse will eventually become hypoxic. Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Dew on a spider web The dew point or dewpoint of a given parcel of air is the temperature to which the parcel must be cooled, at constant barometric pressure, for the water vapor component to condense into water, called dew. ... Layers of Atmosphere (NOAA) Air redirects here. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... Hypoxia is a pathological condition in which the body as a whole (generalised hypoxia) or region of the body (tissue hypoxia) is deprived of adequate oxygen supply. ...

Open respirometry

For an open-system, the situation is a bit more complicated, but the principle remains the same. What goes in must come out. The primary distinction between an open and closed system is that the open system flows air through the chamber (i.e., air is pushed or pulled by pump) at a rate that constantly replenishes the O₂ depleted by the animal while removing the CO₂ and water vapor produced by the animal. The flow rate must be high enough to ensure that the animal never consumes all of the oxygen present in the chamber while at the same time, the rate must be low enough so that the animal consumes enough O₂ for detection. For a 20 g mouse, flow rates of about 200 ml/min through 500 ml containers would provide a good balance. At this flow rate, about 40 ml of O₂ is brought to the chamber and the entire volume of air in the chamber is exchanged within 5 minutes. For other smaller animals, chamber volumes can be much smaller and flow rates would be adjusted down as well. Note that for warm-blooded or endothermic animals (birds and mammals), chamber sizes and or flow rates would be selected to accommodate their higher metabolic rates. In fluid dynamics, the rate of fluid flow is the volume of fluid which passes through a given area per unit time. ... Feral mouse A mouse (Plural mice) is a mammal that belongs to one of numerous species of small rodents. ... A warm-blooded (homeothermic) animal is one that can keep its core body temperature at a nearly constant level regardless of the temperature of the surrounding environment (that is, to maintain thermal homeostasis) . This can involve not only the ability to generate heat, but also the ability to cool down... For other meanings of bird, see bird (disambiguation). ... Orders Subclass Monotremata Monotremata Subclass Marsupialia Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Subclass Placentalia Xenarthra Dermoptera Desmostylia Scandentia Primates Rodentia Lagomorpha Insectivora Chiroptera Pholidota Carnivora Perissodactyla Artiodactyla Cetacea Afrosoricida Macroscelidea Tubulidentata Hyracoidea Proboscidea Sirenia The mammals are the class of vertebrate animals primarily characterized by the presence of mammary...

Calculations

To calculate metabolic rate from rates of oxygen consumed, one needs to know the location of the flow meter relative to the animal chamber (if positioned before the chamber, the flow meter is "upstream," if positioned after the chamber, the flow meter is "downstream"), and whether or not reactive gases are present (e.g., CO₂, water, methane, see inert gas). General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... Water is a chemical substance that is essential to all known forms of life. ... Methane is a significant and plentiful fuel which is the principal component of natural gas. ... An inert gas is any gas that is not reactive under normal circumstances. ...

For an open system with upstream flow meter, water (e.g., silical gel) and CO₂ (e.g., Ascarite II) removed prior to oxygen analyzer, a suitable equation is General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ...

For an open system with downstream flow meter, water (e.g., silical gel) and CO₂ (e.g., Ascarite II) removed prior to oxygen analyzer, a suitable equation is General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ...

where

• FR is the flow rate adjusted to STP (see Standard conditions for temperature and pressure)
• FiO₂ is the fractional amount of oxygen present in the incurrent air stream (the baseline or reference), and
• FeO₂ is the fractional amount of oxygen present in the excurrent air stream (what the animal has consumed relative to baseline per unit time).

For example, values for BMR of a 20 g mouse (Mus musculus) might be FR = 200 ml/min, and readings of fractional concentration of O₂ from an oxygen analyzer are FiO₂ = 0.2095, FeO₂ = 0.2072. The calculated rate of oxygen consumption is 0.58 ml/min or 35 ml/hour. Assuming an enthalpy of combustion for O₂ of 20.1 joules per milliliter, we would then calculate the heat production (and therefore metabolism) for the mouse as 703.5 J/h. In chemistry and other sciences, STP or standard temperature and pressure is a standard set of conditions for experimental measurements, to enable comparisons to be made between sets of data. ... Binomial name Mus musculus Linnaeus, 1758 Mus musculus is the common house mouse. ... In thermodynamics and molecular chemistry, the enthalpy or heat content (denoted as Δ or ΔH, or rarely as χ) is a quotient or description of thermodynamic potential of a system, which can be used to calculate the useful work obtainable from a closed thermodynamic system under constant conditions. ... A joule is the work done or energy required to exert a force of one newton for a distance of one metre, so the same quantity may be referred to as a newton metre or newton-metre with the symbol N·m. ...

Respirometry equipment

For open flow system, the list of equipment and parts is long compared to the components of a closed system, but the chief advantage of the open system is that it permits continuous recording of metabolic rate. The risk of hypoxia is also much less in an open system.

