Journal
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY A-MOLECULAR & INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY
Volume 227, Issue -, Pages 116-122Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2018.10.007
Keywords
DNA damage; Comet assay; Corticosterone; Uric acid; Captivity; Erythrocytes
Categories
Funding
- National Science Foundation [IOS 1655269]
- Tufts University Graduate Student Research Award
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Corticosterone does not change in consistent ways across species and contexts, making it challenging to use as an indicator of chronic stress. We assessed DNA damage as a potential metric that could be a more integrative stress measurement with direct links to health. We captured free-living house sparrows, took an immediate blood sample, and transferred them to the laboratory, exposing them to the chronic stress of captivity. Biweekly blood and weight samples were then taken for 4 weeks. We immediately assessed DNA damage in red blood cells using the comet assay and later quantified corticosterone. Uric acid was analyzed in a separate group of birds. We found that birds initially lost, but began to regain weight over the course of captivity. DNA damage peaked within the first 10 days of captivity, and mostly remained elevated. However, the cellular distribution of damage changed considerably over time; most cells showed low levels of damage early, a bimodal distribution of high and low DNA damage during the peak of damage, and a wide unimodal distribution of damage at the end of the 4 weeks. Furthermore, corticosterone increased and remained elevated and uric acid decreased and remained depleted over the same period. Although both a molecular (DNA damage) and an endocrine (corticosterone) marker showed similar response profiles over the 4 weeks, they were not correlated, suggesting they reflect different aspects of the underlying physiology. These data provide convincing preliminary evidence that DNA damage has potential to be an additional indicator of chronic stress.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available