Incubation

About: Incubation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 5748 publications have been published within this topic receiving 126541 citations.

A study of the role of corticosterone as a mediator in exercise‐induced stimulation of murine macrophage phagocytosis.

Abstract: 1. It is generally accepted that physical activity provokes changes in the immune system. Previous studies have demonstrated that the stress of physical activity (swimming until exhaustion) increases the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages. However, the precise mechanisms remain unknown. 2. Two experiments were performed in the present study. (A) Peritoneal macrophages from control mice were incubated with plasma from three different groups of mice: (1) mice subjected to swimming until exhaustion with no previous training, (2) mice subjected to the same activity but with 1 month of training (30 min day-1), and (3) a control (non-exercised) group. The differences in the resulting phagocytic (attachment and ingestion) capacity were measured. (B) Changes in the concentration of plasma corticosterone after exercise were also measured, and the effect of incubation with the postexercise plasma corticosterone level on the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages was then studied in vitro. 3. The results were: (A) incubation with plasma from both groups of exercised mice (with and without previous training) led to increased levels of phagocytic capacity (number of C. albicans cells ingested per 100 macrophages). (B) Incubation with a corticosterone concentration of 0.72 mumol l-1 (similar to that observed in plasma immediately after exercise) raised the phagocytic capacity (144 +/- 12 after incubation with 0.72 mumol l-1 vs. 93 +/- 19 after incubation with 0.24 mumol l-1). This increase was also significantly greater than that observed with 7.2 mumol l-1 corticosterone. 4. It is concluded that corticosterone may mediate the increased phagocytic function of peritoneal macrophages induced by exercise.

Experimental evidence for the influence of food availability on incubation attendance and hatching asynchrony in the Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis

Abstract: The amount of time a bird allocates to incubation is likely to be limited by energetic constraints. If food is abundant, energetic constraints may be reduced and the time spent incubating (incubation attendance) may increase. Moreover, the onset of incubation in relation to clutch completion may be advanced, resulting in a higher degree of hatching asynchrony. We measured the effect of experimentally increased food availability on incubation attendance and an estimate of hatching asynchrony in the Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis. Supplementary food was provided every other day, from a few days before the start of egg laying until just prior to hatching. Incubation attendance was measured with temperature loggers at nests receiving supplementary food and control nests. Hatching asynchrony was inferred from mass and size differences between siblings shortly after hatching. We found that 1) food supplementation resulted in an increase in incubation attendance, when comparing both nests receiving supplementary food to control nests as well as feeding to non-feeding days in nests receiving supplementary food, and 2) food supplementation resulted in a greater hatching asynchrony, without affecting clutch size, average egg volume or the likelihood of eggs hatching. This suggests that food availability acts in a proximate way to modify the extent of incubation attendance and hatching asynchrony. We discuss the adaptive significance of increased incubation attendance and a shift in the degree of hatching asynchrony in relation to food availability.

Rates of net nitrogen mineralization in disturbed and undisturbed soils

Abstract: Quantification of net nitrogen mineralization (NNM) in soils is indispensable in order to optimize N fertilization of crops. Two long-term laboratory incubation methods were applied to determine rates of net nitrogen mineralization (rNNM) of soils from two sites of arable land (sandy loam soil, silty loam soil) at four temperature levels (2°C, 8°C, 14°C, 21°C). Since variability within replicates was small, the modified 12-week incubation method of Stanford and Smith (1972) using disturbed soils allowed to establish reliable Arrhenius functions with reasonable expenditure. The fit of the functions derived from the 5-month incubation of 23 undisturbed soil columns (4420 cm3) was worse. This was caused by greater variability and less differentiation between temperature levels. Results of both experiments could be described best by zero-order kinetics. Mean mineralization rates of disturbed samples were approximately twice as high than those of undisturbed samples. The suitability of both methods for the prediction of NNM at site conditions is discussed. Actual respiration (AR) at incubation temperatures and substrate induced respiration (SIR) were measured at the end of the incubation of undisturbed soil columns. The results presented reveal that soil microbial communities develop in a different manner during long-term incubation at different temperatures. This behavior offends the underlying assumption that soil microbes remain in steady-state during incubation and that rising rates are physiological reactions to temperature enhancement. Therefore soil microbial biomass (SMB) dynamics during the experiment has to be accounted for when rates of NNM and Arrhenius functions are established. R Merck Section editor

Duration of Incubation of Sceloporus undulatus Eggs at Constant Temperature

Abstract: Examination of the extensive literature on incubation of eggs of oviparous reptiles reveals little precise information about the duration of the incubation periods. Most laboratory studies have been carried out under conditions of "room temperature" in all continents save Antarctica and with eggs in all stages of development. Precise information about the relation of length of incubation to such abiotic factors as temperature can be useful in several ways. First, physiological limits during