IIMYC   23581
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES MARINAS Y COSTERAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
artículos
Título:
Assessing the energetic costs and trade-offs of a PHA-induced inflammation in the subterranean rodent Ctenomys talarum: Immune response in growing tuco-tucos
Autor/es:
CUTRERA, ANA PAULA; LUNA, FACUNDO; MERLO, JULIETA; BALDO, MARÍA BELÉN; ZENUTO, ROXANA
Revista:
COMPARATIVE BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY A-MOLECULAR AND INTEGRATIVE PHYSIOLOGY
Editorial:
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
Referencias:
Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2014 p. 23 - 28
ISSN:
1095-6433
Resumen:
A traditional approach used to assess whether immune defense is costly
is to explore the existence of trade-offs between immunity and other
functions; however, quantitative studies of the energetic costs
associated with the activation of the immune system are scarce. We
assessed the magnitude of a PHA-triggered immune response and the
associated energetic costs in 60-day old Ctenomys talarum. We
expected that the magnitude of the macroscopic inflammatory response to
PHA is lower in young tuco-tucos compared with that of adults, given the
allocation of substantial energy to growth, and that the magnitude of
the inflammation is lower in male pups compared to females, due to the
higher investment in growth of the larger sex. Concomitantly, we
expected that the pups challenged with PHA show an increase in oxygen
consumption compared to control animals and that a positive association
exists between magnitude of the PHA-induced inflammation and oxygen
consumption. Contrary to what was expected, young tuco-tucos mounted a
higher inflammatory response compared with adults and there were no
differences in the magnitude of this response between sexes. The
inflammatory response induced by a PHA injection did not represent a
significant energetic cost for young tuco-tucos. There were no
differences in oxygen consumption between PHA-injected and control
animals, and tuco-tucos that mounted a higher inflammatory response to
PHA did not show higher oxygen consumption. Energy expenditure, however,
is not the only physiological cost involved in trade-offs between
immune response and various functions of the organism, and other
currencies are discussed.