Breathing in Rana Pipiens: the Mechanism of Ventilation

ABSTRACT The mechanism and pattern of ventilation in unrestrained Rana pipiens were investigated by simultaneous measurements of pulmonary pressure, buccal pressure and air flow at the nostrils. The buccal cavity was ventilated continuously at a rate of 90±3.2 oscillations min−1 by low-amplitude pressure swings above and below atmospheric. The lungs were ventilated intermittently by the buccal pump at a rate of 6.3±0.8 breaths min−1. Expiration of gas from the nostrils occurred on two occasions during a lung ventilation. Ventilation of the lungs was achieved by precise timing of two valves, the nostrils and glottis. The timing of the valves determined the volume of expiratory flow on these two occasions and its relationship to inspiratory flow. Thus, the breathing movements could cause inflation, deflation, or no change in the lung volume. Periodically the lung was inflated by a sequence of successive breaths. During inflations the nostrils closed simultaneously with glottal opening and almost no gas was expired during the first expiratory phase. This caused a complete mixing of buccal contents and pulmonary gas and this mixture was pumped back into the lung. Deflations were characterized by a delay in nostril closing that resulted in a large outflow of gas from the lung and buccal cavity during the first phase of expiration. More gas left the system than was pumped into the lungs. The results suggest that coherent air flow from glottis to nostrils, as required by the ‘jet stream’ hypothesis of Gans et al. (1969), is not likely to occur.