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Smith, A. H.

Publications and source records attributed to Smith, A. H..

At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1979

Methodology for estimation of total body composition in laboratory mammals

A standardized dissection and chemical analysis procedure was developed for individual animals of several species in the size range mouse to monkey (15 g to 15 kg). The standardized procedure permits rigorous comparisons to be made both interspecifically and intraspecifically of organ weights and gross chemical composition in mammalian species series, and was applied successfully to laboratory mice, hamsters, rats, guinea pigs, and rabbits, as well as to macaque monkeys. The procedure is described in detail.

Pace, N.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Influence of the ambient acceleration field upon acute acceleration tolerance in chickens

The paper measured the acceleration tolerance of domestic fowl (Rhode Island Red cocks), acutely exposed to a 6 Gz field, as the time over which a normal heart rate can be maintained. This period of circulatory adjustment ends abruptly with pronounced bradycardia. For chickens which previously have been physiologically adapted to 2.5 -G field, the acute acceleration tolerance is greatly increased. The influence of the ambient acceleration field on the adjustment of the circulatory system appears to be a general phenomenon.

Smith, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Body mass, composition, and food intake in rabbits during altered acceleration fields

Mature male Polish rabbits were subjected to varying gravitational fields in an animal centrifuge in order to evaluate the effects of acceleration and deacceleration on body mass, body composition, and food intake. The acceleration field intensity was increased by 0.25-G increments to a maximum of 2.5 G at intervals which permitted physiological adaptation at each field. Control animals of the same age were maintained at earth gravity under identical conditions of constant-light environment at a room temperature of 23 + or - 5 C. It is shown that increasing the acceleration-field intensity leads to a decrease in body mass. The regulated nature of this decreased body mass is tested by the response to an additional three-day fasting of animals adapted physiologically to 2.5 G. Ad libitum food intake per kg body mass per day tends to increase in chronically accelerated animals above 1.75 G. Increase in water content in centrifuged animals after physiological adaptation to 2.5 G is the result of decreasing body fat. Body mass and food intake returned to the precentrifuged levels of control animals within six weeks after cessation of centrifugation.

Katovich, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1977

Body composition changes in monkeys during long-term exposure to high acceleration fields

Adult male pig-tailed monkeys, weighing 10-14 kg, were subjected to continuous centrifuging stress for 7 months in acceleration fields up to 2.5 g. In vivo analytical techniques were used to evaluate parameters of body composition, body-fluid distribution, and hematology. Statistically significant losses in total body mass, lean body mass, total body water, extracellular water content and interstitial water content proportional to the level of high g were demonstrated.

Pace, N.↗
NASA NTRS1977

The roles of body mass and gravity in determining the energy requirements of homoiotherms

Studies by Kleiber and by Brody in the 1930's established the 3/4 power of body weight as the unit of metabolic size for homoiotherms. Later Kleiber conceived of the energy requirement as a composite function, with a thermoregulatory component that is proportional to heat loss, and an antigravity component that is directly proportional to body weight. Maintenance feed requirements (F) have been measured with groups of small animals chronically exposed to several acceleration fields (G). Analysis of the results leads to an arithmetic relationship between the maintenance requirement and acceleration field strength: F sub G = F sub 0 + kG. When the equations are compared for groups of different body size, F sub 0 tends to vary between the 0.4 and 0.5 power of body mass - and k tends to be the same, irrespective of body mass. These findings tend to confirm the Kleiber concept of a composite nature of homoiotherm maintenance requirements.

Smith, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Gravitational effects on body composition in birds

Gallinaceous birds, presenting a wide range of body size, were adapted physiologically to hyperdynamic environments, provided by chronic centrifugation. Chemical composition was measured directly on prepared carcasses, which were anatomically comparable, and more amenable to analysis than the intact body. Body mass and body fat decreased arithmetically with increasing field strength and also with increasing body mass. Water content of lean tissue increased in hyperdynamic environments, but irrespectively of body size.

Smith, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Respiratory gas exchange of high altitude adapted chick embryos

Study of gas exchange by embryos from chickens acclimatized to an altitude of 3800 m. The oxygen partial pressure and carbon dioxide partial pressure differences across the egg shell were measured and found to be less than the values previously reported for sea-level eggs by about a factor of two. Further measurements of embryonic oxygen consumption and shell conductivity to oxygen indicated that, compared to eggs at sea level, oxygen consumption was reduced by a factor of 0.58 while conductivity to oxygen was increased only by a factor of 1.07 in the high-altitude eggs. These independent measurements predict the change in oxygen partial pressure across the egg shell of the high-altitude eggs to be only 0.54 times that of sea-level eggs; the directly measured factor was 0.53. The authors conclude that at high altitude, a major adaptation of the chick embryo is a reduced metabolism which decreases the change in oxygen partial pressure across the egg shell since its gas conductivity remains essentially unchanged.

