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One aspect of the Reactive Scope Model is wear-and-tear, which describes a decrease in an animal’s ability to cope with a stressor, typically because of a period of chronic or repeated stressors. We investigated whether wear-and-tear due to chronic stress would accelerate a transition from phase II to phase III of fasting. We exposed house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to three weeks of daily fasts combined with daily intermittent repeated acute stressors to create chronic stress, followed by two weeks of daily fasts without stressors. We measured circulating glucose, β-hydroxybutyrate (a ketone), and uric acid in both fasted and fed states. We expected birds to be in phase II (high fat breakdown) in a fasted state, but if wear-and-tear accumulated sufficiently, we hypothesized a shift to phase III (high protein breakdown). Throughout the experiment, the birds exhibited elevated β-hydroxybutyrate when fasting but no changes in circulating uric acid, indicating that a transition to phase III did not occur. In both a fasted and fed state, the birds increased glucose mobilization throughout the experiment, suggesting wear-and-tear occurred, but was not sufficient to induce a shift to phase III. Additionally, the birds exhibited a significant decrease in weight, no change in corticosterone, and a transient decrease in neophobia with chronic stress. In conclusion, the birds appear to have experienced wear-and-tear, but our protocol did not accelerate the transition from phase II to phase III of fasting.
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House sparrows ( Passer domesticus ) adjusted hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal axis negative feedback and perch hopping activities in response to a single repeated stimulus
Abstract Chronic stress has been extensively studied in both laboratory and field settings; however, a conclusive and consistent phenotype has not been reached. Several studies have reported attenuation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis during experiments intended to cause chronic stress. We sought to determine whether this attenuation could be indicative of habituation. Importantly, we were not investigating habituation to a specific stimulus—as many stress physiology studies do—but rather we assessed how the underlying physiology and behavior changed in response to repeated stressor presentation. We exposed house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to a single stimulus twice per day at random times for 8 consecutive days. We predicted that this period of time would be long enough for the birds to determine that these acute stressors were not, in fact, dangerous and they would, therefore, acclimate. A second control group remained undisturbed for the same period of time. We measured baseline, stress‐induced, negative feedback strength, and maximum production of corticosterone as well as neophobic behavior before, during, and after this 8‐day experiment. When birds experienced a stimulus for 4 days, their negative feedback strength was significantly diminished, but recovered after the second 4 days. Additionally, perch hopping decreased and recovered in this same time frame. These data suggest that distinct physiological and behavioral responses arise when house sparrows are exposed to the same stressor for several consecutive days as opposed to many stressors layered on top of one another. Furthermore, they indicate that habituation—as with chronic stress—can appear differently depending on the metric being examined.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1655269
- PAR ID:
- 10075785
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Experimental Zoology Part A: Ecological and Integrative Physiology
- Volume:
- 329
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 2471-5638
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 597-605
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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