Capture Myopathy: Syndrome within Captive Animals Essays

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers by Robert M. Sapolsky, gives a description of the inner workings of the human, and animal, stress response. He talks about what physiologically happens to people when they remain in a state of stress of a long period of time. The immune response, depression, aging and death, and sexual reproduction are just some of the topics Sapolsky discusses and how stress affects each of these.

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a disease that mainly affects the apex of the heart and does not cause any obstruction. [1] These abnormalities in the heart muscle can cause a wide variety of symptoms. As the heart becomes stiff it increases the pressure in the left ventricle which can push blood back into the lungs, causing shortness of breath in exercise. Chest pain can occur as there is not enough oxygen available to the cardiac muscle due to insufficient blood supply. Palpitations and lightheadedness, along with other conditions can occur as a result of HCM. In addition to these discomforting symptoms, the patient may develop an arrhythmias that often goes unnoticed. An arrhythmia takes place as the electrical conduction of the heart is disturbed by the abnormal scattering of myocytes. The two most common arrhythmias are atrial fibrillation causing palpitations, and ventricular tachycardia that can be life threatening causing sudden death. Both conditions can be controlled with medication. [4]

1. Dr. Sapolsky’s research in the Masai Mara National Park of Kenya involved collecting blood samples from baboons to measure hormones involved in the stress response. After anaesthetizing the baboon in an unassuming way (to avoid hormones produced from anticipatory stress) he collected blood samples from their bodies.

Stress Is the body’s way of responding to the hectic lives most of us live, whether good or bad. The body releases chemicals into the bloodstream, which creates a rush of energy and strength If an individual is feeling stressed. This energy can prove useful if an individual is in physical danger. Because it enables a person’s survival instinct kicks in; it is often described as ‘fight or flight.’ In addition, stress can also have a negative effect on the body, for example: suffering from stress and leaving it unchecked can contribute to health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes.

There are three different theories that are used when talking about how we react to stress through the physiological aspect or the psychological aspect. The first is part of the physiological aspect of stress called the Cannon Fight or Flight theory which was proposed in 1914. Fight or Flight response is a physiological stress response that evolved to help organisms to survive immediate danger. The theory states that when an organism, human being or animal, faces imminent danger (acute stressor) the body arouses quickly and is ready to act via two different systems. They are the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system. The sympathetic nervous system stimulates the adrenal medulla which is part of the endocrine system and is the region that produces the hormones such as adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones increase heart rate, blood flow, and glucose levels to prepare the body for an emergency. This response from the body suggests that the body knows how to protect itself and reach homeostasis. These two systems work together to either fight against the danger or flight away from the danger. Lord, King and Pfister in 1976 studied the Fight or Flight response in animals through a very unethical study. They administered chemicals on male hooded Wistar rats which inhibited the neurotransmitters from functioning normally. This made it very difficult for the rats to escape an electric shock. The results of the study suggest that the Flight or Fight response

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers is a book about the physiology of stress. It gets into great detail about what exactly is going on inside the body during periods of high stress, and also what short and long term affects are caused by that stress. The first chapter give a brief description of each chapter in the rest of the book. Each subsequent chapter explains different stressors, levels of stress, and hormonal responses to stress. Many of the chapters also include research and discoveries on how stress affects the human body, many of which are somewhat recent discoveries, only occurring in the last one hundred years or so. Robert Sapolsky is able to explain to his readers much about the physiology of stress and how endocrinology plays the most

As this disease progresses and the workload of the heart is consistently increased, ventricular hypertrophy occurs. At first, the hypertrophied heart muscles will increase contractility, thus increasing cardiac output; however, as hypertrophy of the ventricular myocardial cells continues, it begins to have poor contractility, requires more oxygen to perform, and has poor circulation from the coronary arteries. This can result in heart tissue ischemia and lead into cardiac dysrhythmias (Lewis et al. 2014, 768).

