PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

Y Cherel

Publications and source records attributed to Y Cherel.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Fasting in king penguin. I. Hormonal and metabolic changes during breeding.

During long-term fasting in birds and mammals, protein utilization initially decreases (phase I), is thereafter maintained at a low value (phase II), and then further increases (phase III). To delineate hormonal and biochemical changes responsible for these modifications, the effect of food deprivation for 50 days was studied in 6 male king penguins captured at the beginning of their natural breeding fast. During phase II, both rate of mass loss and plasma uric acid concentration remained at low levels, whereas plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate concentration increased. In phase III there was by contrast a 2.5-fold increase in the rate of mass loss, an eightfold increase in plasma uric acid, and an 80% drop in plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate. Plasma corticosterone was low and steady in phase II and increased three times in phase III. During the overall fast, there were no significant variations in plasma insulin, but there was a fourfold increase in plasma glucagon and a decrease in plasma thyroxine and triiodothyronine. These findings suggest that protein sparing (phase II) requires low levels of corticosterone, insulin, and thyroid hormones, whereas the further increase in protein utilization (phase III) is due to an increase in plasma corticosterone. The high plasma glucagon concentration in phase III is presumably responsible for a transient increase in plasma glucose observed at this stage; such increase in glucagon could enhance gluconeogenesis from amino acids.

Aldosterone↗

Fasting in king penguin. II. Hormonal and metabolic changes during molt.

The coincidence of fast and molt in penguins is an interesting condition for investigating the factors controlling protein metabolism; avian molt involves the utilization of amino acids for synthesis of new feathers, whereas a major factor for adaptation to fasting in birds, as for mammals, is reduction in net protein breakdown. Hormonal and biochemical changes were studied in seven molting king penguins. Their initial body mass was 18 kg. It decreased by 58% over 41 days of fasting. Feather synthesis lasted for the first 3 wk of the fast. It was marked by plasma concentrations of alanine and uric acid 1.5 to 2 times those for nonmolting fast, and plasma thyroxine was increased five times. At the completion of molt all these values returned to levels comparable to those in nonmolting fast. As indicated by high plasma levels of beta-hydroxybutyrate, lipid stores were mobilized readily during molting. The fast ended by a phase of enhancement in protein utilization that was characterized by a fivefold increase in uricacidemia and coincided with an 80% drop in plasma beta-hydroxybutyrate and a fourfold increase in plasma corticosterone. These data suggest that two different hormones control the two successive periods marked by an increased protein mobilization during the molting fast, i.e., thyroxine during feather growth and corticosterone toward the end of the fast, when the molt is completed.

Aldosterone↗

[Augmentation of nitrogen efficiency and hyperphagia associated with refeeding after prolonged fast in the domestic goose].

The domestic goose is hyperphagic after a fast resulting in a 40% decrease in body mass (a decrease similar to that during breeding anorexia). Food intake is maximum on the 8th day of refeeding. As it is then an average of 2.5 times higher than before the fast, food intake may thus reach the value during forced-feeding for "foie gras". Since nitrogen assimilation rate also increases 2.5 times, nitrogen fixation is increased 6.8 times, suggesting a high level of protein synthesis.

Animals↗

Uric acid and urea in relation to protein catabolism in long-term fasting geese.

