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Professor
Name: John Maina
Zoology Academic Staff Staff Members
Contact Details:
Email: jmaina@uj.ac.za
About John Maina
To explicate the evolution and the adaptive specializations of the respiratory structures, I work in the area of “comparative structural- and functional designs of gas exchangers”. Various respiratory organs from phylogenetically different animal taxa have and continue to be investigated. Water- and air-breathing animals, as well as transitional (bimodal) ones, have been studied using a multidisciplinary approach. Different modern and appropriate methods/techniques have been employed: they include among others, morphometric, immunocytochemical-, mCT scanning and 3-dimentional computer reconstruction.
The novelty of my work is reflected in the concepts and revisionist ideas that I have developed in undertaking issues that are fundamental to the anatomy and physiology of the respiratory structures. The findings are all underpinned by substantial support and evidence presented with both precision and depth. While much of my work agenda has been driven by myself, I have benefited tremendously by collaborating with many colleagues in various academic institutions.
My papers have appeared in journals of good to excellent international standing and the books have been published by reputable publishing houses. From the high number of citations that my work has and continues to attract, it has evidently been well-impactful. I have been invited to talk at various national- and international conferences and review papers for journals such as Nature, Science and PNAS and participate in international collaborations. My more recent work is on the bird lungs and fish gills as bioindicators of environmental pollution, the determination of the structure of the ostrich eggshell and that of the development and the structure of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM). The work on the ostrich CAM and the eggshell may help explain the economically high costly poor hatchability of the eggs. If improved, it would have marked impact on the ostrich farming industry.
Recent publications:
MAINA NJ (2015) Structural and biomechanical properties of the exchange tissue of the avian lung. Anatomical Record 298:1673-1688. doi.org/10.1002/ar.23162
MAINA JN (2015) Morphological and morphometric properties of the blood-gas barrier: comparative perspectives. In: Makanya AN (ed.). The vertebrate blood-gas barrier in health and disease: structure, development and remodeling. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg. pp. 15-38.
MAINA NJ (2017) Pivotal debates and controversies on the structure and function of the avian respiratory system: setting the record straight. Biological Reviews 92:1475-1504. doi: 10.1111/brv.12292
MAINA JN (2017) Structure and function of the shell and the chorioallantoic membrane of the avian egg: embryonic respiration. In: Maina JN (ed). The biology of the avian respiratory system: evolution, development, structure and function. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. pp. 219-247. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44153-5_9
MAINA JN (2017) Functional design of the mature avian respiratory system. In: Maina JN (ed). The biology of the avian respiratory system: evolution, development, structure and function. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. pp. 191-218. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-44153-5_8
MAINA NJ (2017) Critical appraisal of some factors pertinent to the functional designs of the gas exchangers. Cell and Tissue Research 367:747-767. doi: 10.1007/s00441-016-2549-9
MAINA JN (2017) Application of morphometric and stereological techniques on analysis and modeling of the avian lung. In: Parés-Casanova PM (ed.). New insights into morphometric studies. InTech Access Publisher, Rijeka (Croatia). pp. 61-85. doi:10.5772/intechopen.69062
MAINA JN (ed.) (2017) The biology of the avian respiratory system: evolution, development, structure and function. Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg. ISBN 978-3-319-44152-8. Pp. 1-250.
MAINA JN (2018) Functional morphology of the respiratory organs of the air-breathing fish with particular emphasis on the African catfishes, Clarias mossambicus and C. gariepinus. Acta Histochemica 120:613-622. doi: 10.1016/j.acthis.2018.08.007
CARVALHO O, MAINA JN (2019) Respiratory System. In: Brüne M, Schiefenhövel W (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Evolutionary Medicine. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 487-530. ISBN 978-0-19-878966-6
MAINA JN, ICARDO JM, ZACCONE G, ARAGONA M, LAURIANO ER, ALESCI A, ALBANO M, GUERRERA MC, GERMANA A, FERNANDES JMO, KIRON V, CAPILLO G (2022) Immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study of the immune cell system and epithelial surfaces of the respiratory organs in the bimodally breathing African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus Burchell, 1822). Anatomical Record 305:3212-3229. doi: 10.1002/ar.24896
Maina JN (2022) Perspectives on the structure and function of the avian respiratory system: Functional efficiency built on structural complexity. Frontiers in Animal Science 3: 851574. doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2022.851574
MAINA JN (2023) A critical assessment of the cellular defences of the avian respiratory system: are birds in general and poultry in particular relatively more susceptible to pulmonary infections/ afflictions? Biological Reviews 98, 2152–2187. doi: 10.1111/brv.13000
MAINA JN (2023) Current perspectives on the functional design of the avian respiratory system. (Zoological Monograph, Vol. 8). Cham (Switzerland). doi:10.1007/978-3-031-35180-8_4
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