On The Trail of Physiology across America: First Stop, Arizona (Part 2)

While searching the website of The American Physiological Society, I discovered that there are local chapters of the society all across America. So I have decided to bring highlights from their meetings to you. We will be starting with the Arizona Physiological Society as they just held their annual meeting at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona.

Here are some highlights of current comparative physiology research from the meeting's abstracts for Saturday November 6th:

Squid Accessory Hearts: Researchers at Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ) are studying squid, which have highly trabeculated hearts, to better understand the function of the trabeculae muscles. Uyeno TA, Barbano DL, Nishikawa KC. The Function of Trabeculae in the Accessory Heart Wall of Squid. Visit Dr. Nishikawa's wesbite.

Stressed Sheep: Researchers at The University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) and University of Cambridge (Cambridge, UK) are studying how to counteract the inhibitory effects of low oxygen-mediated catecholamine release on insulin secretion in sheep. Yates DT, Fowden AL, Macko AR, Chen X, Green AS, and Limesand SW. Adrenal Demedullation Abolishes Hypoxemia-induced Catecholamine Suppression of Glucose Stimulated Insulin Secretion in Fetal Sheep. Visit Dr. Limesand's and Dr. Fowden's websites.

Vasodilation in Doves: Researchers at Arizona State University (Phoenix, AZ) have been examining what controls differences in dilation between the mesenteric and skeletal muscle vascular beds. Lekic M, Jarrett C, Smith C, and Sweazea KL. Characterization of ACh-mediated Vasodilation in Tibialis and Mesenteric Arteries Isolated from Mourning Doves. Visit Dr. Sweazea's website.