Class -Amphibia

(General characters and classification upto orders,

Type study-Rana tigrina: externals ,digestive system,repiratory system)

• The greatest event in the phylogenetic history was a transition from aquatic to
terrestrial mode of life, and Amphibia were the first animals to attempt this
transition.
• But they are not fully terrestrially adapted and hover between aquatic and land
environments.
• The name of the class also indicates this double life (Gr., amphi, dual, double+bios,
life).
• Structurally, Amphibia are between the fish on one hand, and the reptiles on the
other.
• The name Amphibia was given by Linnaeus.

General Characters-

1. Aquatic or semiaquatic (freshwater), air and water breathing, carnivorous, cold-blooded,

oviparous, tetrapod vertebrates.

2. Head distinct, trunk elongated. Neck and tail may be present or absent.

3. Limbs usually 2 pairs (tetrapod), some limbless. Toes 4-5 (pentadactyle) or less. Paired fins
absent.

4. Skin soft, moist and glandular. Pigment cells (chromatophores) present.

5. Exoskeleton absent. Digits clawless. Some with concealed dermal scales.

6. Endoskeleton mostly bony. Notochord does not persist. Skull with 2 occipital condyles.

7. Mouth large. Upper or both jaws with small homodont teeth. Tongue often protrusible.
Alimentary canal terminates into cloaca.

8. Respiration by lungs, skin and mouth lining. Larvae with external gills which may persist in
aquatic adults.

9. Heart 3-chambered (2 auricles+1 ventricle). Sinus venosus present. Aortic arches 1-3 pairs.
Renal and hepatic portal systems well developed.

Body temperature variable (poikilothermous).

10. Kidneys mesonephric. Urinary bladder large. Urinary ducts open into cloaca. Excretion
ureotelic.
11. Brain poorly developed. Cranial nerves 10

11. Brain poorly developed. Cranial nerves 10 pairs.

12. Nostrils connected to buccal cavity. Middle ear with a single rod-like ossicle, columella.
Larval forms and some aquatic adults with lateral line system.

13. Sexes separate. Male without copulatory organ. Gonoducts open into cloaca. Fertilization
mostly external. Females mostly oviparous.

14. Development indirect. No extra-embryonic membranes. Larva a tadpole which

undergoes metamorphosis to form an adult.

[Link] shaped membrane called Tympanum present on either sides between eyes and
mouth, that transmits sound waves to inner ear.

[Link] sacs -present predominantly in males at the floor of the mouth and help in sound
production during mating or to scare off predators.

Classification of Amphibia
The classification most generally followed now-a-days was provided by G. Kingsley Noble
(1924). He recognized 3 orders of extinct and 3 orders of living amphibians. In the past, all
extinct groups of Amphibia were placed under a single subclass Stegocephalia (Adam
Sedgwick) and all living groups in another subclass Lissamphibia.

Subclass I. Stegocephalia (Extinct)

• Limbs -pentadactyle
• Skin with scales and bony plates
• Skull with a solid bony roof, leaving openings for eyes and nostrils
• Permian to triassic

Order [Link]

➢ Oldest known tetrapods called stem Amphibia.

➢ Freshwater or land forms
➢ Salamander or Crocodile like
➢ Teeth large with greatly folded dentine in both the jaws.
➢ Lived from lower Carboniferous to Triassic period
➢ Skull roofed completely with bones
➢ Example-Eryops
Eryops

Order 2. Phyllospondyli

➢ Small salamander-like.
➢ Head large, flat. Vertebrae tubular.
➢ Notochord and spinal cord housed in common cavity.
➢ Believed to be ancestors of modern Salientia and Urodela.
➢ Found in Carboniferous to Permian periods.
➢ Four fingers and 5 toes
➢ Skull roof had a separate quadrato jugal and a lacrimal region
➢ Example : Branchiosaurs (Ichthyostega).

Brachoisaur

Order 3. Lepospondyli

➢ Small salamander or eel-like.

➢ Vertebrae cylindrical, each made of a single piece.
➢ Neural arch and centrum continuous. Ribs articulating
intervertebrally.
 ➢ Regarded ancestral to modern caecilians (Gymnophiona).
Carboniferous to Permian.
➢ Examples: Diplocaulus, Lysorophus.

Diplocaulus

Subclass II. Lissamphibia (living)

Modern Amphibia lacking dermal bony skeleton. Teeth small, simple.

Order 1. Gymnophiona or Apoda (Gr., gymnos, naked+ophioneos, serpent-like) or (Gr., a,

without + podos, foot)

1. Limbless, blind, elongated worm like , burrowing tropical forms known as caecilians.

2. Tail short or absent, cloaca terminal.

[Link] some dermal scales embedded in skin which is transversely wrinkled.

