Measuring oxidative stress: The confounding effect of lipid concentration in measures of lipid peroxidation
Résumé
Lipid peroxidation products are widely used as markers of oxidative damage in the organism. To properly interpret the information provided by these markers, it is necessary to know potential sources of bias and control confounding factors. Here, we investigated the relationship between two indicators of lipid mobilization (circulating levels of triglycerides and cholesterol) and two common markers of oxidative damage (plasma levels of malondialdehyde and hydroperoxides; the latter estimated from the d-ROMs assay kit). The following five avian species were studied: red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata), spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor), marsh harrier (Circus aeroginosus), and Montagu’s harrier (Circus pygargus). In all cases, plasma triglyceride levels positively and significantly correlated with lipid peroxidation markers, explaining between 8% and 34% of their variability. Plasma cholesterol, in contrast, showed a significant positive relationship only among spotless starling nestlings and a marginally significant association in zebra finches. These results indicate that lipid peroxidation marker levels covary with circulating lipid levels.We dis uss the potential causes and implications of this covariation and recommend that future studies that measure oxidative damage using lipid peroxidation markers report both raw and relative levels (i.e., corrected for circulating triglycerides). Whether the observed pattern also holds for other tissues and in other taxa would deserve further research. © 2015 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.
Mots clés
biomarker
bird
lipid
oxidation
Alectoris rufa
Aves
Circus aeruginosus
Circus pygargus
Sturnus unicolor
Taeniopygia guttata
biological marker
cholesterol
lipid peroxide
malonaldehyde
triacylglycerol
animal
blood
lipid peroxidation
oxidative stress
Animals
Biomarkers
Birds
Cholesterol
Lipid Peroxidation
Lipid Peroxides
Malondialdehyde
Oxidative Stress
Triglycerides