Summary:

The estuarine crocodile excretes excess sodium and chloride ions through salt glands located on the tongue, enabling the crocodile to live in seawater. We are investigating the regulation of salt gland secretory capacity and activity by examining both the phenotypic plasticity of the gland (morphological, biochemical and molecular) to changes in environmental salinity and diet, and by determining the neural/humoral mechanisms controlling secretory rate. In vivo measurments of blood flow and salt gland excretory rate, together with perfused gland preparations are revealing the extrinsic and intrinsic factors controlling salt gland activity and the degree of coupling between blood flow and secretory rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Publications

Cramp, RL; Meyer, EA; Sparks, N; Franklin, CE (2008).  Functional and morphological plasticity of crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) salt glands.  Journal of Experimental Biology 211, 1482-1489.

Cramp, R. L., Hudson, N. J., Holmberg, A., Holmgren, S. and Franklin, C. E. (2007). The effects of saltwater acclimation on neurotransmitters in the lingual salt glands of the estuarine crocodile, Crocodylus porosus. Regulatory Peptides 140, 55-64.

Kuchel, L. J. and Franklin, C. E. 2000. Morphology of the cloaca in the estuarine crocodile, Crocodylus porosus, and its plastic response to salinity. - Journal of Morphology 245: 168-176.

Franklin, C. E., Taylor, G. and Cramp, R. L. (2005). Cholinergic and adrenergic innervation of lingual salt glands of the estuarine crocodile, Crocodylus porosus. Australian Journal of Zoology 53, 345-351