Samanta Aparecida Castro, Edwin William Taylor, Driele Tavares, Renato Filogonio, Gerson Jhonatan Rodrigues, Cléo Alcantara Costa Leite
{"title":"Role of Nitric Oxide in the Cardiovascular System of South American Rattlesnakes (<i>Crotalus durissus</i>).","authors":"Samanta Aparecida Castro, Edwin William Taylor, Driele Tavares, Renato Filogonio, Gerson Jhonatan Rodrigues, Cléo Alcantara Costa Leite","doi":"10.1086/718292","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718292","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractUnderstanding the basis of vascular tonus regulation is fundamental to comprehending cardiovascular physiology. In the present study, we used the recently developed decerebrate rattlesnake preparation to investigate the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the control of vascular tonus in a squamate reptile. This preparation allowed multiple concomitant cardiovascular parameters to be monitored, while avoiding the deleterious effect of anesthetic drugs on autonomic modulation. We observed that both systemic and pulmonary circuits were clearly responsive to NO signaling. NO increased vascular conductance in the systemic and pulmonary systems. Vasodilation by NO of the systemic circulation was compensated by cardiovascular alterations involving venous return, cardiac output, and cardiac shunt adjustments. The cardiac shunt seemed to be actively used for hemodynamic adjustments via modulation of the pulmonary artery constriction. N(ω)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester injection demonstrated that NO contributes to modulating resting vasodilation in the systemic circuit. In contrast, NO-mediated vasodilation did not have an important role in the pulmonary circulation in inactive decerebrated snakes at 25°C. These responses vary importantly from those described for anesthetized snakes.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39607871","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gwangseok R Yoon, Andrew Laluk, Ian A Bouyoucos, W Gary Anderson
{"title":"Effects of Dietary Shifts on Ontogenetic Development of Metabolic Rates in Age 0 Lake Sturgeon (<i>Acipenser fulvescens</i>).","authors":"Gwangseok R Yoon, Andrew Laluk, Ian A Bouyoucos, W Gary Anderson","doi":"10.1086/718211","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718211","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractIn many fish species, ontogenetic dietary shifts cause changes in both quantitative and qualitative intake of energy, and these transitions can act as significant bottlenecks in survival within a given year class. In the present study, we estimated routine metabolic rate (RMR) and forced maximum metabolic rate (FMR) in age 0 lake sturgeon (<i>Acipenser fulvescens</i>) on a weekly basis from 6 to 76 days posthatch (dph) within the same cohort of fish. We were particularly interested in the period of dietary transition from yolk to exogenous feeding between 6 and 17 dph and as the fish transitioned from an artemia-based diet to a predominantly bloodworm diet between 49 and 67 dph. Measurement of growth rate and energy density throughout indicated that there was a brief period of growth arrest during the transition from artemia to bloodworm. The highest mass-specific RMR (mg O<sub>2</sub> kg<sup>-1</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>) recorded throughout the first 76 d of development occurred during the yolk sac phase and during transition from artemia to bloodworm. Similarly, diet transition from artemia to bloodworm-when growth arrest was observed-increased scaled RMR (i.e., mg O<sub>2</sub> kg<sup>-0.89</sup> h<sup>-1</sup>), and it did not significantly differ from scaled FMR. Log-log relationships between non-mass-specific RMR or FMR (i.e., mg O<sub>2</sub> h<sup>-1</sup>) and body mass significantly changed as the growing fish adapted to the nutritional differences of their primary diet. We demonstrate that dietary change during early ontogeny has consequences for growth that may reflect altered metabolic performance. Results have implications for understanding cohort and population dynamics during early life and effective management for conservation fish hatcheries.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39651161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Acute-Phase Immune Response Involves Fever, Sickness Behavior, and an Elevated Metabolic Rate in the Subterranean Rodent <i>Ctenomys talarum</i>.","authors":"A P Cutrera, F Luna, R R Zenuto","doi":"10.1086/718409","DOIUrl":"10.1086/718409","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractThe acute-phase response (APR) is an induced innate response and may involve pronounced physiological and behavioral changes. One of the most common assays to study the APR involves the use of a lypopolysaccharide (LPS) from the cell wall of gram-negative bacteria. In this study, we determined the energetic costs of the APR in the subterranean rodent <i>Ctenomys talarum</i>, as well as the effects of the exposure to LPS on body temperature, body mass loss, and behavior in this species. Furthermore, we monitored levels of circulating endotoxin after LPS exposure. Our results suggest that in <i>C. talarum</i>, the APR is energetically costly, resulting in a 14% increase in metabolic rate. Animals exposed to LPS experienced a short-term thermal response, weight loss, and changes in their behavior that included more time spent resting and with their eyes totally or partially closed. However, the magnitude of the effects of LPS exposure varied between sexes and among animals. Also, there was a clear peak in circulating endotoxin levels in plasma 3 h postinjection (hpi) and a significant decrease of these levels 24 hpi, but peak endotoxin concentration values recorded were highly variable among animals. In light of these results, ecological determinants of immune function variation in tuco-tucos are discussed considering the roles of pace of life, habitat, and degree of pathogen exposure in these subterranean rodents.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39772179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucas J S Greville, Larissa M Bueno, Tyler Pollock, Paul A Faure