[Link] compact, roofed with bone.

[Link] gridles absent.

[Link] have protrusible copulatory organs.

Examples- Ichthyophis, Uroaeotyphlus

Ichthyophis
Economic Importance of Amphibia
Nearly all amphibians are beneficial to mankind but frogs and toads are of special economic
importance.

[Link] study-

Frogs are dissected in laboratorities by school and college students all over the world,
including India. They are also used extensively for physiological experiments, human
pregnancy tests, pharmacology and as fish bait. Mud puppies (Necturus) are also dissected
in U.S.A., while the newt Diemictylus viridescens is widely used in research.

[Link] food-

Millions of frogs are consumed as food by gourmets in U.S.A., Japan and many other
countries. Usually the big fleshy hindlegs are eaten. Artificial rearing of frogs is not
practicable. Other edible amphibians esteemed as food are Necturus and axolotls in America
and giant salamanders (Andrias) in Japan.

[Link]

Frogs and toads are destroyers of noxious insects. Toads in particular are of great value
because they live in gardens where insects are most injurious. The French gardners even buy

Toads to control harmful insects. Bufo marinus has been introduced in tropical sugarcane
fields to destroy injurious insects.

[Link], art and recreation-

Skins of frogs are used for glue, book-bindings and making delicate purses. Amphibians and
their larvae provide motifs in the art of American Indians. Toads have played a role in the
religious beliefs of primitive people since ancient times. Aesop (560 B.C.) included frogs
among his fables. Tribal magicians in America used parts of frogs and toads in their magic.
Bull frogs are said to participate in a jumping-frog contest held every year in U.S.A. Frogs and
toads are kept as pets in household aquaria.

[Link] Amphibia-

A wide variety of irritating toxic compounds is produced by amphibians. Poison glands are
located dorsally in skin and defense postures of anurans and urodeles present the dorsal
glandular surface to their predators. Poisonous secretions (bufotoxins) of Bufo marinus are
fatal to dogs and cats.

Parental care in Amphibia.

➢ Looking after the eggs or the young until they are independent, to defend from
predators, is known as parental care.
➢ It is a very important factor for survival. Animals exhibit a great diversity in caring for
their eggs and young during their development.
➢ Perhaps, no group shows more diversity than to the amphibians, especially those
living in tropical regions.
➢ The methods of caring by Amphibia generally fall under two broad categories:

[Link] by nests, nurseries or shelters

➢ Foam, tree, mud nests, gelatinous bags

[Link] caring by parents

➢ Coiling around eggs, organs as brooding pouches, eggs in back

pouches

Foam nest Mud nest

Coiling around eggs Eggs in back pouches

Neoteny and Paedogenesis

• Definitions. The two terms, paedogenesis and neoteny (coined by Kollwann) are
often used as synonyms which is not correct.
• In fact they stand for two rather basically different evolutionary developmental
processes. Neoteny refers to the retention of a larval or embryonic trait in the adult
body.
• Familiar examples are retention of embryonic cartilaginous skeleton in adult in
Chondrichthyes; and the larval gills in some adult salamanders.
• Paedogenesis or paedomorphosis refers to development of gonads and/or
production of young ones by an otherwise immature, larval or preadult animal.
• The examples are scattered in several groups or animals (e.g. gall fly, liver fluke.
salamanders).
• Thus, whereas neoteny emphasizes the retention of embryonic or larval features in
the adult body, paedogenesis stresses precocious development of gonads in larval
body.

Axolotl-

✓ Classical and most informative examples of neoteny and paedogenesis among

Amphibia (vertebrates) are furnished by Ambystoma (or Amblystoma).
✓ A. maxicanum lives in Lake Xochimilco in the highlands of Mexico and the closely
related. A. tigrinum (tiger salamander) in high altitudes of Colorado (North
America).
✓ Ordinarily they go through typical gilled aquatic larval stages, then
metamorphosis, to transform into adult air-breathing land forms.
✓ However, under certain circumstances, the larvae do not metamorphose, retain
their gills and aquatic habitat but become sexually mature.
✓ This sexually mature but morphologically immature, larval stage with external
gills is called an axolotl.
 Axolotl

Tiger Salamander

✓ The name was given by natives of Mexico who captured them for food.
✓ In Aztec axolotl means "servant of water".
✓ At one time axolotls were considered a separate genus, Siredon, S. axolotl, S.
mexicanum, S. pisciformis etc. (Wagler, 1830).
✓ However, in 1865, some axolotls brought to Paris in France discarded their gills
and fins and underwent metamorphosis to become adult terrestrial salamanders.
✓ Axolotls have been important laboratory experimental animals for a century, for
most of them now used worldwide have descended directly from those sent to
Paris in 1864 and 1868.

