Effects of seasonal variations, acute hypothermia and physostigmine on cardiac acetylcholine, tissue glycogen and blood sugar concentrations in frogs.

ABSTRACT

The effects of seasonal variations and the effects of acute hypothermia (8.0 degrees) and/or physostigmine (PHY) in different seasons have been studied on the tissue glycogen, cardiac acetylcholine (ACh) and blood sugar contents in frogs. Seasonal variations had no significant effect on cardiac cholinergic activity. However, cardiac ACh concentration was significantly reduced by hypothermia in all seasons. The extents of increase in cardiac ACh in PHY pretreated hypothermic frogs indicate that hypothermia depresses cardiac cholinergic acitity much more in summers than in rainy and winter seasons. The tissue glycogen contents and blood sugar concentrations were significantly lower in winter season than those in summer and rainy seasons. Hypothermia produced marked tissue glycogenolysis and hyperglycaemia during summer and rainy seasons and not during winters. In general PHY had no effect on tissue glycogen contents in any season, but it produced hyperglycaemia during rainy and winter seasons. PHY pretreatment increased cardiac, hepatic and muscle glycogen contents and produced hyperglycaemia in hypothermic winter frogs, and it increased ventricular and muscle glycogen contents during summer and hepatic glycogen during rainy seasons, there being no significant effects on blood sugar.