{"title":"Quantification of Urinary Sex Steroids in the Big Brown Bat (<i>Eptesicus fuscus</i>).","authors":"Lucas J S Greville, Larissa M Bueno, Tyler Pollock, Paul A Faure","doi":"10.1086/717896","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717896","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractBats (order Chiroptera) are the second largest group of mammals, diverging ~52.5 million years ago. Many species exhibit an unusual reproductive cycle and extreme longevity without reproductive senescence, yet steroid profiles exist for few bats. Big brown bats (<i>Eptesicus fuscus</i>) are temperate insectivores found throughout North America. They mate promiscuously in fall, store sperm during winter hibernation, and have delayed ovulation and fertilization in spring. Here, we report the first urinary steroid profile in bats by quantifying 17β-estradiol (E<sub>2</sub>) in captive male and female <i>E. fuscus</i> across their reproductive cycle. Male bats had higher urinary E<sub>2</sub> levels than females, and adults had higher levels than yearlings following creatinine adjustment for hydration. In nonpregnant females, several seasonal differences in creatinine-adjusted and unadjusted urinary E<sub>2</sub> levels were observed. Urinary E<sub>2</sub> was higher in males than females in winter for both conditions and in autumn for creatinine-adjusted levels. We quantified progesterone (P<sub>4</sub>) in a subset of females. In nonpregnant females, urinary P<sub>4</sub> was constant across seasons except for unadjusted levels, which were highest in the summer. In pregnant females, urinary E<sub>2</sub> and P<sub>4</sub> levels peaked beginning ~20 d before parturition, with both steroids returning to baseline in the following weeks. Knowing how urinary steroid levels fluctuate with age and sex and across the annual season is key to understanding reproductive cycling in bats. Our research furthers the potential for bats as a model for medical reproductive research. Moreover, it complements previous studies on the potential role of steroids in primer pheromonal effects in bats.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39788746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yimei Lin, Allison Patterson, Ana Gabriela Jimenez, Kyle Elliott
{"title":"Altered Oxidative Status as a Cost of Reproduction in a Seabird with High Reproductive Costs.","authors":"Yimei Lin, Allison Patterson, Ana Gabriela Jimenez, Kyle Elliott","doi":"10.1086/717916","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717916","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractLife history theory posits that reproduction is constrained by a cost of reproduction such that any increase in breeding effort should reduce subsequent survival. Oxidative stress refers to an imbalance between the prooxidant reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant defense. If not thwarted, ROS can cause damage to DNA, lipids, and proteins, potentially increasing the rate of senescence and decreasing cellular function. Reproduction is often associated with higher metabolic rates, which could increase production of ROS and lead to oxidative damage if the animal does not increase antioxidant protection. Thus, oxidative stress could be one mechanism creating a cost of reproduction. In this study we explored how reproduction may affect oxidative status differently between male and female thick-billed murres during early and late breeding seasons over three consecutive years. We manipulated breeding efforts by removing an egg from the nest of some individuals, which forced females to relay, and by handicapping other individuals by clipping wings. We measured total antioxidant capacity (TAC), uric acid (UA) concentration, and malondialdehyde (MDA; an index of lipid oxidative damage) concentration in blood plasma as well as activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and catalase (CAT) in red blood cells. Oxidative status was highly variable across years, and year was consistently the most important factor determining oxidative status; inconsistent results in previous field studies may be because reproductive oxidative stress occurs only in some years. Females had lower SOD and GPx and higher MDA and TAC than males immediately after egg laying, suggesting that the cost of egg laying required investment in cheaper nonenzymatic antioxidant defenses that had lower capacity for defending against lipid peroxidation. Delayed birds had lower UA and lower SOD, GPx, and CAT activity compared with control birds. In conclusion, when reproductive costs increase via higher energy costs or longer breeding seasons, the oxidative status of both male and female murres deteriorated as a result of reduced antioxidant defenses.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39678152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Front and Back Matter","authors":"","doi":"10.1086/718887","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/718887","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43566941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ana Ángela Romero-Haro, Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez, Barbara Tschirren
{"title":"Intergenerational Costs of Oxidative Stress: Reduced Fitness in Daughters of Mothers That Experienced High Levels of Oxidative Damage during Reproduction.","authors":"Ana Ángela Romero-Haro, Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez, Barbara Tschirren","doi":"10.1086/717614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717614","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractParental condition transfer effects occur when the parents' physiological state during reproduction affects offspring performance. Oxidative damage may mediate such effects, yet evidence that oxidative damage experienced by parents during reproduction negatively affects offspring fitness is scarce and limited to early life stages. We show in Japanese quail (<i>Coturnix japonica</i>) that maternal levels of oxidative damage, measured during reproduction, negatively predict the number of offspring produced by daughters. This maternal effect on daughters' reproductive success was mediated by an effect on hatching success rather than on the number of eggs laid by daughters. We also observed a negative association between fathers' oxidative damage levels and the number of eggs laid by daughters but a positive association between fathers' oxidative damage levels and the hatching success of those eggs. These opposing paternal effects canceled each other out, resulting in no overall effect on the number of offspring produced by daughters. No significant association between a female's own level of oxidative damage during reproduction and her reproductive success was observed. Our results suggest that oxidative damage experienced by parents is a better predictor of an individual's reproductive performance than oxidative damage experienced by the individual itself. Although the mechanisms underlying these parental condition transfer effects are currently unknown, changes in egg composition or (epi)genetic alterations of gametes may play a role. These findings highlight the importance of an intergenerational perspective when quantifying costs of physiological stress.