The cause of neoteny among amphibians has not been properly understood. Various
extrinsic and intrinsic factors are supposed to be responsible for such an unusual
phenomenon.

Extrinsic factors

(1) Abundance of food and other favourable requisites in the aquatic life is the cause of
retention of larval features (Gadow, 1903).

(2) Deepwater and coldness inhibits the secretion of thyroxin (Shufeldt).

(3) Saline nature of water is responsible for neoteny (Weismann).

(4) Low temperature is responsible for the arrest. of metamorphosis (Huxley, 1929).

Despite of extensive researches on the role of extrinsic factors on metamorphosis it is still

not clear that whether extrinsic factors are exclusively responsible for arrest of
metamorphosis. So the existence of other factors, internal and physiological becomes
apparent.

Intrinsic factors

Many experimental evidences have been advanced by different investigators.

Gressner (1928) was of the opinion that insulin hormone inhibits metamorphosis.

But recent researches incline to revealed that metamorphosis is primarily influenced by

(i) varying threshold levels of thyroxin and its analogues and

(ii) (ii) by the degree of responsiveness of the larval tissues to the hormones.

Significance of neoteny-

✓ Weismann (1875) thought neoteny to be a case of retarded evolution or atavism,

that is, reversion to ancestral condition.
✓ However, this is now regarded to be of secondary specialization, a physiological
adaptation of advantage.

TYPE STUDY- FROG: Externals,digestive system

Phylum- Chordata

Class-Amphibia

Order-Anura

Genus-Rana

Species-tigrina

Habit and habitat:

• Rana tigrina -commonly called as Indian bull frog
 Rana tigrina

• It lives near water probably to carry out the cutaneous respiration by keeping skin
moist as soon as it gets dry and to escape from enemies by slipping or jumping into
water.
• It rests on the land by keeping its short forelimbs upright and long hindlimbs folded.
• When disturbed, it jumps into the water by extending its hindlimbs.
• During swimming, the webs between toes are pushed against the water and thus
carry the animal forward.
• It is carnivorous and feeds on small insects like spiders and earthworms which are
caught by throwing out the extensible sticky mucous coated tongue out of the mouth
and swallowes entire organism.
• Breeds in rainy season, appearing with first shower.
• During rainy season ,frogs come out from the hidden places Male frogs crock more
loudly to attract females.
• They seek shallow quiet water as a breeding place where they lay down their eggs for
fertilization.
• Eggs develop into embryos and hatch into tadpoles in about 2weeks.
• There are many natural enemies such as Snakes,turtles ,man etc.
• In winter, temperature of body becomes very low and all body activities get ceased
down and it becomes sluggish. It cannot live on land anymore and thus digs down
into damp Earth at the bottom of ponds to pass the adverse conditions of winter and
rest. This process of going underground is known as Winter sleep or hibernation.
• During this period, lung breathing stops whereas breathing through skin continues.
The frog doesn’t feed but consumes reserve food material stored in the from of [Link]
remains underground till the rain falls.
• Similarly during summer, once again the frog goes underground to sleep as all the
body activities slow down due to high temperature. This process is known as
summer sleep or aestivation.
• Spring and rainy seasons are the periods of greatest activity.
• Sexual dimorphism is present- male frog has sound producing vocal sacs and a
copulatory pad on 1st digit of forelimb.
EXTERAL FEATURES-

External morphology of Rana tigrina

shape, size & colour

✓ Streamlined body. Chelps in swim swimming, aquatic life).
✓ Anterior and posterior ends- pointed
✓ Head→ triangular flattened with blunt apex directed forward and broadly united
with trunk.
✓ No neck
✓ Size varies from sps to sps and with age within species (few to many cms)
✓ Colour → dorsal side-green with black spots and streaks, ventral side is paler
✓ Colour harmonises with surrounding environment.

Division of body
✓ Body is divided into -Head and trunk

Head - Triangular, somewhat flattened

✓ Anteriorly directed blunt apex known as snout present
✓ Head bears two prominent bulging eyes on top but on either side. This position
enables frog to see in all directions and thus compensate the disadvantage on land
due to absence of neck.
 ✓ Eyes round and protected by two eyelids
✓ Upper eyelid- thick, fleshy ,opaque and almost immovable
Lower eyelid- thin, transparent and capable to cover the eye
✓ Beneath the eyelids nictitating membrane is present that can move upward over the
eyeball to keep it moist in the air and protect it underwater. Frog can see through
this membrane.
✓ No external ears
✓ Below each eye there is a nearly circular obliquely placed area covered with a tough
membrane or covering called tympanic membrane which transmits sounds to the
inner ear.
✓ At the tip of snout- two laterally placed nostrils or external nares communicating
with buccal cavity through internal nares present. Frog takes in air for respiration
through these openings.
✓ Head also bears a wide horizontal opening -the mouth
✓ In male frog, under the head on either sides are placed two bluish wrinkled patches
of skin – the vocal sacs that are used to produce croaking sound to attract the
females for copulation.