Pumps for air flow

• Vacuum Pump: a pump is needed to push (i.e., upstream location) or pull (i.e., downstream location) air into and through the animal chamber and respirometry flow-through system.
• Subsample pump: To pull air through the analyzers, a small, stable, reliable pump is used.

Flow meters and flow controllers The Roots blower is one of the most common type of vacuum pumps A vacuum pump is a pump that removes gas molecules from a sealed volume in order to leave behind a partial vacuum. ...

• Bubble flow meters: A simple, yet highly accurate way to measure flow rates involves timing movement of bubbles of soap film up glass tubes between marks of known volume. The glass tube is connected at the bottom (for push systems) or at the top (for pull systems) to the air stream. A small rubber pipet bulb attached at the base of the tube acts as both a reservoir and delivery system for the soap bubbles. Operation is simple. First, wet the glass surface along the path bubbles travel (e.g., press the bulb so that copious amounts of soap are pushed up the glass by the air flow) to provide a virtually friction-free surface. Second, pinch the bulb so that one clean bubble is produced. With a stopwatch in hand, record the time required for the bubble to travel between marks on the glass. Note the volume recorded on the upper mark (e.g., 125 = 125 ml), divide the volume by the time required to travel between marks and the result is the flow rate (ml/sec). These instruments can be purchased from a variety of sources, but they may also be constructed from appropriate-sized, glass volumetric pipets.
• Acrylic flow meters : Under some circumstances of high flow rates we may use simple acrylic flow meters (0 - 2.5 liters/min) to control the flow rates through the metabolic chambers. The meters are located upstream from the metabolic chambers. The flow meters are simple to use but should be calibrated twice daily for use in the respirometry system: once before recording begins (but after the animal has been sealed inside the chamber!!) and again at the end of the recording (before the animal is removed from the chamber!!). Calibration must be done with a bubble flow meter because the calibration marks on the acrylic meters are only approximate. For proper calibration of flow rates remember that both barometric pressure and temperature of the air streaming through the flow meter (which we assume to be equal to room temperature) must be recorded.
• Mass flow meters: The equations required for calculating rates of oxygen consumption or carbon dioxide production assume that the flow rates into and out of the chambers are known exactly. We use mass flow meters which have the advantage of yielding flow rates independent of temperature and air pressure. Therefore, these flow rates can be considered to be corrected to standard conditions (Standard Temperature Pressure). We only measure and control flow at one location -- downstream from the chamber. Therefore, we must assume that the inflow and outflow rates are identical. However, during construction of the respirometry system, flow rate must be measured at all steps, across all connections, to verify integrity of flow.
• Needle valves: Mass flow meters may be purchased with mass flow controllers which permit setting flow rates. These are expensive, however. Respirometry research often will attempt to measure more than one animal at a time, which would necessitate one chamber per animal and thus controlled flow through each chamber. An alternative and more cost-effective method to control flow would be via stainless steel or carbon steel needle valves. Needle valves plus mass flow meters provides a cost-effective means to achieve desired flow rates. The valves cost about $20.

Tubing and chambers A mass flow meter, also known as inertial flow meter and coriolis flow meter, is a device that measures how much liquid is flowing through a tube. ... A needle valve is a type of valve usually used in flow metering applications. ...

