Dive Response Experiments
in Antarctica
PowerLab and LabChart were used to demonstrate diving
bradycardia to three hundred passengers aboard a Discovery
cruise ship that recently visited Antarctica. Passengers
observed a woman's heart rate drop from 80 to 50 b.p.m.
when she plunged her head into a bowl of icy water.
The demonstration of induced bradycardia formed part
of a diving lecture about Antarctic seals by guest
lecturer Dr Craig Franklin from the University of Queensland.
For a copy of a Dive Response experiment that can
be used in your laboratory, click
here.
Diving reflex data showing a reflex bradycardia with
breath-hold and face immersion. At 0:2:20 seconds the
subject took in a big breath, at 0:2:35 the head was
put into a bowl of ice cold water, at 0:3:00 the breath
was released. |