TRUNK-
✓ Head broadly jointed with short somewhat flattened trunk
✓ Attached to the trunk are 2 pairs of limbs
✓ Forelimbs- shorter, hold and support front part of body
✓ Hindlimbs- Larger, assist in swimming as the webs are present in between the toes
✓ Each forelimb has upperarm, forearm, wrist and hand
✓ At the posterior end between hindlimbs there is cloacal opening
✓ Skin contains mucous glands and poison glands
✓ Frog never drinks water but absorbs it through skin

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM
✓ Digestive system of frog mainly includes the - food catching organs

-alimentary canal

-digestive glands

✓ In alimentary canal the process of mastication, digestion and absorption takes

place.
 ✓ Digestive enzymes bring about the digestion of ingested food.

ALIMENTARY CANAL-

✓ It is a coiled tube extending from one end of the body to other.

✓ Anterior region- It opens through mouth
✓ Posterior region- opens through cloacal aperture (Common opening for reproductive
bodies and digestive wastes)
✓ It consists of It consists of the buccal cavity, pharynx, oesophagus, stomach and
intestine.

Buccal cavity:
➢ The alimentary canal starts with an aperture which is known as
mouth opening. Mouth leads into a wide and broad cavity called
buccal cavity which lies in between the two jaws the upper and the
lower jaw.
➢ The upper jaw is fixed or immovable, while the lower jaw is hinged
and can be freely moved up and down.
➢ The upper jaw bears a row of closely set, small, uniform and hook
like pointed maxillary teeth but the lower jaw lacks the teeth.

Bucco pharyngeal cavity of male frog

➢ Besides maxillary teeth there are two more patches of teeth found
one on either side of the median line of the roof of the buccal cavity.
they are called vomerine teeth as they are born on the vomer.
➢ The teeth are small in size and uniform in structure(homodont). They
are not used for chewing but prevent the escape of the captured
prey.
➢ As the teeth are replaced several times during the life cycle of the
frog they are called polyphyodont.
➢ The buccal cavity in its roof near the vomerine teeth has two
openings, the internal or posterior nares connecting with the nostrils
through which the respiratory gases pass to and from the buccal
cavity during respiration.
➢ It also has two openings of eustachian tubes at the sides of posterior
part of the buccal cavity and the glottis which is a median slit in the
pharynx behind the tongue that guards the entrance to the lungs.
➢ It is always opened during breathing but closes while food is being
swallowed.
➢ In male frog two openings of vocal sacs are also formed in the angle
of the lower jaw on the floor of the buccal cavity. These act as
resonators at the time of crocking.
➢ The large, thick, fleshy and protrusible tongue which is attached in
front and free and notched behind. Its upper surface bears taste
buds in the form of small papillae and mucous glands of which the
secretions make the tongue sticky. Neither taste buds nor mucous
glands produce any digestive enzymes. The tongue can be thrown
out and retracted suddenly to capture and engulf insects.
➢ The buccal cavity narrows behind as the pharynx which opens into
oesophagus through gullet.
 Digestive system of frog- ventral view

Oesophagus:
➢ The gullet leads into a broad tubular part of the alimentary canal called oesophagus.
➢ This part of the alimentary canal is very short due to the absence of neck but highly
distensible as its inner lining is thrown into a large number of longitudinal folds which
allow the sufficient expansion of the oesophagus during the passage of the ingested
food through it to the stomach.
➢ It opens into the stomach in such a way that no demarcation line is formed between
the oesophagus and stomach.

Stomach:
 ➢ It is the most important part of the alimentary canal where the digestion of ingested
food materials takes place with the help of certain digestive enzymes secreted by the
digestive glands situated in its wall.
➢ It is in the form of wide tube and lies between the oesophagus and intestine.
➢ It is suspended by a mesentery into the left side of the body cavity or the coelom.
➢ It is distinguished into two parts the anterior most expanded cardiac part and the
posterior quite short narrow pyloric part.
➢ The internal lining of the stomach has numerous longitudinal folds which may allow
the expansion of the stomach whenever needed.
➢ There is a constriction with a ring muscle formed between the stomach and intestine
which regulates the passage of food from the stomach into the intestine. This
constriction along with ring muscle is known as pyloric sphincter.

