Dr. Mike I. Lindinger
Associate Professor
Email: mlinding@uoguelph.ca
Office: ANNU 349
Ext: 53752
Lab: ANNU 314
Ext: 52294
Profile | Education | Research | Publications | Teaching | Grad Students | Links |
Profile
I began my training as a comparative animal physiologist during my final two years of undergraduate study at the University of Victoria. A research project examining acid-base responses in exercise stressed flounders led to my strong continued interest in the regulation of ion transport and acid-base balance in animals and particularly in skeletal muscle. My MSc work in the Biology Dept of McMaster University involved acid-base and ion transport regulation in amphibians, and I also conducted experiments in fish and marine mussels. My focus shifted to mammalian skeletal muscle and human exercise physiology during my PhD research in the Dept of Medicine at McMaster University. Since joining the faculty at the University of Guelph in late 1987, I have continued my studies of skeletal muscle ion and acid-base regulation using primarily rodent muscle preparations, but also humans and horses. In addition, a continuing collaboration with George Heigenhauser at McMaster University has led to the completion of several studies of ion and acid-base regulation in exercising humans. My research in equine exercise physiology began in 1992, with extensive studies on dehydration of endurance horses, development of an oral electrolyte supplement, physiology of heat stress, heat acclimation and exercise, quantification of fluid and electrolyte shifts during exercise and recovery, determination of the origins of acid-base disturbances during exercise, and non-invasive assessment of hydration status in horses.
I presently serve as an Associate Editor for the journals Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology and Biological Procedures Online. I am a member of the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, the American Physiological Society and the International Research Interest Group for the Role of Potassium in Heart and Skeletal Muscle Function.
Education
B.Sc. - Victoria
M.Sc. - McMaster
Ph.D. - McMaster
Research
My research interests lie in two main areas:
- the regulation of ion transport across cell membranes;
Cellular function is highly dependent upon maintaining an intracellular milieu within certain limits that can be tolerated by the cell. Transmembrane ion transport processes play an integral role in achieving an intracellular milieu that is consistent with optimization of cellular function. In addition, ion transport processes are involved in cellular signal transduction events that govern a wide range of functions including stimulation or inhibition of gene transcription, electrical and mechanical events in excitable cells, and cell volume that in turn may provide signals for genetic events.
The two tissues that I have studied most extensively are skeletal muscle and red blood cells - with both of these I have often used exercise (either single muscle groups or whole body) as a means of perturbing the system in order to investigate mechanisms of the disturbance and of recovery from the disturbance. These experiments are designed to elucidate physiological control systems in intact skeletal muscle and in the intact, living organism. Accordingly, my approach has been to use intact animals (humans, horses, rats) and organ systems (vascularly intact, isolated perfused skeletal muscle), together with isolated muscle preparations using cellular and molecular approaches to provide an increased level of mechanistic detail.
- the regulation of whole body fluid, electrolyte and acid-base balance.
Physical and cognitive performance is greatly affected by the hydrated state of the body and of cells, and by the concentrations of electrolytes in the various body fluid compartments. Humans and horses have been studied to understand the fluid balance relationships between extracellular and intracellular fluid compartments during periods of imposed stress (bicarbonate loading, dehydration, rehydration, exercise); recently, emphasis has been to evaluate the efficacy of bioelectrical impedance analysis to non-invasively assess hydration status in humans (rowers, wrestlers, runners) and horses.
Selected Publications
Lindinger MI. 2006. Determinants of surface membrane and transverse tubular excitability in skeletal muscle: implication for high intensity exercise. Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology 2: 209-217.
Waller A, and Lindinger MI. 2005. Time course and magnitude of fluid and electrolyte shifts during recovery from high-intensity exercise in Standardbred racehorses. Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology 2: 77-87.
McKeen, G. and M.I. Lindinger. 2004. Prediction of hydration status using multifrequency bioelectrical impedance analysis during exercise and recovery in horses. Equine and Comparative Exercise Physiology 1: 199-209.
Lindinger MI and SP Grudzien. 2003. Exercise-induced changes in plasma composition increases erythrocyte Na,K ATPase, but not NKCC, activity to stimulate net and unidirectional K + transport. Journal of Physiology 553: 587-597.
Lindinger MI, Hawke TJ, Lipskie SL, Schaefer HD, Vickery L. 2002. K + transport and volume regulatory response by NKCC in resting rat hindlimb skeletal muscle. Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry 12: 279-292.
Teaching
HK*4410 Research Concepts I
Open Learning: Equine Exercise Physiology
Grad Students
M. Leung (PhD student)
Links
Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology
Community of Science Webpage
Equistat Website: non-invasive assessment of hydration status in horses
International Research Interest Group for the Role of Potassium in Heart and Skeletal Muscle Function