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Nutritional toxicology of mammals: regulated intake of plant secondary compounds
Article first published online: 16 JAN 2009
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01523.x
© 2009 The Authors. Journal compilation © 2009 British Ecological Society
Additional Information
How to Cite
Torregrossa, A.-M. and Dearing, M. D. (2009), Nutritional toxicology of mammals: regulated intake of plant secondary compounds. Functional Ecology, 23: 48–56. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01523.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 16 JAN 2009
- Article first published online: 16 JAN 2009
- Received 21 April 2008; accepted 5 August 2008Handling Editor: Carol Boggs
- Abstract
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- Cited By
Keywords:
- aversions;
- bitter receptors;
- meal size;
- plant secondary compounds;
- regulation
Summary
- 1Many mammalian herbivores continually face the possibility of being poisoned by the natural toxins in the plants they consume. A recent key discovery in this area is that mammalian herbivores are capable of regulating the dose of plant secondary compounds (PSCs) ingested.
- 2The ‘regulation model’ describes the factors driving ingestion of PSCs by mammals and can be dissected into two separate hypotheses related to meal size and inter-meal interval (IMI). Testing these hypotheses independently yields a more thorough understanding of the underlying and potentially interconnected mechanisms.
- 3Three mechanisms could influence the size of meals that contain PSCs. These are the plasma concentration of PSCs, conditioned learning, and activation of bitter receptors in the intestine.
- 4Two mechanisms are proposed to govern the IMI. The first predicts that IMI is dependent on the concentration of PSC metabolites in the plasma; feeding will not resume until metabolite concentrations are acceptable for further ingestion of PSCs. The second hypothesis proposes that the intestinal bitter receptors modulate IMI through release of satiety compounds.