Wangensteen, O. D.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Gravity as a factor in the animal environment.

Review of current knowledge, research, and research planning on the influence of gravity upon living organisms. Discussed factors affecting the adaptability of animals to increased acceleration fields include age, sex, posture, and body size. Affected functions and aspects reviewed cover growth and mature body size, body composition, maintenance feed requirements, and feed utilization efficiency. It is expected that research involving the exposure of animals to altered gravity states will lead to new biological concepts of very broad importance.

Smith, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1972

The effect of chronic erythrocytic polycythemia and high altitude upon plasma and blood volumes.

Comparison of two kinds of physiological chronic erythrocytic polycythemias in order to differentiate the specific effect of erythrocytic polycythemia from the general effects of high altitude upon the plasma volume. The two kinds were produced hormonally in female chickens, at sea level, or by protracted high-altitude exposures. It appears that the vascular system of the body may account for an increase in red blood cell mass either by reduction in plasma volume, or by no change in plasma volume, resulting in differential changes in total blood volumes.

Burton, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Stress and adaptation responses to repeated acute acceleration.

Study in which groups of adult male chickens (single-comb white leghorn) were exposed daily to acceleration (centrifugation) of 2 or 3 G for 10 min, 1, 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24 hr (continuously), or 0 time (controls). After approximately five months of this intermittent treatment (training), the birds were exposed to continuous accelerations of the same G force (intensity). The degree of stress and adaptation of each bird was determined by survival and relative lymphocyte count criteria. Intermittent training exposures of 2 G developed levels of adaptation in birds directly proportional to the duration of their daily exposure. Intermittent training periods at 3 G, however, produced a physiological deterioration in birds receiving daily exposures of 8 hr or more. Adaptive benefits were found only in the 1- and 4-hr-daily intermittent 3-G exposure groups. Exposure to 3 G produced an immediate stress response as indicated by a low relative lymphocyte count which returned to control (preexposed) values prior to the next daily acceleration period in the 10-min, 1-hr, and 4-hr groups. This daily recovery period from stress appeared to be necessary for adaptation as opposed to deterioration for the more severe environmental (3 G) alteration.

Burton, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1972

The foundations of space biology and medicine. Volume 2: Ecological and physiological bases of space biology and medicine. Part 3: Effect on the organism of dynamic flight factors. Chapter 1: Principles of gravitational biology

The physical principles of gravitation are discussed, such as gravitational and intertial forces, weight and mass, weightlessness, size and scale effects, scale limits of gravitational effects, and gravity as a biogenic factor. The behavior of the accelerative force gravitation, is described. This law proposes and quantifies the mutual gravitational attraction existing between all bodies of matter, the force being proportional to the product of masses, and inversely related to the square of the distance separating them. Gravity orientation, chronic acceleration, and hematology are examined. Systematic responses, such as circulation and renal functions, are also considered, along with animal response to a decreased acceleration field and physiology of hyper- and hypodynamic fields.

Smith, A. H.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Effect of altered 'weight' upon animal tolerance to restraint.

The effect of altered weight upon animal tolerance to restraint was determined by simulating various accelerative forces with directed lead weights using restrained and nonrestrained domestic fowl (chickens). Weighting (increased weight) and conterweighting (reduced weight) produced a stressed condition - reduced relative lymphocyte counts, loss of body mass, and/or the development of a disorientation syndrome - in both restrained and nonrestrained (caged only) birds. The animal's tolerance to altered weight appeared to be a function of its body weight. Unrestrained birds were stressed by counterweighting (mean plus or minus standard error) 58.3 plus or minus 41% of their body weight, whereas restrained birds tolerated only 32.2 plus or minus 2.6% reduction in body weight. A training regimen for restrained birds was not effective in improving their tolerance to a reduced weight environment. It was concluded that domestic fowl living in a weightless (space) environment should be restrained minimally and supported by ventrally directed tension equivalent to approximately 50% of their body mass (their weight in a 1 G environment).

Burton, R. R.↗