ArticleAmerican journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology2019
Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids influence flight muscle oxidative capacity but not endurance flight performance in a migratory songbird.
Article in American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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17 citing papers in PubMed, 48 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trophic position structures physiological trade-offs between metabolic and detoxification pathways in sympatric passerines.Royal Society open science · 2026Article
- A comparison of seasonal flexibility in pectoralis muscle fiber type and enzyme activity in migratory and resident sparrow species.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- Energy supply during nocturnal endurance flight of migrant birds: effect of energy stores and flight behaviour.Movement ecology · 2024Article
- Migration increases mitochondrial oxidative capacity without increasing reactive oxygen species emission in a songbird.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Experimental evidence that EPA and DHA are dietary requirements in a migratory shorebird, but they do not affect muscle oxidative capacity.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- Migratory songbirds exhibit seasonal modulation of the oxygen cascade.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- Article
- Long-duration wind tunnel flights reveal exponential declines in protein catabolism over time in short- and long-distance migratory warblers.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Short-term mercury exposure disrupts muscular and hepatic lipid metabolism in a migrant songbird.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Biofilm and invertebrate consumption by western sandpipers (Conservation physiology · 2022Article
- Dietary linoleic acid, antioxidants, and flight training influence the activity of oxidative enzymes in European Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2021Article
- Omega-3 fatty acids accelerate fledging in an avian marine predator: a potential role of cognition.The Journal of experimental biology · 2021Article
- Lipid profiling suggests species specificity and minimal seasonal variation in Pacific Green and Hawksbill Turtle plasma.PloS one · 2021Article
- The energy savings-oxidative cost trade-off for migratory birds during endurance flight.eLife · 2020Article
- Migrant blackbirds,Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- The effects of dietary linoleic acid and hydrophilic antioxidants on basal, peak, and sustained metabolism in flight-trained European starlings.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Understanding how birds rebuild fat stores during migration: insights from an experimental study.Scientific reports · 2019Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The migratory flights of birds are primarily fueled by fat; however, certain fatty acids may also enhance flight performance and the capacity to oxidize fat. The natural doping hypothesis posits that n-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) increase membrane fluidity and aerobic and fatty acid oxidative enzymes in the flight muscles, which enables prolonged endurance flight. Support for this hypothesis is mixed, and there is no empirical evidence for increased flight performance. We fed yellow-rumped warblers ( Setophaga coronata coronata) diets enriched in either n-3 or n-6 long-chain PUFA or low in long-chain PUFA and evaluated flight muscle metabolism and endurance performance in a wind tunnel flights lasting up to 6 h. Fatty acid profiles of muscle phospholipids confirmed enrichment of the targeted dietary fatty acids, whereas less substantial differences were observed in adipose triacylglycerol. Contrary to the predictions, feeding n-3 PUFA decreased peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors-β mRNA abundance and muscle oxidative enzyme activities. However, changes in muscle metabolism were not reflected in whole animal performance. No differences were observed in flight performance among diet treatments in terms of endurance capacity, energy costs, or fuel composition. These measures of flight performance were more strongly influenced by body mass and flight duration. Overall, we found no support for the natural doping hypothesis in a songbird. Furthermore, we caution against extending changes in flight muscle metabolic enzymes or fatty acid composition to changes to migratory performance without empirical evidence.
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