Respiratory Physiology of Newborn Mammals: A Comparative Perspective

by Jacopo P. Mortola MD

Overview

Respiratory Physiology of Newborn Mammals: A Comparative Perspective emphasizes common trends among mammalian species in an effort to extract general rules about both the structure and the mechanisms of neonatal respiration. Jacopo P. Mortola outlines the key aspects of developmental respiratory physiology in the perinatal period. Based on what is learned from interspecies comparisons, Mortola addresses the question of how pulmonary ventilation fulfills the metabolic requirements of the newborn infant. Exceptions to the rules illuminate adaptations to particular tasks or conditions. Each chapter concludes with interspecies comparisons and clinical implications for the medically or zoologically oriented reader. The combination of developmental and comparative perspectives offers an original contribution to the field of developmental physiology.

The book is divided into five chapters: "Gestation and Birth," Metabolic and Ventilatory Requirements," "Mechanical Behavior of the Respiratory Pump," "Reflex Control of the Breathing Pattern," and "Changes in Temperature and Respiratory Gases." It will be of value to researchers, clinicians, and students interested in developmental physiology, comparative biology, and zoology, as well as neonatalogists and pediatric pulmonologists who are interested in alternative perspectives on current clinical practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801864971
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	05/16/2001
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.12(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jacopo P. Mortola, M.D., is a professor of physiology at McGill University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Gestation and Birth
Chapter 2. Metabolic Ventilatory Requirements
Chapter 3. Mechanical Behavior of the Respiratory Pump
Chapter 4. Reflex Control of the Breathing Pattern
Chapter 5. Temperature and Respiratory Gases
Summary

What People are Saying About This

W. Alan Hodson

Dr. Mortola is an international and much-respected expert regarding comparative physiology in newborn mammals. This book is an extremely thorough analysis of complex physiological changes occurring across a wide variety of species from the smallest to the largest animals.

— W. Alan Hodson, M.D., University of Washington Medical Center

Donald Bartlett

Respiratory Physiology of Newborn Mammals is a fine piece of scholarship and imaginative analysis. It will be highly valued by professional physiologists and other biological scientists, both for its data summaries and its ideas.

— Donald Bartlett, Jr., M.D., Dartmouth Medical School

From the Publisher

Respiratory Physiology of Newborn Mammals is a fine piece of scholarship and imaginative analysis. It will be highly valued by professional physiologists and other biological scientists, both for its data summaries and its ideas.
—Donald Bartlett, Jr., M.D., Dartmouth Medical School

Dr. Mortola is an international and much-respected expert regarding comparative physiology in newborn mammals. This book is an extremely thorough analysis of complex physiological changes occurring across a wide variety of species from the smallest to the largest animals.
—W. Alan Hodson, M.D., University of Washington Medical Center

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Lawrence D. Longo, MD (Loma Linda University)
Description: This is a review of the mechanics, regulation, and development of respiratory mechanisms in the newborn. The book emphasizes interspecies comparisons, and uses these comparisons to provide a deeper understanding of respiration in the human neonate.
Purpose: This book is intended as a comprehensive collection of allometric data on the topic of neonatal respiratory physiology, making it a useful reference tool. It is also intended to provide the reader with an understanding of respiratory physiology, the differences among species, and changes with developmental age. This book does, indeed, provide one of the most comprehensive compilations of studies of neonatal respiration available under one cover, making it an invaluable reference tool in the field of comparative respiratory physiology. The book also uses its comparative approach to provide the reader with a basic understanding of respiration.
Audience: The book has been written primarily for students of developmental physiology, or comparitive biology or zoology. However, by providing frequent comparisons between humans and other species, and by devoting a section at the end of each chapter to a discussion of the clinical relevance of that chapter's content, the book is also intended as a useful tool for clinicians. Because of its vast collection of detailed interspecies data comparisons, this work is ideal for persons interested in the study of neonatal respiration, regardless of the species being studied. While it is probably too detailed and presumptive for the medical student or clinician new to respiratory physiology, it should provide a deeper, broader understanding of for the neonatologist, perinatologist, or other clinician who already has a working understanding of the topic. The author has published, often extensively, on most of the topics. He has built an impressive track record of research on these topics, and is considered a world authority in this field.
Features: This book includes detailed discussions of the mechanics of breathing, the development of the pulmonary system from fetus to adult, the regulation of respiration, ventilation, and metabolism during normal conditions as well as during changes in oxygen availability, temperature, and metabolic rate, and changes in metabolic rate as a function of species and development. One of the book's most impressive features are its many allometric graphs containing data compiled from numerous authors. The book also includes an index of respiratory physiology glossary terms and several appendices.
Assessment: The author presents an enormous amount of material that he synthesizes in a most useful manner. I am unaware of another book on this topic.

Doody's Review Service

This book provides one of the most comprehensive compilations of studies of neonatal respiration available under one cover, making it an invaluable reference tool in the field of comparative respiratory physiology.
—Doody's Health Sciences Review Journal

From the Publisher

3 Stars from Doody

Dr. Mortola is an international and much-respected expert regarding comparative physiology in newborn mammals. This book is an extremely thorough analysis of complex physiological changes occurring across a wide variety of species from the smallest to the largest animals.

W. Alan Hodson

Respiratory Physiology of Newborn Mammals is a fine piece of scholarship and imaginative analysis. It will be highly valued by professional physiologists and other biological scientists, both for its data summaries and its ideas.

Donald Bartlett Jr.