Dietary Exposure to Low Levels of Crude Oil Affects Physiological and Morphological Phenotype in Adults and Their Eggs and Hatchlings of the King Quail (Coturnix chinensis).

Naim M Bautista,Warren W Burggren,Lara Do Amaral-Silva,Edward Dzialowski

doi:10.3389/fphys.2021.661943

Naim M Bautista, Warren W Burggren + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.661943

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Abstract

Despite the current knowledge of the devastating effects of external exposure to crude oil on animal mortality, the study of developmental, transgenerational effects of such exposure has received little attention. We used the king quail as an animal model to determine if chronic dietary exposure to crude oil in a parental population would affect morpho-physiological phenotypic variables in their immediate offspring generation. Adult quail were separated into three groups: (1) Control, and two experimental groups dietarily exposed for at least 3 weeks to (2) Low (800 PAH ng/g food), or (3) High (2,400 PAH ng/g food) levels of crude oil. To determine the parental influence on their offspring, we measured metabolic and respiratory physiology in exposed parents and in their non-exposed eggs and hatchlings. Body mass and numerous metabolic (e.g., O2 consumption, CO2 production) and respiratory (e.g., ventilation frequency and volume) variables did not vary between control and oil exposed parental groups. In contrast, blood PO2, PCO2, and SO2 varied among parental groups. Notably, water loss though the eggshell was increased in eggs from High oil level exposed parents. Respiratory variables of hatchlings did not vary between populations, but hatchlings obtained from High oil-exposed parents exhibited lower capacities to maintain body temperature while exposed to a cooling protocol in comparison to hatchlings from Low- and Control-derived parents. The present study demonstrates that parental exposure to crude oil via diet impacts some aspects of physiological performance of the subsequent first (F1) generation.

Highlights

The impacts of crude oil exposure on wild animal populations have been a subject of study since the 1970s when major oil spills first appeared
We explored whether PO exposure led to phenotype change in their immediate F1 generation that was itself was not exposed to crude oil, by measuring morphological and respiratory-related variables in eggs and hatchlings obtained from the oil-exposed parental populations
We demonstrated some altered phenotypes related to thermoregulation, respiratory physiology, and gas exchange in non-exposed eggs and hatchlings quail obtained from the parental adult exposed groups

Summary

Introduction

The impacts of crude oil exposure on wild animal populations have been a subject of study since the 1970s when major oil spills first appeared. External (dermal) oil-contamination and respiratory exposures in birds induces increased lung-epithelial CYP1A expression, skin irritation, conjunctivitis and corneal ulcers, and reduces the feathers’ capacity to repel water, which leads to increased heat loss, and reductions in insulating capacities, buoyancy, and flight performance (Leighton, 1993; Jenssen, 1994; O’Hara and Morandin, 2010; Munilla et al, 2011; Fiorello et al, 2016; Maggini et al, 2017b; Dubansky et al, 2018) Beyond these effects of dermal and respiratory oil exposures, after an oil spill many birds continue being orally exposed for months and even for decades to varying concentrations of petroleum leading for sublethal effects (Alexander et al, 2017; Esler et al, 2018). This are the first measurements of metabolic rate in oil-exposed birds, which opens a new avenue for exploring the physiology of avian toxicant exposure

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