Immune response to aTrichinella spiralisinfection in house mice from lines selectively bred for high voluntary wheel running

Abstract

SUMMARYFour lines of mice bred for high voluntary wheel running (HR lines) have high baseline circulating corticosterone levels and increased daily energy expenditure as compared with four non-selected control (C) lines. High corticosterone may suppress immune function and competing energy demands may limit ability to mount an immune response. We hypothesized that HR mice have a reduced immune response and therefore a decreased ability to fight an infection by Trichinella spiralis, an ecologically relevant nematode common in mammals. Infections have an acute, intestinal phase while the nematode is migrating, reproducing and traveling throughout the bloodstream, followed by a chronic phase with larvae encysted in muscles. Adult males (generation 55 of the selection experiment) were sham-infected or infected by oral gavage with ~300 J1 T. spiralis larvae. During the chronic phase of infection, mice were given wheel access for 6 days, followed by 2 days of maximum aerobic performance trials. Two weeks post-infection, infected HR had significantly lower circulating immunoglobulin E levels compared with infected C mice. However, we found no statistical difference between infected HR and C mice in numbers of encysted larvae within the diaphragm. As expected, both voluntary running and maximum aerobic performance were significantly higher in HR mice and lower in infected mice, with no line type-by-infection interactions. Results complement those of previous studies suggesting decreased locomotor abilities during the chronic phase of T. spiralis infection. However, despite reduced antibody production, breeding for high voluntary wheel exercise does not appear to have a substantial negative impact on general humoral function. Supplementary material available online at

Maternal exposure to Western diet affects adult body composition and voluntary wheel running in a genotype-specific manner in mice

“…Analyses of organs and hormones used as a covariate the number of days between the end of wheel access and sacrifice. Blood samples and various organ tissues were dissected and weighed: posterior subcutaneous fat pads, caudal portions of the abdominal pelvic fat pad [44], heart ventricles, livers, spleens, and brains. Heparinized blood samples were spun at 13,000 RPM for 12 minutes and collected plasma was stored at -20°C.…”

Effects of selective breeding for high voluntary wheel‐running behavior on femoral nutrient canal size and abundance in house mice

“…; Dlugosz et al. ). If metabolic activity impacts nutrient canal dimensions, then more active individuals, populations and species are predicted to have relatively larger canals (Seymour et al.…”

“…In addition, we test whether nutrient canal size is an appropriate indicator of physical or metabolic activity using a well-established model system: mice from four replicate high runner (HR) lines that have been selectively bred for voluntary wheel-running behavior and their four non-selected Control (C) lines (Swallow et al 1998a;Garland, 2003). Mice from the HR lines run approximately threefold more revolutions per day than C mice, and also have higher maximum aerobic capacity (VO 2 max) and endurance during forced treadmill exercise (Swallow et al 1998b;Girard et al 2001;Rezende et al 2006a,b;Meek et al 2009;Kolb et al 2010;Dlugosz et al 2013). If metabolic activity impacts nutrient canal dimensions, then more active individuals, populations and species are predicted to have relatively larger canals (Seymour et al 2012), and this should be reflected in differences between the HR and C lines of mice.…”

Trade-Offs (and Constraints) in Organismal Biology

“…However, lifespan may have declined (Vaanholt et al 2010) (but see Bronikowski et al 2006). No trade-off between activity levels and immune function seems to have evolved (Malisch et al 2009;Downs et al 2012;Dlugosz et al 2013).…”