Advances in Physiological Research PDF
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Advances in Physiological Research Advances in Physiological Research Edited by H. McLennan J. R. Ledsome C. H. S. McIntosh and D. R. Jones University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Plenum Press • New York and London Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data International Union of Physiological Sciences. Congress (30th: 1986: Vancouver. B.C.) Advances in physiological research. Proceedings of the 30th Congress of the International Union of PhYSiological Sciences held June 13-19. 1986 in Vancouver. Can. Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Physiology-Congresses. I. McLennan. Hugh. date. II. Title. OPI.15715 1986 59901 87-14181 ISBN-13: 978-1-4615-9494-9 e-ISBN-13: 978-1-4615-9492-5 001: 10.1007/978-1-4615-9492-5 Proceedings of the 30th Congress of the International Union ot Physiological Sciences. held June 13-19. 1986. in Vancouver. Canada © 1987 Plenum Press. New York Soft cover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1987 A Division of Plenum Publishing Corporation 233 Spring Street. New York. N.Y. 10013 All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced. stored in a retrieval system. or transmitted in any form or by any means. electronic. mechanical. photocopying. microfilming. recording. or otherwise. without written permission from the Publisher PREFACE The XXX Congress of the International Union of Physiological Sciences took place in Vancouver, Canada, in July 1986; and this Volume contains a selection of the Review Lectures which formed part of the Congress programme. They cover most of the areas of contemporary physiology and were presented by distinguished scientists from many parts of the world. An innovation at this Congress was the inclusion in the programme of a number of lectures devoted to historical subjects. These lectures attracted large audiences at the meetings, and three of them also appear in this book. Finally, the Plenary Lectures which formed part of the opening and closing ceremonies and which deal with some aspects of Canadian physiological history, find a place here as well. The Editors are grateful to all of the authors who provided the manuscripts which go to make up this book, and to John Donald for his invaluable assistance in the preparation of the final text; as well of course to all of the contributors whose participation made the Congress the success which it was. It is hoped that this Volume will provide a useful memento of the event. H. McLennan J.R. Ledsome C.H.S. McIntosh D.R. Jones v CONTENTS PLENARY LECTURES Opening Plenary Lecture: Pioneering in Physiology in British Columbia. 1 D.H. Copp Closing Plenary Lecture: Michel Sarrazin, 1659-1734 •••••••••• 13 H. McLennan HISTORICAL LECTURES Walter Bradford Cannon: Physiologist and Citizen of the World • • • • • 19 A.C. Barger Synapses of the Central Nervous System from Sherrington to the Present •••••••• 43 J.C. Eccles The Gaskell Effect and a Hundred Years On • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 69 O.F. Hutter REVIEW LECTURES Fads and Fallacies in Contemporary Physiology • • • • • • • • . . • . • 91 E. Florey The Architecture of Neural Centres and Understanding Neural Organization ••••••••• 111 J. Szenta~ gothai The Adrian Zotterman Lecture: Cutaneous Sensation ••••••••••• 131 E. Torebjork vii Novel Neurotransmitters and the Chemical Coding of Neurones •••••• 143 J.B. Furness, M. Costa, J.L. Morris and I.L. Gibbins Central Pattern Generation: A Concept under Scrutiny ••••••••• 167 K.G. Pearson Sympathetic Nerve Recordings in Man • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 187 B.G. Wallin The Computational Study of Vision ••••••••••••••••••• 203 E.C. Hildreth Some Concepts deriving from the Neural Circuit for Hormone-driven Mammalian Reproductive Behaviour ••• 233 D.W. Pfaff and C.V. Mobbs The Neural Determination of Skeletal Muscle Fibre Characteristics ••• 253 T.P. Feng Muscle Mechanics • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .271 D.C.S. White Smooth Muscle Energy Metabolism: Cytoso1ic Compartmentation of Metabolism and Function • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••• .295 R.J. Paul Thyroid Hormones, Membranes and the Evolution of Endothermy •••••• 305 A.J. Hulbert Modern Concepts of Regulation of Cerebral Macro- and Microcirculation .321 G. Mched1ishvi1i Role of Chemical Substances in the Control of Food Intake • • • • • • .331 Y. Oomura Pulmonary Oedema ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .353 F.P. Chinard The August Krogh Lecture: The World as a Laboratory. Physiological Insights from Nature's Experiments •••••••• 377 K. Johansen viii The Duck as a Diver • • . • • . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .397 D.R. Jones The Role of Mitochondria in the Control of Cellular Calcium Homeostasis • • . • • • • • • • . . . .411 J • B. McMillin On Evolution of Renal Function and Water-Salt Homeostasis • • • • • • .429 Yu. V. Natochin Mechanisms of Water Transport across Tubular Epithelia: Routes for Movement • • • • • . . .455 G. Whittembury In Search of the Physical Basis of Life • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .469 G.N. Ling Index • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .493 ix OPENING PLENARY LECTURE: PIONEERING IN PHYSIOLOGY IN BRITISH COLUMBIA D. Harold Copp Department of Physiology University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 CANADA Mr. Chairman, honoured guests, fellow physiologists and friends. I appreciate this opportunity of addressing the opening session of the XXX Congress of Physiological Sciences, and I would like to add my welcome to those of my many old friends who are present on this platform. I have chosen as my title "Pioneering in Physiology in British Columbia" and will speak briefly of our City and University and then in more detail of my experience as a pioneer physiologist in the Department which I started in 1950 and in research in the field of calcium