Carotenoids in Avian Nutrition and Embryonic Development. 2. Antioxident Properties and Discrimination in Embryonic Tissues.

Surai, Peter F.; Speake, Brian K.; Sparks, N. H. C.

doi:10.2141/jpsa.38.117

Cited by 88 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 155 publications

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“…If we assume that carotenoid levels after the period of breeding effort may reflect carotenoid levels at the laying period, then this result would indicate that hatching success depends on the female's capacity to allocate carotenoids to the egg yolk, thereby protecting the embryo from oxidative stress (Blount et al 2000;Surai et al 2001b). Experimental increases in carotenoid availability in food led to higher yolk-carotenoid levels and better hatchability in some bird and fish species ( Grether et al 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and Breeding Effort as Sources of Individual Variability in Oxidative Stress Markers in a Bird Species

Alonso‐Álvarez

Pérez‐Rodríguez

García

et al. 2010

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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Oxidative stress is the imbalance between the production of pro-oxidant substances and the level of antioxidant defenses, which leads to oxidative damage. It has been proposed that senescence is the result of accumulated oxidative damage throughout life. In birds, the sources of individual variability in oxidative stress are still poorly understood. Among these sources, age, as related to senescence, should be particularly relevant. Furthermore, recent findings suggest that breeding effort may also deeply influence susceptibility to oxidative stress. However, there is still no evidence of a link between breeding effort and oxidative damage in any vertebrate. Here we analyzed 288 captive red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa) across a wide age range (i.e., 1-8 yr old), thus including potentially senescent birds. In spite of limitations due to the crosssectional approach, results revealed that old birds produced less offspring and endured higher levels of oxidized glutathione and peroxidized lipids in erythrocytes than did middle-aged individuals. Old birds also showed higher plasma total antioxidant status and uric acid levels than did younger birds, but lower amounts of circulating carotenoids. Furthermore, hatching success was negatively correlated to lipid peroxidation in females but not in males, supporting the hypothesis that breeding effort promotes oxidative damage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age and Breeding Effort as Sources of Individual Variability in Oxidative Stress Markers in a Bird Species

Alonso‐Álvarez

Pérez‐Rodríguez

García

et al. 2010

Physiological and Biochemical Zoology

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“…For example, carotenoids exert a protective and recycling role for antioxidants like vitamins E and A (e.g. Edge et al, 1997;Surai and Speake, 1998;Surai et al, 2001;Surai, 2002). Changes in carotenoid levels might therefore directly or indirectly reflect short-term changes in oxidative status due to the immune response that induces an increase in oxidative stress and associated damages (Costantini and Dell'Omo, 2006;Hõrak et al, 2007) and may also increase metabolic rate (Martin et al, 2003;Lee et al, 2005;Nilsson et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dynamics of PHA-induced immune response and plasma carotenoids in birds:should we have a closer look?

Biard

Hardy

Motreuil

et al. 2009

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYAllocation trade-offs of limited resources are thought to ensure the honesty of sexual signals and are often studied using controlled immune challenges. One such trade-off between immunity and ornaments is that involving carotenoids. Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced immune response is a widely used immune challenge, yet more details on the underlying physiological mechanisms and potential costs are needed. We investigated the temporal dynamics of PHA-induced immune response and associated changes in blood carotenoids, body mass and a carotenoid-based coloured signal. We found variation in individual response patterns to PHA after peak swelling was reached, with birds showing either a rapid or a slow subsequent decrease in swelling, suggesting variation in the duration of the immune response and/or inflammation. Body mass did not affect immune response. Plasma carotenoids followed a transient decrease closely matching the dynamics of the swelling. The peak of the immune response was negatively related to initial plasma carotenoid levels and positively correlated to the relative decrease in plasma carotenoids. Individual variation in duration of the swelling could be partly explained by plasma carotenoids; high initial carotenoid levels were associated with a slower decrease of the swelling. These contradictory effects of carotenoids suggest a complex role in the immune response. Bill colour was positively correlated to initial plasma carotenoid concentration but it did not predict or change as a consequence of immune response to PHA. Bill colour thus reflects medium-or long-term quality rather than immediate quality. Taking into account the dynamics of the immune response and that of associated physiological parameters would thus yield new insights into our interpretation of variation in PHA response.

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“…Such synergistic effects among antioxidants are described in the poultry literature (e.g. Surai and Speake, 1998;Surai et al, 2001b), but have generally been neglected in studies of wild birds. However, there was no such effect on plasma antioxidants in great tit nestlings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, an increase in circulating carotenoids could be expected in nestling blood, but also an increase in the concentration of other lipid-soluble antioxidants, as interactions such as recycling and mutual protection are known to occur between different antioxidants (e.g. Surai and Speake, 1998;Surai et al, 2001b). We thus measured the concentration of carotenoids and the two other major antioxidants for birds, vitamin E and vitamin A, in nestling plasma following carotenoid supplementation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carotenoid availability in diet and phenotype of blue and great tit nestlings

Biard

Surai²,

Møller

2006

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Carotenoids are biologically active pigments of crucial importance for the development of avian embryos and nestlings. Thus parental ability to provide nestlings with a carotenoid-rich diet may enhance offspring fitness. However, very little is known about the possible effects of carotenoid availability in the diet on growing nestlings in natural populations. We experimentally manipulated dietary intake of carotenoids by nestlings of two closely related passerine species, the great tit Parus major and the blue tit Parus caeruleus, and measured nestling antioxidants, body condition, immunity and plumage colour. There was no detectable increase in plasma carotenoids after treatment in carotenoid-fed nestlings of either species despite regular supply of dietary carotenoids. However, in carotenoid-fed blue tit nestlings, plasma vitamin E concentration increased with plasma carotenoid concentration, while that was not the case for control nestlings. In both species, there was no significant effect of carotenoid supply on immune function. Carotenoid supplementation enhanced yellow feather colour in great tit nestlings only. In both species a strong effect of carotenoid supply was found on body condition with an increase in body mass for small carotenoid-fed nestlings compared to similarly sized control nestlings. Dietary availability of carotenoids may thus have important fitness consequences for tits. We hypothesise that the difference in effect of dietary carotenoids on the two species is due to relatively larger clutch size and higher growth rates of blue tits compared to great tits, leading to blue tit nestlings being more in need of carotenoids for antioxidant function than great tit nestlings

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Carotenoids in Avian Nutrition and Embryonic Development. 2. Antioxident Properties and Discrimination in Embryonic Tissues.

Cited by 88 publications

References 155 publications

Age and Breeding Effort as Sources of Individual Variability in Oxidative Stress Markers in a Bird Species

Age and Breeding Effort as Sources of Individual Variability in Oxidative Stress Markers in a Bird Species

Dynamics of PHA-induced immune response and plasma carotenoids in birds:should we have a closer look?

Carotenoid availability in diet and phenotype of blue and great tit nestlings

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