Title

Metabolic response to fasting in 6-week-old Steller sea lion pups (Eumetopias jubatus)

Authors

Authors

L. D. Rea; D. A. S. Rosen;A. W. Trites

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Can. J. Zool.-Rev. Can. Zool.

Keywords

ALASKA; VALUES; Zoology

Abstract

Four Steller sea lions (Eumetopias jubatus) aged 6 weeks were fasted for 2.5 d to determine how young pups mobilize energy reserves during short periods of fasting similar to those experienced in the wild. At 6 weeks of age, the pups lost 5.1 +/- 0.3% of their body mass during 2 d of fasting, with an average daily mass loss of 0.7 +/- 0.1 kg.d(-1). Plasma blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration increased significantly from 3.0 +/- 0.1 mM, after an overnight fast, to 4.8 +/- 0.5 mM, after 2.5 d of fasting. It is apparent that BUN levels are quickly depressed, since after only an overnight fast, these pups showed BUN levels 2- to 4-fold lower than those measured after the same pups, when 9 months of age, had recently been fed fish. Plasma ketone body (beta-HBA) concentrations of the 6-week-old pups increased significantly from 0.32 +/- 0.08 to 0.42 +/- 0.08 mM between 0.5 and 1.5 d of fasting. There was no significant change in mean plasma concentration beyond 1.5 d, owing to variable individual responses to extended fasting. Plasma beta-HBA levels at 9 months of age ranged from 0.07 to 0.18 mM. Six-week-old Steller sea lion pups showed blood chemistry consistent with metabolic adaptation to fasting within 16 h but were unable to sustain a protein-sparing metabolism for a prolonged period. The pups appeared to revert to protein catabolism after only 2.5 d of fasting. This infers a decrease in lipid catabolism that might be due to the depletion of available lipid resources.

Journal Title

Canadian Journal of Zoology-Revue Canadienne De Zoologie

Volume

78

Issue/Number

5

Publication Date

1-1-2000

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

890

Last Page

894

WOS Identifier

WOS:000087624400026

ISSN

0008-4301

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