The roles of acidosis and lactate in the behavioral hypothermia of exhausted lizards.

We conducted this study to determine whether two of the physiological changes associated with non-sustainable exercise, elevated blood lactate levels and decreased arterial pH, contribute to the behavioral hypothermia exhibited by exhausted lizards. Dipsosaurus dorsalis were placed in a thermal gradient and their body temperatures were recorded from 08:00 to 14:00 h. At 14:00 h, animals were subjected to different experimental regimens. In the exercise (E) regimen, animals at 40 degrees C were forced to exercise maximally for 5 min on a treadmill. In the lactate (L) regimen, animals were infused with 11.5 ml kg-1 of 250-500 mmol l-1 sodium lactate. In the osmolarity control (O) regimen, animals were injected with 11.5 ml kg-1 of 500 mmol l-1 NaCl, and in the injection control (I) regimen, animals were injected with 11.5 ml kg-1 of 150 mmol l-1 NaCl. In the hypercapnia (H) regimen, the thermal gradient was flushed with a gas mixture containing 10 % CO2, 21 % O2 and 69 % N2, a treatment that lowers the arterial pH of D. dorsalis to a value comparable with that imposed by exhaustive exercise. A group of control (C) animals was left undisturbed in the thermal gradient for 24 h. Animals in all experimental groups were returned to the thermal gradient, and their cloacal temperatures were monitored until 08:00 h the following morning. The mean cloacal temperature of E animals underwent a significant decrease of 4-7 degrees C, relative to control animals, which persisted for 7 h. The mean cloacal temperatures of animals subjected to 2 h of regimen H also decreased by 3.5-9 degrees C and remained depressed for 12 h following the beginning of the treatment. L, O and I animals did not undergo a significant change in body temperature following treatment, and their mean body temperatures did not differ from those of C animals at any time during the experiment. The results of this study suggest that the metabolic acidosis, but not the elevated blood lactate level, that follows exhausting exercise might play a role in the behavioral hypothermia that follows exhausting exercise in D. dorsalis.