Data from: Eating increases oxidative damage in a reptile

While eating has substantial benefits in terms of both nutrient and energy acquisition, there are physiological costs associated with digesting and metabolizing a meal. Frequently, these costs have been documented in the context of energy expenditure while other physiological costs have been relatively unexplored. Here, we tested whether the seemingly innocuous act of eating affects either systemic pro-oxidant (reactive oxygen metabolites: ROM) levels or antioxidant capacity of corn snakes (Pantherophis guttatus) by collecting plasma during absorptive (peak increase in metabolic rate due to digestion of a meal) and non-absorptive (baseline) states. When individuals were digesting a meal, there was a minimal increase in antioxidant capacity relative to baseline (4%), but a substantial increase in ROMs (nearly 155%), even when controlling for circulating nutrient levels. We report an oxidative cost of eating that is much greater than that due to long distance flight or mounting an immune response in other taxa. This result demonstrates the importance of investigating non-energetic costs associated with meal processing, and it begs future work to identify the mechanism(s) driving this increase in ROM levels. Because energetic costs associated with eating are taxonomically widespread, identifying the taxonomic breadth of eating-induced ROM increases may provide insights into the interplay between oxidative damage and life history theory.尽管进食在营养获取与能量摄取两方面均具有显著益处，但消化与代谢一餐食物会伴随相应的生理成本。既往研究多围绕能量消耗维度记录此类成本，而其他类型的生理成本则相对缺乏探索。本研究通过在吸收态（因消化食物导致代谢率达到峰值的阶段）与非吸收态（基线状态）采集玉米锦蛇（Pantherophis guttatus）的血浆，探究看似无害的进食行为是否会影响其全身促氧化（活性氧代谢物：ROM）水平或抗氧化能力。结果显示，当个体处于消化食物的状态时，其抗氧化能力较基线仅小幅提升（4%），但活性氧代谢物水平显著升高（近155%），即便在控制循环营养水平的条件下亦是如此。本研究报道的进食相关氧化成本，远高于其他类群中长途飞行或启动免疫应答所产生的氧化成本。该结果凸显了探究食物处理过程相关非能量成本的重要性，同时也为后续研究明确驱动活性氧代谢物水平升高的机制指明了方向。由于与进食相关的能量成本在各类群中广泛存在，明确进食诱导的活性氧代谢物水平升高的类群范围，或可为氧化损伤与生活史理论之间的相互作用提供新的研究视角。