Body temperature changes during simulated bacterial infection in a songbird: fever at night and hypothermia during the day
(2015) In Journal of Experimental Biology 218(18). p.2961-2969- Abstract
- Although fever (a closely regulated increase in body temperature in response to infection) typically is beneficial, it is energetically costly and may induce detrimentally high body temperatures. This can increase the susceptibility to energetic bottlenecks and risks of overheating in some organisms. Accordingly, it could be particularly interesting to study fever in small birds, which have comparatively high metabolic rates and high, variable body temperatures. We therefore investigated two aspects of fever and other sickness behaviours (circadian variation, dose dependence) in a small songbird, the zebra finch. We injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at the beginning of either the day or the night, and subsequently monitored body... (More)
- Although fever (a closely regulated increase in body temperature in response to infection) typically is beneficial, it is energetically costly and may induce detrimentally high body temperatures. This can increase the susceptibility to energetic bottlenecks and risks of overheating in some organisms. Accordingly, it could be particularly interesting to study fever in small birds, which have comparatively high metabolic rates and high, variable body temperatures. We therefore investigated two aspects of fever and other sickness behaviours (circadian variation, dose dependence) in a small songbird, the zebra finch. We injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at the beginning of either the day or the night, and subsequently monitored body temperature, body mass change and food intake for the duration of the response. We found pronounced circadian variation in the body temperature response to LPS injection, manifested by (dose-dependent) hypothermia during the day but fever at night. This resulted in body temperature during the peak response being relatively similar during the day and night. Day-to-night differences might be explained in the context of circadian variation in body temperature: songbirds have a high daytime body temperature that is augmented by substantial heat production peaks during activity. This might require a trade-off between the benefit of fever and the risk of overheating. In contrast, at night, when body temperature is typically lower and less variable, fever can be used to mitigate infection. We suggest that the change in body temperature during infection in small songbirds is context dependent and regulated to promote survival according to individual demands at the time of infection. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/7845076
- author
- Sköld Chiriac, Sandra LU ; Nord, Andreas LU ; Tobler, Michael LU ; Nilsson, Jan-Åke LU and Hasselquist, Dennis LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2015
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- LPS, fever, ecophysiology, acute-phase response, heterothermy
- in
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- volume
- 218
- issue
- 18
- pages
- 2961 - 2969
- publisher
- The Company of Biologists Ltd
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:26232416
- wos:000362006300022
- scopus:84962750249
- pmid:26232416
- ISSN
- 1477-9145
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.122150
- project
- Immunoecology
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ed0a6e93-2eb9-4f74-a328-c9fa5a32e223 (old id 7845076)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 09:57:12
- date last changed
- 2024-03-23 22:04:13
@article{ed0a6e93-2eb9-4f74-a328-c9fa5a32e223,
abstract = {{Although fever (a closely regulated increase in body temperature in response to infection) typically is beneficial, it is energetically costly and may induce detrimentally high body temperatures. This can increase the susceptibility to energetic bottlenecks and risks of overheating in some organisms. Accordingly, it could be particularly interesting to study fever in small birds, which have comparatively high metabolic rates and high, variable body temperatures. We therefore investigated two aspects of fever and other sickness behaviours (circadian variation, dose dependence) in a small songbird, the zebra finch. We injected lipopolysaccharide (LPS) at the beginning of either the day or the night, and subsequently monitored body temperature, body mass change and food intake for the duration of the response. We found pronounced circadian variation in the body temperature response to LPS injection, manifested by (dose-dependent) hypothermia during the day but fever at night. This resulted in body temperature during the peak response being relatively similar during the day and night. Day-to-night differences might be explained in the context of circadian variation in body temperature: songbirds have a high daytime body temperature that is augmented by substantial heat production peaks during activity. This might require a trade-off between the benefit of fever and the risk of overheating. In contrast, at night, when body temperature is typically lower and less variable, fever can be used to mitigate infection. We suggest that the change in body temperature during infection in small songbirds is context dependent and regulated to promote survival according to individual demands at the time of infection.}},
author = {{Sköld Chiriac, Sandra and Nord, Andreas and Tobler, Michael and Nilsson, Jan-Åke and Hasselquist, Dennis}},
issn = {{1477-9145}},
keywords = {{LPS; fever; ecophysiology; acute-phase response; heterothermy}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{18}},
pages = {{2961--2969}},
publisher = {{The Company of Biologists Ltd}},
series = {{Journal of Experimental Biology}},
title = {{Body temperature changes during simulated bacterial infection in a songbird: fever at night and hypothermia during the day}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.122150}},
doi = {{10.1242/jeb.122150}},
volume = {{218}},
year = {{2015}},
}