Carotenoid intake does not affect immune-stimulated oxidative burst in greenfinches
(2011) In Journal of Experimental Biology 214(20). p.3467-3473- Abstract
- Carotenoid-based integument colouration is extremely widespread in the animal kingdom. It has been hypothesized that carotenoid colouration is used for communicating the health status of the bearers because carotenoids are efficient immunomodulators or antioxidants. However, the latter argument has been recently debated and the mechanisms by which carotenoids modulate immunity or oxidative balance are poorly known. We performed an experiment on wild-caught captive greenfinches, passerine birds with carotenoid-based plumage colouration, in order to test whether dietary carotenoid supplementation affects immune-stimulated oxidative burst of phagocytes in the whole blood and humoral immune response to a novel antigen, Brucella abortus (BA).... (More)
- Carotenoid-based integument colouration is extremely widespread in the animal kingdom. It has been hypothesized that carotenoid colouration is used for communicating the health status of the bearers because carotenoids are efficient immunomodulators or antioxidants. However, the latter argument has been recently debated and the mechanisms by which carotenoids modulate immunity or oxidative balance are poorly known. We performed an experiment on wild-caught captive greenfinches, passerine birds with carotenoid-based plumage colouration, in order to test whether dietary carotenoid supplementation affects immune-stimulated oxidative burst of phagocytes in the whole blood and humoral immune response to a novel antigen, Brucella abortus (BA). Additionally, we tested whether immune stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) affects blood carotenoid levels. We thus tested the effects of carotenoids on the oxidative burst of phagocytes under neutral conditions and during in vivo immune challenge. LPS injection depleted plasma carotenoids, indicating involvement of these phytochemicals in the immune response. However, we did not find any evidence that manipulation of carotenoid intake had modulated anti-BA antibody production, LPS-stimulated oxidative burst of phagocytes, or basal levels of circulating reactive oxygen species. This indicates that carotenoid intake does not affect endogenous production of reactive oxygen species by immune cells. This finding is consistent with the view that carotenoids are unlikely to provide a direct link between oxidative stress and colouration. However, it remains to be tested whether the oxidative burst of phagocytes induced in our experiment actually inflicts oxidative damage and whether carotenoids play a role in the attenuation of such potential damages. © 2011. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3359254
- author
- Sild, Elin LU ; Sepp, T. ; Männiste, M. and Hõrak, P.
- publishing date
- 2011
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Brucella abortus, Carotenoid, Immune challenge, LPS, Passerine, Whole blood chemiluminescence response
- in
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- volume
- 214
- issue
- 20
- pages
- 3467 - 3473
- publisher
- The Company of Biologists Ltd
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:80053907386
- pmid:21957110
- ISSN
- 1477-9145
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.062182
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- 20
- id
- 878131dc-8c65-47ad-bc75-456d7752640d (old id 3359254)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:05:18
- date last changed
- 2022-01-25 19:34:29
@article{878131dc-8c65-47ad-bc75-456d7752640d,
abstract = {{Carotenoid-based integument colouration is extremely widespread in the animal kingdom. It has been hypothesized that carotenoid colouration is used for communicating the health status of the bearers because carotenoids are efficient immunomodulators or antioxidants. However, the latter argument has been recently debated and the mechanisms by which carotenoids modulate immunity or oxidative balance are poorly known. We performed an experiment on wild-caught captive greenfinches, passerine birds with carotenoid-based plumage colouration, in order to test whether dietary carotenoid supplementation affects immune-stimulated oxidative burst of phagocytes in the whole blood and humoral immune response to a novel antigen, Brucella abortus (BA). Additionally, we tested whether immune stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) affects blood carotenoid levels. We thus tested the effects of carotenoids on the oxidative burst of phagocytes under neutral conditions and during in vivo immune challenge. LPS injection depleted plasma carotenoids, indicating involvement of these phytochemicals in the immune response. However, we did not find any evidence that manipulation of carotenoid intake had modulated anti-BA antibody production, LPS-stimulated oxidative burst of phagocytes, or basal levels of circulating reactive oxygen species. This indicates that carotenoid intake does not affect endogenous production of reactive oxygen species by immune cells. This finding is consistent with the view that carotenoids are unlikely to provide a direct link between oxidative stress and colouration. However, it remains to be tested whether the oxidative burst of phagocytes induced in our experiment actually inflicts oxidative damage and whether carotenoids play a role in the attenuation of such potential damages. © 2011. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.}},
author = {{Sild, Elin and Sepp, T. and Männiste, M. and Hõrak, P.}},
issn = {{1477-9145}},
keywords = {{Brucella abortus; Carotenoid; Immune challenge; LPS; Passerine; Whole blood chemiluminescence response}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{20}},
pages = {{3467--3473}},
publisher = {{The Company of Biologists Ltd}},
series = {{Journal of Experimental Biology}},
title = {{Carotenoid intake does not affect immune-stimulated oxidative burst in greenfinches}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.062182}},
doi = {{10.1242/jeb.062182}},
volume = {{214}},
year = {{2011}},
}