Intestine-
➢ The stomach leads into the next longest tubular part of the alimentary canal so-
called intestine.
➢ It consists of two parts: the small and large intestine.
➢ The small intestine lies in several loops supported by a fan-like membrane, the
mesentery.
➢ The anterior region of the small intestine which curves upwards to form a U with the
stomach is the doudenum.
➢ The intestine continues as the coiled ileum.
➢ At its lower end the small intestine leads to a short, broad colon or large intestine
called rectum.
➢ The lower end of the rectum leads to a cavity called cloaca of which the walls contain
openings of the ureters from the kidneys, the urinary bladder and the oviducts of the
female frog.
➢ Cloaca opens towards the exterior through cloacal opening by which the waste
materials, eggs or sperms are removed from time to time.
➢ The intestine is the longest part of the alimentary canal where the absorption of the
digested food materials take place.
➢ To increase the absorptive surface of the intestine the internal lining of the intestine
forms transverse folds in the duodenum and longitudinal folds in the region of the
ileum and rectum.

Digestive Glands-
➢ Two large digestive glands, in addition to the glands located in the alimentary canal,
are also found in the frog but these glands are always found outside the alimentary
canal.
➢ They pour their secretions into the intestinal part of the alimentary canal through
their ducts where they play great important role in the digestive physiology of the
food materials.
➢ These glands are (i) the liver and (ii) the pancreas.

Liver-
• It is the largest reddish brown gland always found in the anterior
region of the body cavity.
• It consists of two lobes- the right and the left. These two lobes remain
connected with each other by a narrow bridge of liver tissue. The left
lobe is again sub- divided into two lobes.
• Between the right and left lobes a thin walled, round, large, greenish
sac the so-called gall bladder is found at the surface of the liver in the
body cavity which serves as "a storage reservoir for the bile constantly
secreted by the liver cells.
• The bile passes into the gall bladder through hepatic ducts which join
and open into cystic ducts which are attached to the gall bladder
directly.
• The hepatic and cystic ducts join to form a common bile duct which
runs through the pancreas and opens into the duodenum. The
common bile duct is also known as hepatopancreatic duct as it
receives the fine ducts of the pancreas on its way to the duodenum.
• The liver performs the following important functions:
1. The liver secretes a watery, alkaline bile which contains bile salts,
bile pigments, cholesterol and lecithin. Bile salts are bicarbonate,
glycocholate and taurocholate of sodium. Sodium bicarbonate reduces
the acidity of food in the intestine while the other two bile salts
activate the pancreatic lipase and lower the surface tension of fats so
that they can be emulsified.
2. It has no digestive enzymes but it adds water to the food and aids in
the digestion of fats by emulsifying them.
3. It stores excess sugar in the form of glycogen which is formed by the
change of glucose (glycogenesis). It is stored as a reserve food but it
can be changed into glucose when its concentration falls in the blood.
4. It maintains the protein concentration in blood. The excess amino
acids instead of being stored are converted into ammonia by liver
which combines with carbondioxide and is changed into urea and
other nitrogenous wastes by the action of enzymes (deamination)
which are finally eliminated as urine by the kidneys the so-called chief
excretory organs.
 5. It also removes some other excretory products which are discharged
with bile into the intestine and expelled with the faeces.

Pancreas-
• It is the second largest pale coloured gland of exocrine and
endocrine function which is held by mesentery between the
stomach and duodenum.
• It is traversed by the common bile duct into which the pancreatic
ducts also open which is now called as hepatopancreatic duct.
• It is a much branched tubular gland of which the terminal branches
being often curved and twisted.
• The pancreas produces pancreatic juice which contains various
enzymes which digest the proteins, carbohydrates and fats of the
ingested food.
• At the surface of the pancreas irregularly distributed compact groups
of cells are found which are known as pancreatic islets or islets of
Langerhans.
• These cells form an endocrine gland secreting a hormone known as
insulin directly into small blood vessels. Insulin is essential for
metabolism of carbohydrates, regulating the storage of glycogen in
liver and muscles, concentration of sugar in the blood and for
increasing the ability of tissues to oxidise glucose as a source of
energy. Deficiency of insulin causes a disease called diabetes.

