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Glucose regulation is a repeatable trait affected by successive handling in zebra finches

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Abstract

The capacity to adequately respond to (physiological) perturbations is a fundamental aspect of physiology, and may affect health and thereby Darwinian fitness. However, little is known of the degree of individual variation in this capacity in non-model organisms. The glucose tolerance test evaluates the individual’s ability to regulate circulating glucose levels, and is a widely used tool in medicine and biomedical research, because glucose regulation is thought to play a role in the ageing process, among other reasons. Here, we developed an application of the intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test (IP-GTT) to be used in small birds, to test whether individuals can be characterized by their regulation of glucose levels and the effect of successive handling on such regulation. Since the IP-injection (intraperitoneal glucose injection), repeated handling and blood sampling may trigger a stress response, which involves a rise in glucose levels, we also evaluated the effects of handling protocols on glucose response. Blood glucose levels decreased immediately following an IP-injection, either vehicle or glucose loaded, and increased with successive blood sampling. Blood glucose levels peaked, on average, at 20 min post-injection (PI) and had not yet returned back to initial levels at 120 min PI. Glucose measurements taken during the IP-GTT were integrated to estimate magnitude of changes in glucose levels over time using the incremental area under the curve (AUC) up to 40 min PI. Glucose levels integrated in the AUC were significantly repeatable within individuals over months (r = 50%; 95% CI 30–79%), showing that the ability to regulate glucose differs consistently between individuals.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Jan Bruggink for his assistance with the glucose measurements, Sander Moonen for the data in Figure S2, and four anonymous referees whose comments considerable improved this manuscript. All experiments were performed under license of the Animal Experimentation Committee of the University of Groningen (license number 5150). This work constituted a partial fulfillment for B.M. to obtain a PhD degree from Programa de Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) and was developed during a research visit at Department of Behavioral Biology, University of Groningen. This study was supported by a VICI Grant of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO, 865.04.003) to SV, and a Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología postgraduate scholarship (CONACyT, 369902/245690) to BM.

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Author notes

  1. Michael Briga

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

  2. Blanca Jimeno

    Present address: Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Conducta Animal, Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico

    Bibiana Montoya

  2. Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Bibiana Montoya, Michael Briga, Blanca Jimeno & Simon Verhulst

  3. Centro Tlaxcala de Biología de la Conducta (CTBC), Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, México

    Bibiana Montoya

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  1. Bibiana Montoya
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Correspondence to Bibiana Montoya or Simon Verhulst.

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Communicated by G. Heldmaier.

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Montoya, B., Briga, M., Jimeno, B. et al. Glucose regulation is a repeatable trait affected by successive handling in zebra finches. J Comp Physiol B 190, 455–464 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-020-01283-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00360-020-01283-4

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