Metabolic cost of inflammatory response of ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris)

Animals with a slow pace of life and high mass-specific metabolic rates are expected to invest less in innate immune responses. We measured skin inflammation and the resting metabolic rate (RMR) of ruby-throated hummingbirds (Archilochus colubris) after their immune system was challenged with phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and compared with the response of birds injected a saline solution. The PHA test measures the inflammatory process, a component of the innate response. Ruby-throated hummingbirds belong to a group that is under-represented in avian immunological studies characterized by a slow pace of life and fast metabolic rate. Hummingbirds developed an inflammatory response that lasted <28 h. PHA injection produced a significant increment of RMR (up to ~13%) with respect to RMR values after the injection of the saline solution indicating that immune response involved a metabolic cost for hummingbirds. This increment lies within the range of values previously reported for birds injected PHA (5%–29%).

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