In the past 50 years, extensive evidence has shown the ability of vertebrate cardiac non-neuronal cells to synthesize and release catecholamines (CA). This formed the mindset behind the search for the intrinsic endocrine heart properties, culminating in 1981 with the discovery of the natriuretic peptides (NP). CA and NP, co-existing in the endocrine secretion granules and acting as major cardiovascular regulators in health and disease, have become of great biomedical relevance for their potent diagnostic and therapeutic use. The concept of the endocrine heart was later enriched by the identification of a growing number of cardiac hormonal substances involved in organ modulation under normal and stress-induced conditions. Recently, chromogranin A (CgA), a major constituent of the secretory granules, and its derived cardio-suppressive and antiadrenergic peptides, vasostatin-1 and catestatin, were shown as new players in this framework, functioning as cardiac counter-regulators in ‘zero steady-state error’ homeostasis, particularly under intense excitatory stimuli, e.g. CA-induced myocardial stress. Here, we present evidence for the hypothesis that is gaining support, particularly among human cardiologists. The actions of CA, NP and CgA, we argue, may be viewed as a hallmark of the cardiac capacity to organize ‘whip-brake’ connection-integration processes in spatio-temporal networks. The involvement of the nitric oxide synthase (NOS)/nitric oxide (NO) system in this configuration is discussed. The use of fish and amphibian paradigms will illustrate the ways that incipient endocrine-humoral agents have evolved as components of cardiac molecular loops and important intermediates during evolutionary transitions, or in a distinct phylogenetic lineage, or under stress challenges. This may help to grasp the old evolutionary roots of these intracardiac endocrine/paracrine networks and how they have evolved from relatively less complicated designs. The latter can also be used as an intellectual tool to disentangle the experimental complexity of the mammalian and human endocrine hearts, suggesting future investigational avenues.

Echolocating toothed whales produce high-powered clicks by pneumatic actuation of phonic lips in their nasal complexes. All non-physeteroid toothed whales have two pairs of phonic lips allowing many of these species to produce both whistles and clicks at the same time. That has led to the hypothesis that toothed whales can increase the power outputs and bandwidths of clicks, and enable fast clicking and beam steering by acutely timed actuation of both phonic lip pairs simultaneously. Here we test that hypothesis by applying suction cup hydrophones on the sound-producing nasal complexes of three echolocating porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) with symmetrical pairs of phonic lips. Using time of arrival differences on three hydrophones, we show that all recorded clicks from these three porpoises are produced by the right pair of phonic lips with no evidence of simultaneous or independent actuation of the left pair. It is demonstrated that porpoises, despite actuation of only one sound source, can change their output and sound beam probably through conformation changes in the sound-producing soft tissues and nasal sacs, and that the coupling of the phonic lips and the melon acts as a waveguide for sound energy between 100 and 160 kHz to generate a forward-directed sound beam for echolocation.

Cupiennius salei (Araneae, Ctenidae) has, like most spiders, eight camera-type eyes. The anterior median eyes are called principal eyes and have a movable retina; all of the other eyes are referred to as secondary eyes and are equipped with a reflecting tapetum. The photoreceptors in the secondary eyes are arranged in rows on the tapetum and the inter-receptor angle along such a row is smaller than normal to it. In this study, the vertical and horizontal spatial cut-off frequencies of moving gratings were measured for the posterior median (PM) eyes, and the data were then compared with the anatomical data reported in the literature. Detection of moving objects in the secondary eyes enhances the eye muscle potential frequency in the principal eyes. We thus recorded the eye muscle activity with a telemetric unit as a monitor for motion detection while moving stimuli – sinusoidally modulated bright and dark stripes – were presented to the PM eyes on a computer screen. A significant increase in the eye muscle activity was measured for gratings at an angular wavelength of 2.0 deg in the vertical orientation and of 2.7 deg in the horizontal direction. In the vertical orientation the critical wavelength is twice the inter-receptor angle; in the horizontal orientation the spiders responded to wavelengths that are smaller than twice the corresponding inter-receptor angle. The cut-off frequency seems thus to be limited by the visual field of the photoreceptors rather than the inter-receptor angle. The relative intensity modulations modelled for the two different grating orientations in single photoreceptor cells were in line with our data.

The control of the gastrointestinal hyperemia that occurs after feeding in most animals is of fundamental importance for the subsequent absorption, metabolism and redistribution of nutrients. Yet, in fish, it has received little attention and the nature of it is far from clear. We sought to investigate the importance of extrinsic and intrinsic innervation of the gastrointestinal tract in the regulation of gastrointestinal blood flow in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The contribution of the extrinsic innervation, i.e. by the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous system, was examined by comparing the response to the injection of a predigested nutrient diet into the proximal intestine of untreated fish with the response in fish in which the splanchnic and vagal innervation of the gut had been removed. We also injected the predigested nutrient diet into anaesthetized fish treated with tetrodotoxin that would block the intrinsic innervation of the gut (i.e. enteric nervous system). Our results confirm the notion that the sympathetic portion of the extrinsic innervation maintains the basal vascular tone, but neither the splanchnic nor the vagal innervation is fundamental to the postprandial hyperemia. However, the tetrodotoxin treatment completely abolished the postprandial hyperemia, indicating the importance of the enteric nervous system. In conclusion, it seems as though the enteric nervous system is essential to the regulation of the postprandial hyperemia, and that the extrinsic innervation is involved mainly in the regulation of gastrointestinal blood flow under normal conditions and in response to central coordination with other organs.

Conspicuous traits produced by melanin deposition in integuments are often involved in visual communication. The information content of melanin-based signals is unclear as their expression is tightly controlled by genes and, apparently, is less dependent on individual condition. In birds, high heritabilities have been attributed to melanin-based plumages, often on the basis of egg-swapping manipulations (cross-fostering experiments). However, it is well known that female birds can differentially transfer testosterone to the egg yolk. Furthermore, high testosterone levels have been related to high oxidative stress. As we recently found that oxidative stress experienced during development influences the expression of melanin-based traits, here we manipulated the level of yolk testosterone in great tits (Parus major) to assess the influence of this maternal effect on the expression of the black breast stripe, a well-known melanin-based signal. We predicted that fledglings hatched from eggs with high testosterone levels will not only show larger black stripes but also experience changes in their antioxidant machinery. Indeed, the size of the black stripe of great tits hatched from testosterone-injected eggs was almost double that of controls. Furthermore, the same individuals showed a trend to higher levels of circulating antioxidants, which suggests an adaptive response against some testosterone-induced oxidative challenge.