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39651202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Michael J Roast, Nataly Hidalgo Aranzamendi, Niki Teunissen, Marie Fan, Simon Verhulst, Anne Peters
{"title":"No Evidence for Constitutive Innate Immune Senescence in a Longitudinal Study of a Wild Bird.","authors":"Michael J Roast, Nataly Hidalgo Aranzamendi, Niki Teunissen, Marie Fan, Simon Verhulst, Anne Peters","doi":"10.1086/717937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717937","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractAging is associated with declines in physiological performance; declining immune defenses particularly could have consequences for age-related fitness and survival. In aging vertebrates, adaptive (memory-based) immune responses typically become impaired, innate (nonspecific) responses undergo lesser declines, and inflammation increases. Longitudinal studies of immune functions in wild animals are rare, yet they are needed to understand immunosenescence under evolutionarily relevant conditions. Using longitudinal data from a tropical passerine (<i>Malurus coronatus</i>) population, we investigate how population trends emerge from within-individual changes and between-individual heterogeneity (e.g., selective disappearance) in immune status. We quantified constitutive immune indexes (haptoglobin [inflammation associated], natural antibodies, complement [lytic] activity, and heterophil-lymphocyte ratio; <math><mrow><mi>n</mi><mo>=</mo><mn>505</mn><mtext>-</mtext><mn>631</mn></mrow></math>) in individuals sampled one to seven times over 5 yr. Unexpectedly, longitudinal analyses showed no age-related change within individuals in any immune index, despite sufficient power to detect within-individual change. Between individuals, we found age-related declines in natural antibodies and increases in heterophil-lymphocyte ratios. However, selective disappearance could not adequately explain between-individual age effects, and longitudinal models could not explain our data better than cross-sectional analyses. The lack of clear within-individual immunosenescence is itself notable. Persistent levels of haptoglobin, complement activity, and natural antibodies into old age suggests that these immune components are maintained, potentially with adaptive significance.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39573911","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Trade-Offs (and Constraints) in Organismal Biology.","authors":"Theodore Garland, Cynthia J Downs, Anthony R Ives","doi":"10.1086/717897","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1086/717897","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>AbstractTrade-offs and constraints are inherent to life, and studies of these phenomena play a central role in both organismal and evolutionary biology. Trade-offs can be defined, categorized, and studied in at least six, not mutually exclusive, ways. (1) Allocation constraints are caused by a limited resource (e.g., energy, time, space, essential nutrients), such that increasing allocation to one component necessarily requires a decrease in another (if only two components are involved, this is referred to as the Y-model, e.g., energy devoted to size versus number of offspring). (2) Functional conflicts occur when features that enhance performance of one task decrease performance of another (e.g., relative lengths of in-levers and out-levers, force-velocity trade-offs related to muscle fiber type composition). (3) Shared biochemical pathways, often involving integrator molecules (e.g., hormones, neurotransmitters, transcription factors), can simultaneously affect multiple traits, with some effects being beneficial for one or more components of Darwinian fitness (e.g., survival, age at first reproduction, fecundity) and others detrimental. (4) Antagonistic pleiotropy describes genetic variants that increase one component of fitness (or a lower-level trait) while simultaneously decreasing another. (5) Ecological circumstances (or selective regime) may impose trade-offs, such as when foraging behavior increases energy availability yet also decreases survival. (6) Sexual selection may lead to the elaboration of (usually male) secondary sexual characters that improve mating success but handicap survival and/or impose energetic costs that reduce other fitness components. Empirical studies of trade-offs often search for negative correlations between two traits that are the expected outcomes of the trade-offs, but this will generally be inadequate if more than two traits are involved and especially for complex physiological networks of interacting traits. Moreover, trade-offs often occur only in populations that are experiencing harsh environmental conditions or energetic challenges at the extremes of phenotypic distributions, such as among individuals or species that have exceptional athletic abilities. Trade-offs may be (partially) circumvented through various compensatory mechanisms, depending on the timescale involved, ranging from acute to evolutionary. Going forward, a pluralistic view of trade-offs and constraints, combined with integrative analyses that cross levels of biological organization and traditional boundaries among disciplines, will enhance the study of evolutionary organismal biology.</p>","PeriodicalId":54609,"journal":{"name":"Physiological and Biochemical Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"39723919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}