Experimental evidence that oxidative stress influences reproductive decisions

Costantini, David; Casasole, Giulia; AbdElgawad, Hamada; Asard, Han; Eens, Marcel

doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12608

Cited by 63 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Sulfoximine is a non‐toxic drug that reduces the synthesis of glutathione, a key cellular antioxidant, by inhibiting the activity of the enzyme gamma‐glutamylcysteine synthetase (Griffith & Meister ; Griffith ; Galván & Alonso‐Alvarez ; Costantini et al . ; Koch & Hill ). The injections were done on alternate days for a total of five times (Fig.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental inhibition of a key cellular antioxidant affects vocal communication

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental inhibition of a key cellular antioxidant affects vocal communication

et al. 2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Costantini et al (2015) experimentally induced oxidative stress (see Glossary) just before breeding in canaries and found that this can delay the onset of egg laying and reduce clutch size. This finding suggests that oxidative stress generated during one reproductive bout could affect performance in the next reproductive bout.…”

Section: Box 1 Possible Consequences Of Reproduction On An Individuamentioning

confidence: 99%

Current versus future reproduction and longevity: a re-evaluation of predictions and mechanisms

Zhang

Hood

2016

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Oxidative damage is predicted to be a mediator of trade-offs between current reproduction and future reproduction or survival, but most studies fail to support such predictions. We suggest that two factors underlie the equivocal nature of these findings: (1) investigators typically assume a negative linear relationship between current reproduction and future reproduction or survival, even though this is not consistently shown by empirical studies; and (2) studies often fail to target mechanisms that could link interactions between sequential lifehistory events. Here, we review common patterns of reproduction, focusing on the relationships between reproductive performance, survival and parity in females. Observations in a range of species show that performance between sequential reproductive events can decline, remain consistent or increase. We describe likely bioenergetic consequences of reproduction that could underlie these changes in fitness, including mechanisms that could be responsible for negative effects being ephemeral, persistent or delayed. Finally, we make recommendations for designing future studies. We encourage investigators to carefully consider additional or alternative measures of bioenergetic function in studies of life-history trade-offs. Such measures include reactive oxygen species production, oxidative repair, mitochondrial biogenesis, cell proliferation, mitochondrial DNA mutation and replication error and, importantly, a measure of the respiratory function to determine whether measured differences in bioenergetic state are associated with a change in the energetic capacity of tissues that could feasibly affect future reproduction or lifespan. More careful consideration of the life-history context and bioenergetic variables will improve our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie the life-history patterns of animals.

show abstract

“…It is hard to determine causality or direction of this effect; for example, individuals that breed may have different pre-reproductive oxidative damage levels than the ones that do not. In fact, it has recently been shown that initial levels of oxidative stress indeed influence reproductive decisions (Costantini et al 2015). Our study provides more evidence that oxidative balance is differently regulated in animals breeding beyond their chosen rate as we did not detect any association between the level of reproductive effort and oxidative stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elevated reproduction does not affect telomere dynamics and oxidative stress

Sudyka

Casasole

Rutkowska

et al. 2016

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Oxidative stress and telomere dynamics are considered to be powerful biomarkers quantifying a potential trade-off between current reproduction and self-maintenance. Recent studies confirmed the negative impact of elevated reproduction on telomeres, but the evidence for the cost of reproduction in terms of oxidative stress remains equivocal. In order to induce reproductive costs, we experimentally manipulated reproductive effort by increasing brood size in captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and additionally challenged all birds by a low ambient temperature to facilitate detection of these costs. We were not able to show any negative effects of elevated reproductive effort on telomere dynamics and oxidative stress among parents, although brood enlargement was effective in terms of total mass and number of fledged young. Interestingly, irrespective of brood size treatment, we found a significant increase in antioxidant capacity at peak breeding while oxidative damage did not change with time. Our results may suggest that reproduction, instead of generating costs, may stimulate physiological functions promoting self-maintenance in terms of higher protection against free radicals. Possibly, opportunistic breeders such as zebra finches may not impede their future performance for the sake of current reproduction.Significance statementThis study interrogates a molecular background behind one of the most intriguing trade-offs that potentially occurs between self-maintenance and reproduction. We manipulated breeding effort in zebra finches to understand if the cost of reproduction can be mediated by telomere dynamics and oxidative stress. In our study system, we did not detect the direct reproductive costs in terms of parental oxidative damage and telomere loss; instead, these costs were paid by the offspring in terms of their inhibited growth rate. Moreover, we found that entering into the reproductive state strongly stimulated self-maintenance by increasing antioxidant capacity in parents. Our results emphasize that current reproductive success is not always prioritized over investment in body maintenance preventing the oxidative cost of reproduction.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00265-016-2226-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

show abstract

Experimental evidence that oxidative stress influences reproductive decisions

Cited by 63 publications

References 53 publications

Experimental inhibition of a key cellular antioxidant affects vocal communication

Experimental inhibition of a key cellular antioxidant affects vocal communication

Current versus future reproduction and longevity: a re-evaluation of predictions and mechanisms

Elevated reproduction does not affect telomere dynamics and oxidative stress

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About