Meeting Abstract
Climate change models warn that mean global temperatures are increasing and heat events will become more common, thus, it is important to consider how animals will cope with increases in environmental temperatures. Whereas studies highlight dire consequences of increasing temperatures for animals, we examined whether developing in warmer temperatures via hormetic priming would physiologically benefit adult quail. We used two lines of quail Coturnix coturnix japonica, one selected for slow growth and another for fast growth, to examine changes in muscle oxidative stress and structure across four reciprocally-crossed temperature treatment groups. Slow-growing quail had significantly higher citrate synthase (CS) activity compared with fast-growing quail, and hormetically primed birds had lower CS activity. Peroxyl (OOH•) radical scavenging capacity differed between temperature treatment groups, while hydroxyl (OH•) radical scavenging capacity differed between growth lines. We found significant differences in lipid peroxidation (LPO) damage between temperature treatment groups, where quail that experienced no variation in temperature showed higher LPO, while birds that were hormetically primed showed lower LPO. Finally, muscle fiber diameter was larger in fast-growing quail compared with slow-growing quail, and hormetically primed birds that experienced an acute thermal challenge had larger muscle fibers, possibly indicating a metabolic cost savings related to increased thermal load. Hormetic priming in quail showed physiological benefits as less oxidative stress is accumulated and muscle fiber diameters increased. Additionally, fast-growing quail may produce more reactive species, but may also profit more from thermal hormesis.