Digestive Glands in alimentary canal-

Stomach-

• Gastric glands of cardiac and pyloric regions -secrete only mucus from
surface cells.
• Gastric glands of fundic region have three types of cells-
[Link] cells- secrete mucus
[Link] or parietal cells- secrete HCl
[Link] or peptic cells – secrete pepsin
Small intestine-

• Duodenum(mucosa layer)- Brunner’s glands: secrete mucus,alkaline fluid

and enzymes
 -Endocrine glands: seretin and pancreozymin
hormones
• Ileum (mucosa layer)- Goblet cells (mucus) and absorptive cells

DIGESTION OF FOOD-

Mechanism of capturing the prey using protrusible tongue

• During feeding whatever the food is ingested by the animal that contains
complex organic substances which are not of immediate use as they are
insoluble and cannot diffuse through the mucous membrane lining of the
alimentary canal, therefore, they must be subjected to the physical and
chemical changes of the digestion so that they may be transformed into
soluble forms for the immediate use of the body.
• The physical changes are brought about by the peristaltic movements of
the alimentary canal, while the chemical changes are brought about by
the organic catalysts called enzymes.

Buccal digestion:
✓ In frog the captured prey is neither subjected to any physical change
(mastication) nor any chemical action in the buccal cavity as the buccal
epithelium does not have any digestive gland.
✓ From the buccal cavity the prey is directly pushed into oesophagus
where it undergoes physical changes due to constant peristaltic
movement of its wall.
✓ Beside mucus the glands of oesophagus secrete an enzyme called pepsin
but no digestion occurs as it does not become active till it reaches the
 stomach, while the mucus simply makes the active food inactive and soft
and thus makes the passage easier.

Gastric digestion:
✓ Due to oesophageal contractions and relaxations the food comes down
to stomach.
✓ The stomach performs the following three main functions:
(i) Storage,

(ii) Mechanical mixing, and

(iii) Chemical modifications.
✓ As soon as food reaches the stomach, its wall shows a series of muscular
contractions the so-called peristaltic movements which not only allow
the food to go down but also break down into small pieces and mix it
thoroughly with gastric juice secreted by the gastric glands situated on
the internal lining of stomach.
✓ The gastric glands secrete their secretions when they are activated by
gastrin hormone which is produced by the stomach wall as soon as the
food: comes down to stomach.
✓ The gastric juice secreted by the gastric glands contains a large amount
of water, inactive pepsinogen enzyme and free hydrochloric acid.
✓ Inactive pepsinogen changes into active pepsin on being mixed with
hydrochloric acid.
✓ The acid also prevents the bacterial decomposition and dissolves the
inorganic salts as well as makes the food soft.
✓ The pepsin of stomach along with pepsin of oesophagus acts on proteins
of food and change them into change them into peptones and proteoses.
Pepsinogen + HCl → Active pepsin
Pepsin Proteins → Peptones + Proteoses
✓ After being remained for about 2-3 hours in the stomach the food is
thoroughly churned and mixed by the muscular contraction of the
stomach wall and takes the form of a thick creamy acid fluid called
chyme.
 ✓ Muscular contractions of the stomach wall force the chyme to pass in
small amount at a time through the pylorus into the duodenum.

Intestinal digestion:
✓ The food as it enters the duodenum is acidic due to the presence of HCl
secreted by the oxyntic cells of the gastric glands of the stomach.
✓ The acid present in the food stimulates the duodenum to produce
secretin and cholecystokinin hormones which pass through the blood
and reach the pancreas and liver respectively.
✓ Secretin stimulates the pancreas to release its pancreatic juice while
cholecystokinin activates the gall bladder to release the bile juices.
✓ Bile and pancreatic juices are poured side by side into the duodenum
through the common hepatopancreatic duct.
✓ At the same time the intestinal mucosa also secretes the intestinal juice
called as succus entericus.
✓ All these act on food to digest it thoroughly.
✓ Bile: It is a greenish alkaline fluid which contains no diges- tive enzymes
so that it does not take any part in the digestion of food. It is alkaline
because it contains certain inorganic salts like sodium bicarbonate,
sodium glycocholate and sodium torocholate which not only neutralize
the acidity of the semidigested food, chyme but also prepares it for the
activity of enzymes of pancreatic juice which can act only in the alkaline
medium. They also break down fats to form small globules which can be
emulsified. Bile juice also activates the fat digesting enzyme of the
pancreas, the lipase.
✓ Pancreatic juice: It is also a watery alkaline fluid containing three
powerful enzymes called trypsinogen, amylopsin (amylase) and steapsin
(lipase). Trypsinogen is an inactive enzyme unless it is mixed with
enterokinase enzyme of succus entericus. Enterokinase thus activates
the trypsinogen to form active trypsin.
Trypsin acts on proteins, peptones and proteoses changing them into
simple proteins called polypeptides. Amylopsin (amylase) acts on
starches reducing them into maltose. Steapsin (lipase) acts on emulsified
fat to form fatty acids and glycerine.
 1. Trypsinogen+Enterokinase → Trypsin (active)
2. Trypsin + Protein→Peptones → Proteoses → Amino acids
3. Amylopsin + Starch→ Maltose(sugar)
4. Steapsin + Emulsified fats→ Fatty acids + Glycerol.