Five ganders were subjected to an experimental fast comparable to that which spontaneously occurs during breeding in domestic geese, and during migration and breeding in various wild birds. Plasma uric acid and urea concentrations, and their excretion as a proportion of total nitrogen excretion, were studied in relation to daily change in body mass per unit body mass, mg/mdt. This variable has previously been found to reflect changes in protein catabolism over the three phases of fast: I, dm/mdt and protein utilization both decrease; II, they are maintained at a low value; and III, they increase. In the fed state, daily total nitrogen excretion was 5 gN X 24 h-1; uric acid, ammonia and urea accounted for 51, 15 and 5% respectively. The high remaining proportion of excreted nitrogen (29%), after subtraction of uric acid-N, ammonia-N and urea-N to total nitrogen, accords with the literature. During fasting, the changes in daily excretion of uric acid, urea, ammonia and total nitrogen followed a pattern essentially similar to that for dm/mdt. Uric acid accounted for a progressively increasing fraction of total nitrogen, up to 76% at the end of phase III, while urea remained at a constant 5%. Plasma concentrations of both uric acid and urea followed similar trends during the fast, in particular both increasing during phase III, i.e. when there was a rise in nitrogen excretion. This suggests they could be used as an index in field investigations, to determine whether birds which naturally fast in connection with specific activities have entered into the situation where proteins are no longer spared.

Ammonia↗

Ambient temperature and ketone body plasma concentration in fasting geese.

The effect on ketonemia of alternate exposure to ambient temperatures (Ta) of 25 and 5 degrees C was investigated in fasting geese. Three experimental birds were compared to three controls continuously exposed to 25 degrees C Ta while fasting. During the first 9 days of fasting, when both groups were exposed to 25 degrees C, plasma concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate (beta-OHB) increased similarly in both, from 0.10 +/- 0.02 to 6.62 +/- 0.71 mmol X L-1. It later plateaued at 8-9 mmol X L-1 in the control birds. When the experimental birds were exposed to 5 degrees C Ta between the 9th and 15th day of the fast, it increased further during the first 24 h but thereafter decreased of 57%, from 8.62 +/- 1.56 to 3.73 +/- 1.24 mmol X L-1. This decrease was reversed within the 6 days of return to 25 degrees C Ta. In both groups, plasma acetoacetate (AcAc) concentration remained very low during the fast: 51 +/- 1 mumol X L-1. This reversible cold-induced effect on ketonemia may be used for investigating the possible role of ketone bodies in protein sparing during fasting.

3-Hydroxybutyric Acid↗

Five months of fasting in king penguin chicks: body mass loss and fuel metabolism.

When king penguin chicks are 3-4 mo old, they enter a season of interrupted growth due to long periods of fasting, because they are irregularly fed in winter. Nine captive chicks [mean initial body mass (m) = 12.5 kg] had fasted an average of 5 mo at the end of the experiment; m was then 4.0 kg, a 68% decrease. They probably could have fasted longer, since chicks of parents delayed in the return to the colony die from starvation at an m of 3.0 kg. The long fast could be divided into three periods based on the changes in rate of decrease of m. The remarkable resistance of king penguin chicks to starvation may be partly explained by their ability to maintain protein sparing for as much as 4 mo, the duration of period II; plasma concentrations of uric acid, urea, and alanine were then minimum, 0.1, 0.4, and 0.4 mmol X l-1 respectively. Particular changes during this period, i.e., progressive increase of beta-hydroxybutyrate and decrease of glucose concentrations, might contribute to the efficiency of protein sparing. Period III was marked by a rise in protein utilization, plasma concentrations of uric acid, urea, and alanine increasing to 0.7, 1.5, and 0.8 mmol X l-1, respectively.

3-Hydroxybutyric Acid↗

[Metabolic study of the initial period of fasting in the king penguin chick].

There is an 80% decrease in the specific daily change in body mass (dm/m dt) during the first 5-6 days of fasting in king penguin chicks, which characterizes period I of fasting. Parallel decreases in plasma alanine and uric acid concentrations suggest an important reduction in protein degradation. Plasma concentration of beta-hydroxybutyrate and glucose are high, respectively 1.3 and 12.5 mmol X 1(-1), and do not change significantly.

3-Hydroxybutyric Acid↗

Development of sensitivity to cAMP-inducing hormones in the rat stomach.

