RT Journal Article
T1 Corticosterone and glucose are correlated and show similar response patterns to temperature and stress in a free-living bird
A1 Millanes, Paola M.
A1 Pérez Rodríguez, Lorenzo
A1 Gallego Rubalcaba, Juan Vicente
A1 Gil, Diego
A1 Jimeno, Blanca
AB Glucocorticoid (GC) hormones have traditionally been interpreted as indicators of stress, but the extent to which they provide information on physiological state remains debated. GCs are metabolic hormones that amongst other functions ensure increasing fuel (i.e. glucose) supply on the face of fluctuating energetic demands, a role often overlooked by ecological studies investigating the consequences of GC variation. Furthermore, because energy budget is limited, in natural contexts where multiple stimuli coexist, the organisms' ability to respond physiologically may be constrained when multiple triggers of metabolic responses overlap in time. Using free-living spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor) chicks, we experimentally tested whether two stimuli of different nature known to trigger a metabolic or GC response, respectively, cause a comparable increase in plasma GCs and glucose. We further tested whether response patterns differed when both stimuli occurred consecutively. We found that both experimental treatments caused increases in GCs and glucose of similar magnitude, suggesting that both variables fluctuate along with variation in energy expenditure, independently of the trigger. Exposure to the two stimuli occurring subsequently did not cause a difference in GC or glucose responses compared with exposure to a single stimulus, suggesting a limited capacity to respond to an additional stimulus during an ongoing acute response. Lastly, we found a positive and significant correlation between plasma GCs and glucose after the experimental treatments. Our results add to the increasing research on the role of energy expenditure on GC variation, by providing experimental evidence on the association between plasma GCs and energy metabolism.
PB The Company of Biologists
SN 0022-0949
YR 2024
FD 2024-07-15
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118033
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/118033
LA eng
NO Millanes, P. M., Pérez-Rodrıǵuez, L., Rubalcaba, J. G., Gil, D., & Jimeno, B. (2024). Corticosterone and glucose are correlated and show similar response patterns to temperature and stress in a free-living bird. Journal of Experimental Biology, 227(14). https://doi.org/10.1242/JEB.246905
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO European Commission
NO Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (España)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 abr 2025