✓ Succus entericus: It is also an alkaline fluid contains many enzymes

known as enterokinase, peptidases, lipase, maltase, invertase, lactase,
ribonuclease and deoxyribonuclease. Enterokinase activates the inactive
trypsinogen to form active trypsin. Peptidases includes proteolytic
enzymes like erepsin which act on polypeptides breaking them into
amino acids. Lipase and maltase along with the same enzyme of the
pancreatic juice act on emulsified fats and maltose and convert them
into fatty acids and sugars respectively. Invertase and lactase act on
sucrose and lactose reducing them to glucose. Ribo- and
deoxyribonuclease change the nucleic acids into nucleotides which are
used in the synthesis of DNA, RNA and ATP.
✓ Thus, the food is thoroughly digested with the help of these enzymes.
✓ As a result all the proteins are reduced to amino acids, the carbohydrates
to glucose and similar sugars and fats to glycerol and fatty acids.

RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
• Respiration can be defined as a process by which living beings obtain
oxygen to oxidise their reserve digested food in order to release energy
of which they are in constant need to maintain their existence by
keeping their all other metabolic activities in order.
• In the course of this reaction CO, is also formed which is removed
regularly from the body due to its injurious property.
• In very small organisms, sufficient oxygen can be taken up directly from
the air or the surrounding water medium into all body parts through the
general body surface as being in direct contact with the environment.
• But in larger forms their individual parts cannot take oxygen directly
from the environment, therefore, they require the aid of respiratory and
circulatory distribution.
• Frog, due to its amphibian life, respires through skin, lining of the bucco-
pharyngeal cavity and the lungs. Ordinary respira. tory requirements are
met by the skin and bucco-pharyngeal cavity, lungs are used only when
the need of oxygen is great.

1. Respiration through Skin or Cutaneous Respiration

✓ The skin of frog is an important organ of respiration.

✓ The frog, due to amphibious mode of life, passes most of the time of its
life in water. During this period the skin only serves as an organ of
respiration for gaseous exchange.
✓ Similarly when frog undergoes summer sleep (aestivation) and winter
sleep (hibernation) at that time the skin is the only organ of respiration.
✓ The skin of frog is very much suited for the respiratory function as it is
very thin and richly supplied with blood capillaries and remains moist
due to mucus, a secretion secreted by mucous glands.
✓ It is also devoid of any structures that may prevent the diffusion of the
oxygen from the water or air into the blood and carbon dioxide from the
blood into surrounding medium of the water and air.
✓ During gaseous exchange the oxygen first dissolves in the moisture
present over the body and then diffuses into the blood circulating in the
blood capillaries, while the resultant Co, passes out from the blood into
the surrounding medium by diffusion.
 ✓ The blood of frog contains a respiratory pigment what is known as
haemoglobin which combines with oxygen and forms oxy- haemoglobin
which is conveyed by blood to different tissues where it is readily broken
into free oxygen and haemoglobin.
✓ The oxygen thus liberated is used by tissue cells to oxidise the stored
digested food to obtain energy and the resultant Co2 is carried by blood
in the same manner to the skin from where it is diffused out side of the
body into the film of water.
2. Respiration through the Lining of the Bucco-Pharyngeal Cavity or Bucco-
pharyngeal Respiration
✓ The mucous lining of the buccal cavity is richly supplied with blood
capillaries and remains moist by the mucus, thereby, lowering and
raising of the floor of the buccal cavity bring the buccopharyngeal
respiration, during the course of which the air is constantly sucked into
the buccal cavity and is drawn out through the external and internal
nares.
✓ When the floor of the buccal cavity is lowered, the air enters the buccal
cavity through the nostrils or the nares. The oxygen of air dissolves in the
layer of mucus and then goes into blood with the help of haemoglobin.
✓ At the same time Co, is given out into the buccal cavity from the blood
which is expelled along with residual air through the the nostrils when
the floor of the buccal cavity is raised.
✓ During this respiration glottis remains closed.

