Biology Publications

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-2020

Journal

Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part A: Molecular & Integrative Physiology

Volume

244

URL with Digital Object Identifier

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110699

Abstract

Chill-susceptible insects enter the reversible state of chill coma at their critical thermal minimum (CTmin­). During chill coma, movement of Na+ and water from the hemolymph to the gut lumen disrupt ion and water balance. Recovery from cold exposure requires re-establishment of this balance, and failure to do so results in chilling injury or death. We hypothesized that the passive leak of Na+ and consequently water during cold exposure is driven by the [Na+] differential between the gut and hemolymph. To determine the extent to which this [Na+] differential affects cold tolerance, we used artificial diets to load the guts of fall field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) with various concentrations of Na+. Manipulating [Na+] differentials had no effect on the CTmin, agreeing with recent studies demonstrating that chill coma onset precedes loss of ion balance in the cold). A high [Na+] diet reversed the direction of the [Na+] differential between the gut and hemolymph. Crickets fed a high [Na+] diet recovered from 12 h of chill coma nearly twice as fast as those fed low [Na+] diets. However, the high [Na+] diet was detrimental to survival after prolonged cold exposure (three days at 0 °C). Therefore, while a reduced [Na+] differential helps crickets recover from short-term cold exposure, an increased gut Na+ load itself appears to carry longer-term costs and promotes irreversible chilling injury.

Notes

This is an author-accepted manuscript. Final published version by Elsevier can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpa.2020.110699

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Find in your library

Included in

Biology Commons

Share

COinS