Fight or flight

Does "fight or flight" need updating?

Fight or flight? – Flight increases immune gene expression but does not help to fight an infection

Flight represents a key trait in most insects, being energetically extremely demanding, yet often necessary for foraging and reproduction. Additionally, dispersal via flight is especially important for species living in fragmented landscapes. Even though, based on life-history theory, a negative relationship may be expected between flight and immunity, a number of previous studies have indicate...

The proximal tubule in cystinosis: fight or flight?

Although rare, nephropathic cystinosis is a devastating monogenic disorder leading to renal failure in the second decade of life. Fanconi syndrome, the initial renal manifestation of cystinosis in the young child, established the proximal tubule as a primary target of injury now recognized as the result of mutations in cystinosin (CTNS), the lysosomal cystine-proton cotransporter.1 A major chal...

The mitochondrial uniporter controls fight or flight heart rate increases

Heart rate increases are a fundamental adaptation to physiological stress, while inappropriate heart rate increases are resistant to current therapies. However, the metabolic mechanisms driving heart rate acceleration in cardiac pacemaker cells remain incompletely understood. The mitochondrial calcium uniporter (MCU) facilitates calcium entry into the mitochondrial matrix to stimulate metabolis...

Flight or fight: flexible antipredatory strategies in porcelain crabs

Autotomy, the voluntary shedding of limbs or other body parts in the face of predation, is a highly effective escape mechanism that has evolved independently in a variety of taxa. Crabs are unusual in that the limb that is typically sacrificed during autotomy, the anterior clawed cheliped, can also be used to ward off attack. During an encounter with a predator, an individual must thus decide b...