Respiratory stops of insects, why?
2005/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria
Insects spend hours without breathing. Researchers have now understood why, which seems to be a way to avoid overdose of oxygen. Oxygen is an essential fuel for living beings, but in its measure; if more oxygen molecules are transferred from what is necessary to the tissues of the body, it can damage proteins, lipids and DNA and cause the death of cells.
Collaboration between two Californian and Berlinese universities has led to an analysis of the respiratory habits of the Atacus Atlas, a nocturnal butterfly. The researchers, by changing the oxygen level in the pup environment, have seen that the greater the amount of oxygen that is subjected to pups, the less often they breathe. Consequently, insects do not alter the proportion of internal oxygen and carbon dioxide.
According to researchers, insects make respiratory stops when they have little metabolic need, which reduces the amount of oxygen distributed to tissues. On the contrary, if your metabolic activity is added, for example when you are flying, you breathe continuously.
The respiratory stops of insects would, therefore, be a way to avoid the overdose of oxygen. We are facing the most solid hypothesis so far, but there is still much to be investigated and, among other things, the experiment must be done with more species of insects.