When put under stress, both humans and baboons have cortisol and adrenaline found in their blood. These hormones are critical for survival, and other physical changes in the body such as a racing heart, increased blood pressure, and quickly responding muscles are all present when the body is put under stress. However, in regard to humans, these same physical responses can occur when the body is not in a life in death situation. Instead, it is common for psychological stresses such as public speaking, taking a test, paying taxes, or driving a vehicle to invoke the same physiological responses as someone in a critical situation. This can be unhealthy for the human body, as many people can get worked up over multiple stressors in one day,

Dr. Arantza Manzanal explains how takotsubo was initially described “as a syndrome of reversible LV dysfunction with wall-motion abnormalities that involve the apical and midventricular segments” (57). Dr. Paolo Angelini rationalizes that “only during the last 2 decades have Japanese authors specifically categorized transient takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) as an entity in itself. Before that time, TTC was often called “acute myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries” (312). We will

One way this can be shown is through Ivan Pavlov’s tests on animals all exhibit symptoms of a nervous breakdown when put under prolonged physical and mental stress. “If the stress to which he is subjected is sufficiently

Viewed from an evolutionary standpoint, in early times stress caused the stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in an outpouring of the hormones epinephrine, norepinephrine, and glucocorticoids that were essential to the life-preserving fight or flight reactions of primitive man (Anthony 1988). However, the nature of stress for the individual today is different. It is only occasionally and unexpectedly that one is confronted with overwhelming, life-threatening stresses. Present stresses arise from everyday stresses of work, finances and school. The problem is that the body still continues to respond in the same fashion as primitive times. This makes the large release of hormones very harmful. They can cause an increase in blood pressure, damage muscle tissue, lead to infertility, inhibit growth, damage the hippocampus and suppress the immune system (Carlson 1994). It is therefore, important that individuals learn to control the stresses in their lives. The more detrimental coping behaviors will cause a larger change

In cardiomyopathy the heart muscle becomes enlarged, thick or rigid, and in rare cases the muscle tissue can be replaced with scar tissue. As this disease worsens, the heart becomes weaker and unable to pump blood normally through the body and maintain a normal electrical rhythm. This can lead to heart failure or irregular heartbeats. The weakening of the heart also can lead to other problems such as heart valve problems. Cardiomyopathy can be acquired or inherited. It can affect people of all ages. There are various types of cardiomyopathy includes, hypertrophic, dilated, restrictive cardiomyopathy, Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and unclassified cardiomyopathy. Some people with cardiomyopathy will never have any signs and symptoms. But in some people the signs and symptoms will develop in the early stages of the disease. As cardiomyopathy worsens and the heart weakens, signs and symptoms of heart failure usually occur. The signs and symptoms of cardiomyopathy includes, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, especially with physical exertion, fatigue, swelling in the ankles, feet, legs, abdomen, and veins in the neck. Other signs and symptoms may include dizziness, light-headedness, fainting during physical activity, irregular heartbeats, chest pain, especially after physical exertion or heavy meals, and heart murmurs. The treatment of cardiomyopathy include lifestyle changes, medicines, surgery, implanted devices to correct arrhythmias (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute,

Future studies should use different stress-exposure periods than we used across our experimental methodology; different periods of stress exposure may yield more acute physiological responses. Also, future studies could use different levels of confinement (e.g., smaller containers) in order to theoretically induce different stress responses among plethodontid salamanders. Additionally, future studies could observe the effects of social stress on plethodontid salamanders and their physiological responses to social stress. Sample sizes should also be increased in the future in order to increase statistical relevance of

The heart is one of the most important organs in an organism’s body, no matter if they are aquatic, amphibian, or a mammal. This super organ works automatically, able to pump massive amounts of oxygen rich blood through the body by means of electrical impulses and the opening and closing of valves within its many layers. It is what keeps us and every other creature on this earth alive; so it is only natural for one to fear when there might be a problem with one’s heart. A cardiac arrhythmia can happen to anyone, no matter the age, race, or gender, and as such, doctors and scientist have spent years trying to better understand the heart and the way it functions so that they can try to prevent these problems and save millions of lives.

Psychological and physical well-being and the overall quality of life are under a constant threat of stress and thus, psychological and medical sciences have long been concerned with studying stress response. Cox (1979) claimed that because of the poor understanding and defining it, the concept of stress tends to be rather elusive. The term, “stress”, commonly describes any physchological or physical alteration that deranges the organism’s homeostasis (or balance). This essay reviews some of the biological factors involved in stress and it has been organized in the following way. The paper begins by briefly introducing the concept of stress. It will then go on to discus and describe the automatic response (fight or flight reaction),