Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle

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Diet and Exercise

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Guest Blog: Fasting as a strategy to build athletic diving capacity

Kaitlin Allen is a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley where she studies the physiology of elephant seals in the laboratory of Dr. José Pablo Vázquez-Medina. She received the 2024 Dr. Dolittle Travel Award from the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section of the American Physiological Society to attend the 2024 American Physiology Summit in Long Beach, CA (April 4-7). Kaitlin prepared this award-winning guest blog entry to describe […]

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Role of sphingolipids in metabolic syndrome

Sedentary horses, like humans, have an increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome characterized by obesity and abnormal elevations in insulin concentrations (hyperinsulinemia). Insulin is a hormone released from the pancreas that is responsible for lowering blood sugar after a meal by promoting the uptake of glucose into tissues. People and animals with insulin resistance are not able to respond normally to the hormone resulting in high blood sugar.    Sphingolipids […]

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Let’s stop lactate-shaming

As wisely stated in an editorial by Dr. George Brooks, UC Berkeley (2001), “Nature is smarter, and things are more complex than we mortals imagine.” Sure lactate is produced during exercise and is often blamed for causing muscles to fatigue, but there is much more to the story. In fact, research has shown that lactate plays many important physiological roles in the body such as serving as a metabolic fuel […]

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Improving the health of fish exposed to arsenic and increasing environmental temperatures

Speaking of stress…scientists at the ICAR – National Institute of Abiotic Stress Management in India are exploring the use of dietary copper to help reduce stress and improve the health of fish exposed to environmental pollutants such as arsenic. Copper is an essential element for animals and humans. It is involved in bone formation and growth, nervous system function, metabolism, immune system function, and antioxidant production.1 Warming aquatic temperatures are […]

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Adapting to a fruit diet

In an interesting new study published in Nature Communications, researchers compared gene expression of Jamaican fruit bats (Artibeus jamaicensis) and insectivorous big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) to humans with diabetes. Fruit eating bats, in particular, intrigued researchers as their diet is high in sugars requiring the animals to rapidly regulate glucose to prevent diabetes-like complications. In fact, fruit bats are able to lower their blood sugar faster after a meal […]

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Keeping fur clean

Dr. Andrew Dickerson and colleagues at the University of Tennessee wondered why underwater surfaces collect algae and bacteria whereas the fur of semiaquatic mammals, such as otters and beavers, do not. The collection of bacteria, slime, plants, and organisms such as mussels on underwater surfaces is called “biofouling” In a new study, scientists discovered that the fur of semiaquatic animals has a unique property: each hair is able to move […]

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Physiology on the road: What’s happening in Arizona

The Arizona Physiological Society held their 16th annual meeting this past weekend at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona. The Arizona Established Scientist Keynote Speaker was Dr. Christopher Glembotski, Professor of Internal Medicine and Director of the Translational Cardiovascular Research Center at the University of Arizona, Phoenix campus. Ischemic diseases, such as strokes and heart attacks, disrupt the normal functioning of the endoplasmic reticulum, which alters protein production and folding. His […]

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Physiology on the road: What’s happening in Missouri

This time of year is perfect for catching up on local physiology news. For the next few posts, we are going to take a tour around the country to learn what’s going on in some of the chapters of the American Physiological Society… First stop: the Missouri Physiological Society, otherwise known as “mophys”. Mophys is an independent chapter of the American Physiological Society. They held their annual meeting on September […]

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Meet the monkeyface prickleback (that is not a typo):

Someone must have seen a resemblance to monkeys when naming these animals. Adult monkeyface pricklebacks, Cebidichthys violaceus, weigh around 6 pounds and can grow up to 2.5 feet long. They can live up to about 18 years of age. Despite their appearance, they are not eels, although their eel-like shape allows them to hide in crevices. They are native to the California coast and their home range is only a […]

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Meet the honey possum

Meet the honey possum (Tarsipes rostratus). These animals are small and rather unusual marsupials with few teeth and a specially adapted tongue to aid in the consumption of a diet consisting of only nectar and pollen. Because they feed primarily at night, rely on fresh flowers, and tend to stress easily, they are difficult to study. In fact, their adrenal gland, which produces the stress hormone cortisol, weighs about 1,600 […]

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