Development of cAMP responses to secretin, pancreatic glucagon, and histamine was measured in gastric glands of fetal (day 20), postnatal (days 1-30), and adult rats (day 65). cAMP stimulation by these hormones was already detected on day 20 of gestation. cAMP generation showed biphasic variations during the 1st days of life and at the onset of weaning (day 20). Anticipated weaning at day 14 triggered precocious maturation (efficacies) of the cAMP-generating systems sensitive to secretin, glucagon, and histamine without changing the potencies of the hormones. During development, the general characteristics (potency and pharmacological or regulatory properties) of the receptor-cAMP systems studied were comparable with those evidenced in adult rats. At days 5, 20, and 65, vasoactive intestinal peptide and the peptide having N-terminal histidine and C-terminal isoleucine amide (PHI) were about 100 times less potent than secretin (EC50 = 1.5 X 10(-9) M secretin). The histamine action could be blocked by the competitive H2-receptor antagonist cimetidine (70-100% inhibition) as well as by the noncompetitive inhibitor somatostatin (37-62% inhibition). The data indicate that these regulatory hormones (secretin, glucagon(s), histamine, and somatostatin) might have a direct effect on gastric glands and may modulate their biological activities (metabolism, differentiation, proliferation, and exocrine and endocrine secretions) from the neonatal period in rats. The important physiological role of weaning on the final maturation of the cAMP-generating systems in rat gastric glands is underlined.

Animals↗

Muscle lesions associated with dystrophin deficiency in neonatal golden retriever puppies.

Golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD), a degenerative myopathy due to the absence of dystrophin, is genetically homologous to human Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Spontaneous death of GRMD neonates within the first 2 weeks of life occurs frequently. This report describes the microscopical muscle lesions that developed in 12 GRMD puppies aged 1-8 days of age, and makes a comparison with three normal age-matched siblings and two older GRMD dogs. Immunohistochemical methods were used to confirm dystrophin deficiency in GRMD puppies. Muscle lesions were assessed on sections stained with haematoxylin-eosin-saffron, Gomori's trichrome and alizarin red S, and their severity was graded semi-quantitatively. Muscle fibre types were determined immunohistochemically on the basis of the pattern of expression of developmental, slow and fast isoforms of myosin. Muscle lesions in the GRMD puppies were characterized by massive necrosis, affecting most muscles of the proximal limbs, trunk and neck at birth. Lingual lesions began to develop in utero, and respiratory muscles underwent terminal diffuse necrosis resulting in death from acute respiratory failure. However, GRMD puppies do not invariably die in the neonatal period. Muscle in 2-month-old GRMD dogs showed signs of regeneration (immunohistochemical immaturity of muscle tissue), which suggested that all GRMD dogs suffer from massive post-natal myonecrosis, whether fatal or not. Muscle lesions in neonates consisted mainly of hyalinization, hypertrophy, calcification and necrosis, followed by regeneration. Such "phase I" lesions due to the absence of dystrophin are found in all species in which dystrophin deficiency has been described (human beings, dogs, cats and mice), whereas the endomysial fibrosis and myofibre atrophy found in 2-month-old GRMD dogs constituted "phase II" lesions, which are specific to GRMD and human DMD.

Animals↗

Late clinical expression of lameness related to associated osteomyelitis and tibial dyschondroplasia in male breeding turkeys.

A sudden outbreak of lameness related to transport stress is described in a flock of male breeding turkeys. Most of the affected turkeys exhibited obvious unilateral leg disorders. All were affected with tibial or metatarsal dyschondroplasia with at least one lesion associated with a large focus of necrosis. By histological examinations, bone lesions showed the typical feature of osteomyelitis. The inflammatory bone lesions appeared at only single isolated sites and were always associated with obvious sequestra of dyschondroplastic retained cartilage. Osteomyelitis seems to be an unexpected acute complication of previous dyschondroplasia in relation with different breeding stress situations. The resulting pain of the associated lesions could be the main cause of clinical expression of lameness. The pathogenesis of the phenomenon remains uncertain.

Animals↗