U.S.-Japan Cooperative Science: Endrocrinological and Physiological Studies of Water Absorption Behavior

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9815804HillyardThis award supports a three year collaborative research project between Professor Stanley Hillyard of the University of Nevada in Las Vegas and Professor Takatoshi Nagai of the Teiyko University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan. The researchers will be undertaking a study of endrocrinological and physiological studies of water absorption behavior in toads. Unlike other classes of vertebrates, amphibians obtain water by osmotic flow across their skin rather than by oral drinking. It has been demostrated that the toad skin serves a chemosensory function that is analogous to the tongue of vertebrates that drink orally and that this function allows animals to detect and avoid solutions that are hyperosmotic to their body fluids. The primary goal of the research is to clarify the role of ion channels in the sensory function of epithelial cells in the amphibian skin and how this role is influenced by a hormone that is known to stimulate cutaneous drinking behavior. Selected toads of the genus Bufo will be studied with a three-tiered approach that will correlate behavioral observations, epithelial cell function and the activity of sensory neurons.This project brings together the efforts of two laboratories that have complementary expertise and research capabilities. The U.S. researchers' expertise is in the area of environmental physiology and behavior and the Japanese have expertise in cell physiology and microscopy. This research advances international human resources through the participation of graduate students. Through the exchange of ideas and technology, this project will broaden our base of basic knowledge and promote international understanding and cooperation.***