Implantable telemetry equipment for field and environmental physiology research

生活在极端环境中的动物，如缺氧环境，为研究生理功能的潜在机制和独特生理特征的进化提供了特殊的模型。这些动物证明了表型可塑性和遗传适应性如何相互作用，将生理系统推向极限，有时支持令人难以置信的表现。阐明一些动物如何解决与缺氧相关的问题的机制基础是一种有前途的创新手段，可以对各种涉及缺氧的普遍疾病产生新的见解。本申请申请资金，以获得一种植入式遥测和数据记录系统，以测量自由行为动物的心血管和代谢生理。这将使我们能够在实验室和野外研究生活在高海拔低氧环境中的哺乳动物和鸟类克服缺氧的独特生理策略。因此，我们将能够理解各种各样的动物，从老鼠到高飞的鹅，如何不仅能够在缺氧中生存，而且能够在野外的现实条件下茁壮成长并完成极端的运动壮举。我们还将建立植入式遥测作为共享资源，在未来的许多年里，麦克马斯特和附近机构的许多啮齿动物和其他动物研究人员都可以使用。该设备将对我们的研究项目产生变革性的影响，使我们能够在环境生理学的前沿进行新颖的研究，使我们能够取得广泛的生物学家感兴趣的基本进步。这些设备也将极大地丰富我们提供的培训环境，在未来五年内，至少有3名博士后，10名研究生和许多本科生受益。

Animals native to extreme environments, such as those with very little oxygen (hypoxia), represent exceptional models for investigating the underlying mechanisms of physiological function and the evolution of unique physiological traits. These animals exemplify how phenotypic plasticity and genetic adaptation interact to push physiological systems to their limits, sometimes supporting incredible feats of performance. Elucidating the mechanistic underpinnings for how some animals have solved the problems associated with hypoxia is a promising and innovative means of generating novel insights into a variety of pervasive diseases involving oxygen deprivation. This application is requesting funds to acquire a system for implantable telemetry and data logging to measure cardiovascular and metabolic physiology in freely behaving animals. It will allow us to study the unique physiological strategies used to overcome oxygen deprivation in mammals and birds living in the hypoxic environments at high altitudes, in both the lab and the field. We will thus be able to understand how a diversity of animals, from mice to high-flying geese, are able to not only survive in hypoxia, but to thrive and perform extreme feats of exercise in real-world conditions in the wild. We will also establish implantable telemetry as a shared resource that will be available to many rodent and other animal researchers at McMaster and nearby institutions for many years to come. The equipment will have a transformative effect on our research programs by enabling novel research that is at the forefront of environmental physiology, allowing us to make fundamental advancements that will be of interest to a broad range of biologists. The equipment will also greatly enrich the training environment we provide, benefitting at least 3 postdocs, 10 graduate students, and many undergraduates over the next five years.