DOI: 10.5061/dryad.dv41ns26w
title: Data from: Flying stimulates the antioxidant system and protects against oxidative damage in a migratory songbird, yet diet quality has little effect

description: Ecologically-relevant factors such as exercise and diet quality can
 directly influence how multifaceted physiological systems work; however,
 little is known about how such factors directly and interactively affect
 key components of the antioxidant system in multiple tissues of migratory
 songbirds. We tested 3 main hypotheses across three tissues in European
 Starlings fed diets with more or less antioxidants (anthocyanins) and
 long-chain omega-6 polyunsaturated fats (18:2n6) while being
 flight-trained in a wind tunnel. Stimulatory effect of flight:
 Flight-training stimulated the antioxidant system in that a) plasma
 oxidative damage (dROMs) was reduced during a given acute flight, and
 contrary to our predictions, b) antioxidant capacity (OXY or ORAC) and
 oxidative damage in plasma (dROMs), flight-muscle, and liver (LPO) of
 flight-trained birds were similar to that of untrained birds (i.e., not
 flown in a wind tunnel). Flight-trained birds that expended more energy
 per unit time (kJ/min) during their longest, final flight decreased
 antioxidant capacity (OXY) the most during the final flight. Dietary fat
 quality effect: Contrary to our predictions, dietary 18:2n-6 did not
 influence oxidative status even after flight training. Dietary antioxidant
 effect: Flight-trained birds supplemented with dietary anthocyanins did
 not have higher antioxidant capacity in plasma (OXY), or liver and
 flight-muscle (ORAC) compared to untrained birds. Counterintuitively,
 oxidative damage (dROMs) was higher in flight-trained supplemented birds
 compared to unsupplemented birds after an acute flight. In sum, the
 antioxidant system of songbirds flexibly responded to changes in
 availability of dietary antioxidants as well as increased flight time and
 effort, and such condition-dependent, individual-level, tissue-specific
 responses to the oxidative costs of long-duration flights apparently
 requires recovery periods for maintaining oxidative balance during
 migration.
description: # Data from: Flying stimulates the antioxidant system and protects against
 oxidative damage in a migratory songbird, yet diet quality has little
 effect
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns26w](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dv41ns26w) All data from the manuscript is included in one Excel file. There are additional data from the companion papers including relative gene expression and enzyme activities for the pectoralis and liver. ## Description of the data and file structure | column name | column description | | :----------------- | :--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | liverid | liver identification number, unique to an individual's sample | | pectid | pectoralis identification number, unique to an individual's sample | | birdid | individual identification number | | julian | julian date of sampling | | sex | sex of individual | | wingchord | length of wingchord in cm | | lastmb | body mass at time of sample at final timepoint in grams | | livergpx | gpx activity in liver units nmol/min/mL | | liversod | sod activity in the liver units U/mL | | livercat | cat activity in the liver units nmol/min/mL | | liverbradford  | protein concentration in the liver units mg | | liverdamage | Liver Lipid Hydroperoxide Concentration (LPO) units µM | |  lvrmass | total liver mass at sampling in grams | | pectgpx | gpx activity in pectoralis units nmol/min/mL | | pectsod | sod activity in the pectoralis units U/mL | | pectcat | cat activity in the pectoralis units nmol/min/mL | | pectbradford | protein concentration in the pectoralis units mg | | pectdamage | Pectoralis Lipid Hydroperoxide Concentration (LPO) units µM | | pectmass | total pectoralis mass at sampling in grams | | livergpxfinal | gpx activity in liver units nmol/min/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | liversodfinal | sod activity in the liver units U/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | livercatfinal | cat activity in the liver units nmol/min/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | pectgpxfinal | gpx activity in pectoralis units nmol/min/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | pectsodfinal | sod activity in the pectoralis units U/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | pectcatfinal | cat activity in the pectoralis units nmol/min/mL/mg. Measure used in statistical analyses | | flightgroup | code identifying treatments: dietary fat (13= low PUFA, 32=high PUFA), dietary anthocyanin (H=supplemented, L=unsupplemented), number=cohort number) | | cohort | cohorts indicate a group of trained and untrained birds that were sampled at the same time | | diet | code identifying diet treatments dietary fat (13= low PUFA, 32=high PUFA), dietary anthocyanin (H=supplemented, L=unsupplemented) | | fat | code identifying fat treatments (lowpufa= low PUFA, highpufa=high PUFA) | | ao | code identifying antioxidant treatment (Highao=supplemented, Lowao=unsupplemented) | | exercise | code identifying if birds were trained in the windtunnel (trained) or not trained in the windtunnel (untrained) | | trainingflight | mins flown during training excluding the experimental flight on day 15 | | longflight | mins flown during the experimental flight on day 15 | | totalflight | total mins flown during training including the experimental flight on day 15 | | energymin | Energy consumed (kJ) per minute of the longflight on day 15 | | bgdroms | background sampling dROM measurement \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | bgoxy | background sampling OXY measurement \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | fndroms | final sampling dROM measurement \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | fnoxy | final sampling OXY measurement \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | predroms | pre-flight sampling dROM measurement \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | preoxy | pre-flight sampling OXY measurement \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | afdroms | after-flight sampling dROM measurement \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | afoxy | after-flight sampling OXY measurement \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | training\_oxy | change in oxy over the training period, fnoxy-bgoxy \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | training\_drom | change in dROMs over the training period, fndroms-bgdrom \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | acute\_oxy | change in oxy during the acute training flight, afoxy-preoxy \[mmol/L Hclo neutralized] | | acute\_drom | change in dROMs during the acute training flight, afdroms-predrom \[mmol/L H2O2 equivalent] | | liverperoxyl.gram | Liver sample's non-enzymatic antioxidant capacities against peroxyl radicals \[arbitrary units per gram of tissue] | | liverhydroxyl.gram | Liver sample's non-enzymatic antioxidant capacities against hydroxyl radicals \[arbitrary units per gram of tissue] | | pectperoxyl.gram | Pectoralis sample's non-enzymatic antioxidant capacities against peroxyl radicals \[arbitrary units per gram of tissue] | | pecthydroxyl.gram | Pectoralis sample's non-enzymatic antioxidant capacities against hydroxyl radicals \[arbitrary units per gram of tissue] | | acute\_uric | change in oxy during the acute training flight \[mmol/L] | Missing data code: N/A