Seasonal effects of dehydration on glucose mobilization in freeze-tolerant chorus frogs (Pseudacris triseriata) and freeze-intolerant toads (Bufo woodhousii and B. cognatus).

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that freeze-tolerance in anurans evolved from a predisposition for dehydration tolerance. To test this hypothesis, we dehydrated summer/fall-collected and winter acclimated freeze-tolerant chorus frogs and dehydration-tolerant, but freeze-intolerant, Woodhouse's and Great Plains toads to 25% and 50% body water loss (BWL). Following treatments, we measured glucose, glycogen, and glycogen phosphorylase and glycogen synthetase (summer/fall only) activities in liver and leg muscle. Hepatic glucose levels were not significantly altered by dehydration in either summer/fall-collected frogs or toads. Conversely, winter acclimated frogs did show an increment (2.9-fold) in hepatic glucose with dehydration, accompanied by a reduction in hepatic glycogen levels. Winter acclimated toads did not mobilize hepatic glucose in response to dehydration. Further, hepatic glycogen and phosphorylase activities did not vary in any consistent manner with dehydration in winter toads. Mean leg muscle glucose values were elevated at 50% BWL relative to other treatments, significantly so compared to 25% BWL for summer/fall-collected frogs. The pattern of hepatic glucose mobilization with dehydration in winter frogs is consistent with that in other freeze-tolerant frog species, and provides additional support for the hypothesis that freezing tolerance evolved from a capacity for dehydration tolerance. However, the lack of hepatic glucose mobilization in response to dehydration in fall frogs suggests that a seasonal component to dehydration-induced regulation of glucose metabolism exists in chorus frogs. Furthermore, the absence of a dehydration-induced mobilization of hepatic glucose at both seasons in toads suggests that this dehydration response is not universal for terrestrial anurans.