Many of the negative physiological effects of lead involve the hypothalamus, but the possibility that thermoregulation is affected has received little attention. We tested the hypothesis that lead exposure reduces avian thermoregulatory performance under hot conditions in pied crows () experimentally exposed to lead in their diet. Crows in our high lead treatment (blood [Pb] = 87.3 ± 44.7 μg dL) showed significantly higher air temperature () inflections for evaporative water loss (EWL) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) compared to control (6.4 ± 1.8 μg dL) or intermediate (53.9 ± 23.7 μg dL) lead groups, which did not differ. EWL, RMR and body temperature () all increased more rapidly at > in the high lead treatment. In contrast, neither maximum tolerated by the crows nor maximum varied with treatment. Our data reveal that water and energy balance during hot weather is affected by lead exposure.

中文翻译：

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铅对高温下鸟类体温调节的影响：用花斑乌鸦 (Corvus albus) 进行的实验测试


铅的许多负面生理影响都涉及下丘脑，但影响体温调节的可能性却很少受到关注。我们测试了这样的假设：铅暴露会降低鸟类在炎热条件下的体温调节性能，实验中在饮食中暴露于铅的花色乌鸦。与对照组（6.4 ± 1.8 μg dL）相比，接受高铅治疗的乌鸦（血液 [Pb] = 87.3 ± 44.7 μg dL）表现出明显更高的气温 () 蒸发失水 (EWL) 和静息代谢率 (RMR) 变化或中间（53.9 ± 23.7 μg dL）铅组，没有差异。在高铅治疗中，EWL、RMR 和体温 () 在 > 时均增加得更快。相比之下，乌鸦的耐受最大值和最大值均不会随治疗而变化。我们的数据显示，炎热天气期间的水和能量平衡会受到铅暴露的影响。