Implantable telemetry equipment for field and environmental physiology research

原生于极端环境的动物，例如那些氧气很少（缺氧）的动物，代表了研究生理功能和独特生理特征进化的潜在机制的特殊模型。这些动物展示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，可以对涉及缺氧的各种普遍性疾病产生新的见解。该申请正在申请资金，以获得一个用于植入式遥测和数据记录的系统，以测量自由行为动物的心血管和代谢生理学。它将使我们能够在实验室和野外研究用于克服生活在高海拔缺氧环境中的哺乳动物和鸟类缺氧的独特生理策略。因此，我们将能够了解从小鼠到高空飞翔的鹅等多种动物如何不仅能够在缺氧中生存，而且能够在野外的真实条件下茁壮成长并进行极端的运动。我们还将建立植入式遥测技术，作为一种共享资源，将在未来许多年内提供给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。该设备将对我们的研究计划产生变革性的影响，使新的研究处于环境生理学的最前沿，使我们能够取得广泛的生物学家感兴趣的根本性进展。这些设备还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.