• Tubing and connections : Various kinds of tubing can be use to connect the components of the respirometry system to and from the animal chamber. A variety of kinds of flexible tubing may be used, depending on the characteristics of the system. Acetyl, Bev-A-Line, Kynar, nylon, Tygon tubing and connectors may be used in regions of the system where oxidizing atmospheres are low (e.g., background levels of ozone only); teflon tubing would be recommended if there is an expectation for appreciable amounts of ozone to be present because it is inert to ozone. Teflon tubes are more costly and lack flexibility.
• Metabolic chambers: Chambers may be glass jars with rubber stoppers for lids; syringe barrels for small animals and insects; or constructed from Plexiglas. Ideally, chambers should be constructed from inert materials; for example, the acrylic plastics can absorb O₂ and would be a poor choice for respirometry with insects ^[5]. Chambers need to be constructed in a manner that yields rapid mixing of gases within the chamber. The simplest metabolic chamber for a small vertebrate might be a glass jar with a stopper. The stoppers are fitted with two ports: short extensions of teflon tubing are provided for line connections. Teflon tube extensions are pushed through the bulkhead and the line connection is finished by attaching a small hose clip to the base of the teflon tube extension. Additionally, an extension to the inlet port inside the jar should be provided -- this ensures that the animal's expiratory gases are not washed away by the in flow stream. The animal is sealed inside and the rubber stopper is held in place with velcro straps. If an upstream system is used, any metabolic chamber leak will result in loss of animal air and, therefore, an underestimate of the animal's metabolic rate. When you close an animal inside a metabolic chamber, attention must be paid to the seal. To ensure tight seals before closing the lid, firmly work the stopper into the jar and make sure that it is even. Use 1-2 straps (2 are better) and pull tightly. Acrylic (Plexiglas) chambers will be constructed for some uses, but precise engineering will be needed to ensure proper seating; gaskets will help, and judicious use of tight-fitting clamps will minimize leaks.
• Scrubbing tubes: Water before and after the animal chamber must be removed. One arrangement would use a large acrylic column of Drierite (8 mesh (scale), i.e., relatively coarse) upstream (before the push pump, before the animal chamber) to dry incurrent airstream and several tubes with smaller mesh (10-20, i.e., relatively fine) Drierite to remove water after the animal chamber. To prepare a scrubbing tube, make sure there is a small amount of cotton at either end of the tube to prevent dust particles from travelling to the analyzers. Use small amounts of cotton, say around 0.005 g, just enough to keep the dust out of the tubing. Large amounts of cotton will block air flow when/if it gets damp. Pour the Drierite into the tube with a funnel, tap the tube on the bench to pack the grains tightly (to increase surface area - air + water rushes through loose Drierite, requiring frequent changes of scrubbers), and cap off with a small amount of cotton. To remove carbon dioxide] before and after the animal chamber, Ascarite II is used (registered trademark of the Arthur H. Thomas Co.). Ascarite II contains NaOH, which is caustic (so don't get any on your skin and keep away from water). A scrubbing tube is prepared by placing a small amount of cotton into the tube end, filling one third of the way with 10-20 mesh Drierite, adding a small amount of cotton, then an additional third of the tube with the Ascarite II, another layer of cotton, followed by more Drierite and capping the tube off with another small amount of cotton. Tap the tube on the bench as each layer is added to pack the grains. Note: Driereite can be used over and over again (after heating in an oven), although indicating Drierite will loose color with repeated drying; Ascarite II is used once and will be considered a hazardous waste.

Analyzers Teflon is polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), a polymer of fluorinated ethylene. ... Structure of PMMA: (C5O2H8)n Structure of methyl methacrylate Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) or polymethyl-2-methylpropanoate is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. ... Velcro: hooks (left) and loops (right). ... Calcium sulfate is a common laboratory and industrial chemical. ... Sieving or screening is a method of categorizing a powder’s particle size by running the powder through a specific sized screen. ...

• Carbon dioxide analyzer: CO₂ analyzers typically use infrared-based detection methods to take advantage of the fact that CO₂ will absorb infra-red light and re-emit light at slightly longer wavelengths. The panel meter on the analyzer displays over the entire 0.01 - 10% CO₂ range and a voltage output proportional to CO₂ concentration is also generated for data recording.
• Oxygen analyzer: Modern O₂ analyzers use a fuel cell containing an acidic electrolyte, a heavy-metal anode and a thin gas-permeable membrane. Since the partial pressure of O₂ near the anode is zero, O₂ is driven by diffusion to the anode via the membrane at a rate proportional to ambient O₂ partial pressure. The fuel cell produces a voltage linearly proportional to the O₂ partial pressure at the membrane. As long as cabinet temperature is stable, and provided that air flow across the fuel cell is stable and within range, the response will be 0.01% or better depending on supporting electronics, software, and other considerations.

Finally, a computer data acquisition and control system would be a typical addition to complete the system. Instead of a chart recorder, continuous records of oxygen consumption and or carbon dioxide production are made with the assistance of an analog to digital converter coupled to a computer. Software captures, filters, converts, and displays the signal as appropriate to the experimenter's needs. A variety of companies and individuals service the respirometry community (e.g., Sable Systems, Qubit Systems, see also Warthog Systems). Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... A fuel cell is an electrochemical device similar to a battery, but differing from the latter in that it is designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed; i. ... An electrolyte is a substance that dissociates into free ions when dissolved (or molten), to produce an electrically conductive medium. ... Diagram of a zinc anode in a galvanic cell. ... In a mixture of ideal gases, each gas has a partial pressure which is the pressure which the gas would have if it alone occupied the volume. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Diagram of a zinc anode in a galvanic cell. ... A chart recorder is an electro mechanical device that records an electrical or mechanical input trend onto a piece of paper (the chart). ... This article or section should include material from AD converters In electronics, an analog-to-digital converter (abbreviated ADC, A/D, or A to D) is a device that converts continuous signals to discrete digital numbers. ...

References

See also

• Basal metabolic rate
• Calorimetry
• Metabolism
• VO2max

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy expended while at rest in a neutrally temperate environment, in the post-absorptive state (meaning that the digestive system is inactive, which requires about twelve hours of fasting in humans). ... Calorimetry is the science of measuring the heat of chemical reactions or physical changes. ... Overview of the citric acid cycle The citric acid cycle, one of the central metabolic pathways in aerobic organisms. ... During exercise VO2Max is the point at which the body can no longer increase the amount of oxygen it uses despite the intensity of exercise increasing. ...

External links

• Warthog systems
• Sable Systems
• Qubit Systems
• Challenge Technology
• Loligo Systems