Biology Flashcards
What is the function of peg teeth? Their absence in some colonies is a result of what inheritance pattern?
Bite and shear food. Dominant trait.
What is the dental formula of the rabbit? How many total teeth?
2 (I 2/1, PM 3/2, M 2-3/3). 26 or 28 total teeth
Characterize rabbit teeth (2)
Continuously erupting, molars with no roots, deep enamel folds
Name the salivary glands of the rabbit (4). Which is not present in humans?
Parotid, sublingual, submaxillary, zygomatic
Name two unique features of the esophagus
Three layers of striated muscle through the cardia of the stomach, no mucous glands
What percentage of ingesta volume is present in the stomach? What are two normal findings?
15%. Never empty, contains hair
How many liver lobes are present in the rabbit? Where is the gallbladder?
4, on the right
Describe the relative amount of bile production in the rabbit. How does bile and pancreatic products enter the SI?
Relatively large amount. Separate entrance of common bile and pancreatic duct.
What percent of the GIT is the small intestine? What is one characteristic that impacts maternal immunity in the rabbit?
12% of GIT length. Relatively impermeable to large molecules, kits receive passive immunity via yolk sac prior to birth, not via colostrum.
What structure divides the colon? What is the function of this structure?
Fusus coli. Pacemaker, passage of soft and hard fecal pellets.
What percentage of fecal pellets are hard?
2/3
What do cecotrophs contain? When are they passed in lab and wild rabbits?
Nitrogen-containing compounds and B vitamins (niacin, riboflavin, pantothenate, cyanocobalamin). Night in lab rabbits, daytime wild rabbits.
How do rabbits breathe? How does this impact resuscitation?
Diaphragm. Artificial respiration by lifting the head up and down, not chest compressions.
What characteristics make intubation difficult in rabbits? (3)
Long, narrow pharynx, large tongue, and laryngospasm
How many lung lobes does a rabbit have? Name them
- Right and left cranial, middle, and caudal. Right caudal broken into medial and lateral lobes.
Which lung receives higher air flow? Why?
Left, lower resistance.
How does lung volume change in an aging rabbit? How is this different from man or dog?
Increases with age in rabbits, decreases with age in human and dog.
Describe the tricuspid valve of the rabbit.
Bicuspid
Describe the SA and AV node in the rabbit.
Small group of pacemaker cells generate the impulse of the SA node - can determine precise location. Both are slender and elongated. AV node separated from annulus fibrosis by layer of fat.
What signals does the aortic nerve respond to? What about its structure makes it useful for research?
Only baroreceptors, no chemoreceptors. Aortic n becomes the depressor nerve, runs alongside but separate from vagosympathetic trunk, useful for electrode implantation.
How is blood supplied to the brain?
Primarily internal carotid, little vertebral.
What is unique about the aorta? Why does this occur?
Rhythmic contractions from neurogenic stimulation related to pulse wave.
Describe the kidney structure and how it impacts research
Unipapillate, easier to canalize
What are two unique features about glomeruli in the rabbit?
They increase in number after birth and ectopic glomeruli are normal
