Meeting Abstract
Differences in reproductive strategies may dictate lifespans of organisms, as posited by the life-history theory. Animals that have higher investments in reproduction in terms of litter size and frequency of litters tend to have shorter lifespans. Accumulation of oxidative stress damage has been proposed to be a cost of reproduction and a possible mediator of life-histories among animals. In order to test the effect of reproduction on metabolism and oxidative stress of rats at the cell level, we grew primary dermal fibroblasts from Sprague-Dawley rats which invest heavily in reproduction and have the potential of having large litters frequently. Cells were isolated from virgin females, primiparous females, multiparous females and males. We measured basal oxygen consumption (OCR), proton leak, ATP production, spare respiratory capacity, coupling efficiency and glycolysis using a Seahorse XF96 oxygen flux analyzer. Additionally, we measured rates of RS (reactive species) production, reduced glutathione (GSH), mitochondrial content, and lipid peroxidation (LPO) damage to quantify oxidative stress. There were no significant differences in any OCR or glycolytic parameters across any of our groups. However, reproductive females had significantly lower rates of LPO damage as compared with virgin females and males, as well as nonsignificant decreases for GSH concentration. Decreases in LPO damage and GSH indicate that reproducing females use their antioxidant system in order to combat potential effects of increases in metabolic rate during reproduction. Our results suggest that reproduction may, in fact, have a protective effect in females.
