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Mechanisms for Eliminating Monoterpenes of Sagebrush by Specialist and Generalist Rabbits
Citation
Shipley, LA and Davis, EM and Felicetti, LA and McLean, S and Sorensen Foreby, J, Mechanisms for Eliminating Monoterpenes of Sagebrush by Specialist and Generalist Rabbits, Journal of Chemical Ecology, 38, (9) pp. 1178-1189. ISSN 0098-0331 (2012) [Refereed Article]
Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 Springer Science+Business Media New York
DOI: doi:10.1007/s10886-012-0192-9
Abstract
Abstract Pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) are one
of only three vertebrates that subsist virtually exclusively on
sagebrush (Artemisia spp.), which contains high levels of
monoterpenes that can be toxic. We examined the mechanisms
used by specialist pygmy rabbits to eliminate 1,8-cineole,
a monoterpene of sagebrush, and compared them with
those of cottontail rabbits (Sylvilagus nuttalli), a generalist
herbivore. Rabbits were offered food pellets with increasing
concentrations of cineole, and we measured voluntary intake
and excretion of cineole metabolites in feces and urine. We
expected pygmy rabbits to consume more, but excrete cineole
more rapidly by using less-energetically expensive methods of
detoxification than cottontails. Pygmy rabbits consumed 3–5
times more cineole than cottontails relative to their metabolic
body mass, and excreted up to 2 times more cineole metabolites
in their urine than did cottontails. Urinary metabolites
excreted by pygmy rabbits were 20 % more highly-oxidized
and 6 times less-conjugated than those of cottontails. Twenty
percent of all cineole metabolites recovered from pygmy
rabbits were in feces, whereas cottontails did not excrete fecal
metabolites. When compared to other mammals that consume
cineole, pygmy rabbits voluntarily consumed more, and excreted
more cineole metabolites in feces, but they excreted
less oxidized and more conjugated cineole metabolites in
urine. Pygmy rabbits seem to have a greater capacity to
minimize systemic exposure to cineole than do cottontails,
and other cineole-consumers, by minimizing absorption and
maximizing detoxification of ingested cineole. However,
mechanisms that lower systemic exposure to cineole may
come with a higher energetic cost in pygmy rabbits than in
other mammalian herbivores.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
---|---|
Keywords: | Artemisia tridentata . Brachylagus idahoensis . |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Terrestrial ecology |
Objective Division: | Environmental Management |
Objective Group: | Other environmental management |
Objective Field: | Other environmental management not elsewhere classified |
UTAS Author: | McLean, S (Professor Stuart McLean) |
ID Code: | 83442 |
Year Published: | 2012 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 23 |
Deposited By: | Pharmacy |
Deposited On: | 2013-03-14 |
Last Modified: | 2013-06-27 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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