Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Faculty of Science, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langley, BC, Canada, V3W 2M8.
J Exp Biol. 2024 Oct 15;227(20). doi: 10.1242/jeb.247749. Epub 2024 Oct 11.
Natural and anthropogenic stressors are dramatically altering environments, impacting key animal physiological traits, including cardiac performance. Animals require energy and nutrients from their diet to support cardiac performance and plasticity; however, the nutritional landscape is changing in response to environmental perturbations. Diet quantity, quality and options vary in space and time across heterogeneous environments, over the lifetime of an organism and in response to environmental stressors. Variation in dietary energy and nutrients (e.g. lipids, amino acids, vitamins, minerals) impact the heart's structure and performance, and thus whole-animal resilience to environmental change. Notably, many animals can alter their diet in response to environmental cues, depending on the context. Yet, most studies feed animals ad libitum using a fixed diet, thus underestimating the role of food in impacting cardiac performance and resilience. By applying an ecological lens to the study of cardiac plasticity, this Commentary aims to further our understanding of cardiac function in the context of environmental change.
自然和人为压力因素正在剧烈改变环境，影响关键的动物生理特征，包括心脏性能。动物需要从饮食中获取能量和营养物质来支持心脏性能和可塑性；然而，营养环境正在响应环境干扰而发生变化。在生物体的整个生命周期内，在不同的时间和空间里，在应对环境压力源时，饮食的数量、质量和选择都会发生变化。饮食中的能量和营养物质（例如，脂肪、氨基酸、维生素、矿物质）的变化会影响心脏的结构和性能，从而影响动物对环境变化的整体适应能力。值得注意的是，许多动物可以根据环境线索改变饮食，这取决于具体情况。然而，大多数研究都是使用固定的饮食让动物自由进食，因此低估了食物对心脏性能和适应能力的影响。本评论通过将生态视角应用于心脏可塑性的研究，旨在进一步了解心脏功能在环境变化背景下的作用。