3. Respiration through Lungs or Pulmonary Respiration

✓ The lungs of frog are not only the organs of respiration but are also
hydrostatic organ as they enable frog to float in water when they are
inflated.
✓ They are somewhat covered over by liver lobes and are found in the
anterior part of the body cavity one on the either side of the heart.
✓ They are ovoid, thin-walled, elastic sacs with shallow internal folds that
increase the inner surface to form many chambers called alveoli. These
are separated from each other through septa.
✓ These are lined with blood capillaries of pulmonary circulation and
remain moist with mucus secreted by mucous glands situated in the wall.
The inner surface of the aveoli is covered with a single layer of epithelial
cells which are very thin and flattened except on the edges of the septa
where they are ciliated and cylindrical.
✓ On the inner side of the epithelium there is areolar type of connective
tissue comprising blood vessels and unstriped muscle fibres which give
remarkable power of contraction and expansion to the lungs. The outer
surface of the lung is coated with coelomic epithelium called
peritoneum.
✓ Each lung connects by a short bronchus to the larynx, the so-called voice
box behind the glottis. The larynx is supported by a ring like cricoid
cartilage and two crescentic arytenoid cartilage which prevents the
larynx from collapsing.
Mechanism of pulmonary respiration:

✓ The incoming and outgoing of the air from the lung is brought about by
the action of the floor of the buccal cavity which actually acts as a buccal
force pump.
✓ The actions of the floor of the buccal cavity are brought by two sets of
muscles; the sternohyal and the petrohyal muscles.
✓ The sternohyal muscles arise from the coracoid and clavicle and run
towards, the hyoid apparatus located in the floor of the buccal cavity.
✓ When these muscles contract the floor of the buccal cavity is pulled
down wards that results in the enlargement of the buccal cavity due to
which the pressure of the enclosed air in the buccal cavity is reduced and
consequently more of air from the surrounding environment rushes in
through the nares.
✓ The petrohyal muscles arise from the outer side of the auditory capsule
and run towards the upper surface of the hyoid apparatus.
✓ When these muscles contract, the floor of the buccal cavity is raised,
this results in the reduction of the buccal cavity forcing a part of the air
to go out through the nares.
 ✓ During pulmonary respiration the air is forced into the lungs. This is
aided by the movable premaxillae bones of the upper jaw situated just
below the external nares
✓ On the contraction of the sternohyal muscles the floor of the buccal
cavity is lowered and air enters the cavity through the external nares.
Now the premaxillae are raised due to which the external nares are
being closed.
✓ At the same time the petrohyal muscles contract, this results in lifting
the hyoid apparatus along with the floor of the buccal cavity forcing the
air to enter into the lung through the glottis.
✓ During these activities the mouth, external nares and the gullet remains
closed. This drawing in of air into the lungs is called inspiration.
✓ Inspiration is immediately followed by another process called expiration
which is brought about by the contraction of the lungs itself and the
abdominal muscles.
✓ It is just reversed process with external nares closed, the floor of the
buccal cavity is lowered and the air from the lungs is drawn into the
buccal cavity through the glottis and finally the glottis is closed and
premaxillae come back into their original position due to which the
external nares are opened.
✓ Now the floor of the buccal cavity is raised forcing the air to go out
through the external nares.

Physiology of Respiration
✓ The blood of frog in its erythrocytes (R.B.C.) contains a respiratory
pigment the so-called haemoglobin to which the respiratory gases (O2&
CO2) can combine temporarily only in high partial pressure.
✓ In the respiratory surfaces the O2 found in high concentration due to
which it combines with haemoglobin of the blood to form
oxyhaemoglobin which is transported: by blood to the different tissues
of the body where it dissociates due to less concentrations of O2 in the
tissues and thus gives up most of its oxygen to the tissues.
✓ The resultant CO2 formed due to a series of chemical reaction is in high
concentration in the tissue, therefore it passes into blood which has low
CO2 concentration. CO2 taken by the blood is passed out from the
respiratory surface. The absorbed O2 oxidises the food to release the
energy along with CO2. Thus the process of the respiration of the frog is
completed in the following three phases:
1. Breathing or external respiration: External respiration takes place in
the capillaries of the respiratory surfaces whatever they may be, in which
O2 is taken by the blood from the environment and CO2 is given up by
the blood into the environment.
2. Transportation of the respiratory gases: The respiratoy gases are O2
and CO2 which are transported by the blood as it contains haemoglobin
in its erythrocytes to which these gases combine temporarily. O2 is
transported by the blood from the respiratory surfaces to different parts
of the body to oxidise the food in order to release energy, while the CO2
is transported from the different parts of the body to respiratory
surfaces, so that it may be diffused out due to its injurious property.
3. Internal respiration: It takes place in the tissue in which the oxygen
from the blood is given to the tissues to oxidise the food to liberate the
energy and the CO2 is passed from the tissues into the blood.