metabolism. VANCOUVER There were Indian in this region for centuries before the v~llages white man arrived in 1865 to log the tall straight Douglas Firs which were ideal for the masts and spars of sailing ships. Indeed, Stanley Park and part of Point Grey had been set apart as naval reserves for this purpose. In 1886, the sleepy sawmill town of Granville became the western terminus of the CPR, and with the arrival of the first transcontinental train, it was incorporated as the City of Vancouver. With typical exuberance, the City was burned down shortly thereafter and City Hall became a tent. The City Fathers had the wisdom, even amidst this disaster, to set aside the naval reserve as Stanley Park. UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA From the time that the Province of British Columbia joined Canada in 1871, there was pressure to set up a Provincial University, and the University of British Columbia was incorporated by an Act of the Legislature in 1908. Land was cleared for the permanent campus on the magnificent site on Point Grey and a start was made on a science building when World War I intervened. Classes were begun in some old shacks near the Vancouver General Hospital which had previously been used by McGill College of B.C. After the war, there was increasing pressure to move to the permanent site at Point Grey, culminating in massive demonstrations and the Great Trek to the unfinished science building. The government responded promptly, the building was finished, and classes moved to the campus in 1925. However, the Great Depression hit B.C. hard and there was talk of closing the University. At that time, there were only two permanent buildings and a number of temporary huts. Following the Second World War, the University was faced with the challenge of the returning veterans who swelled the enrollment from 3,000 to 10,000 in a single year. This challenge was met by three great pioneers -- Norman McKenzie, the president, a man of vision who could see the future needs of the University and the Province; Gordon Shrum, a man of action who, without bothering to get permission from the Army or the Government in Ottawa, brought dozens of abandoned army huts to the campus to provide classrooms and living quarters for faculty and students; and Walter Gage, a man of heart who was devoted to the welfare of students and faculty. DEPARTMENT OF PHYSIOLOGY There was growing pressure to start a medical school and in 1949 Myron Weaver -- a physiologist and Associate Dean of Medicine at Minnesota was appointed Dean -- working out of an office at the end of a corridor in Shrum's Physics Department. The next year I was invited to head the Physiology Department in the new school. My reluctance to leave the University of California was overcome by my disgust with the loyalty oath which had just been imposed. I arrived on Labour Day, just before the medical class was to register. After depositing my family in a one bedroom hut in what was affectionately referred to as "Shrum's slum", I hastened over to Hut B6. This hut, which was shared with Anatomy and Pharmacology, was to house the Department for the next 12 years. I found to my dismay that none of the equipment which I had ordered was there -- not even a test 2 tube. In those days, smoked drum kymographs were essential to a Physiology laboratory and I found that the Palmer company would not promise delivery for two years. I cabled them to deliver in six months or cancel. They delivered. I canvassed my friends in Canadian Departments of Physiology and finally obtained a loan of 30 retired Harvard kymographs from Reg Haist at the University of Toronto. Meantime, I had persuaded a sympathetic dean to postpone physiology classes for six weeks. I took advantage of this delay to visit a number of the leading North American Departments to learn how to teach Physiology and run a Department. I recall that I was allowed $5 a day for hotels and $5 for meals and taxis. It was an exciting experience, and I received help and encouragement from some of the great physiologists of the day -- Wallace Fenn in Rochester, Homer Smith in New York, John Fulton and C.N.H. Long at Yale, Hank McIntosh at McGill, Charles Best and Reg Haist at.Toronto, Joe Doupe at Manitoba and Louis Jacques in Saskatoon. I returned inspired and ready to face the onslaught of 60 eager medical students with the aid of Edgar Black, a distinguished fish physiologist who had been recruited by Dean Weaver from the Biology Department. A dour Scot seven years my senior, I am sure he had some misgivings about my competence to head the department and was heard to mutter doubt!! about that "young whippersnapper from California". During that first year I gave most of the lectures, set up the laboratory and acted as secretary, technician and demonstrator. It was a busy year but we did get by on a budget of $18,000. Since many of our laboratories in those days depended on the use of pound dogs, I approached David Ricardo, executive secretary of the Vancouver SPCA, and he agreed that the Society would not oppose our approach to City Council to purchase pound dogs for the Department provided that they were treated humanely, were fully anaesthetized when experimented on and were disposed of painlessly afterwards. I in turn invited Dave to come to the Department at any time, unannounced, and to give a lecture to our students on the humane care of animals. The Department has continued its good relations with the SPCA and is currently involved in a research project with the Society and the University. In 1952, on the advice of our Congress president Hank KcIntosh, I recruited John Honour who had been Sir Thomas Lewis' right-hand man at University College London. John brought his great wealth of technical and laboratory experience to the Department. He also trained Kurt Henze, who so impressed me when I met him at a dog training class that I appointed him as departmental technician. Over the years, Kurt has been responsible for 3
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