History of development of physiology in the Komi Science Centre, Ural Branch, RAS: scientific ideas and discoveries

The main stages of physiology development are presented in chronological order with the development of physiological directions: physiology of productive animals, evolutionary and comparative physiology, age and ecological physiology, physiology of natural adaptations, molecular and cellular immunology and biotechnology. Phy- siological studies include traditional directions of integrative physiology: cellular, organ, systemic, and organismal.The results of research in physiology of ruminant productive animals are summarized: digestion, metabolism and energy, and repro- ductive function. The specificity of physiological and biochemical adaptations of wild animals to the extreme conditions of the North is shown. The adaptive mecha- nismsare are based on the principle of minimizing energy costs for maintaining temperature homeostasis.The regularities of functioning of the myocardium and cardiac electrical activity in the process of evolution in different classes of animals and humans are discovered. Four types of myocardial activation in vertebrates were discovered and described for the first time in the world practice.The general adaptation strategy of man in the North consists in the formation of a functional response of the cardiovascular system in the form of physiological va- riant of hypertrophy of the heart, increase in blood pressure, earlier age-related changes in the characteristics of the electrocardiogram and hemodynamics. The concept of tissue metabolism associated with the complex restructuring of the hor- monal-metabolic profile in humans in the North, which is proposed to be called the "polar adaptive metabolic type", has been formed.The comprehensive physiological, sociological and demographic study of the health of the population of the northern ethno-areal Komi population revealed that in some family groups longevity in five to six generations is determined by heredity. It was shown that, against the background of physiological aging processes, in most of the long-livers the normal steady rhythm of heart rate is maintained. The role of extracardiac mechanisms of the vegetative regulation of heart rhythm, which is the physiological basis of human health and northern longevity, has been established.The results of physiological research and presented in this issue of the journal new research directions of the Institute of Physiology are its further prospects in solv- ing actual problems of modern physiology.