Glycated Albumin Levels in Roe Deer: a Marker of Body Condition modulated by Environment Quality

In humans, it is now widely accepted that the glycation reaction plays a major role in the senescence process, as well as in the development of associated pathologies. While the links between glycation and senescence have also been studied in laboratory animal models, they have hardly been studied in the wild. We therefore investigated the links between glycation and senescence in two populations of roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) facing markedly different environmental conditions, in which demographic and phenotypic senescence are well documented. Individuals of known age were captured in two years of differing quality. Individual data were collected (body mass, glycemia, sex), and we measured glycated albumin levels (GA) as well as six hematological parameters known to show senescence in this species. We found that GA did not correlate with age, blood glucose, or sex, but differed between populations and years of capture. In the population living in the low-quality environment, GA correlated negatively with the inflammatory status of individuals. Overall, it seems that for roe deer, GA reflects individual body condition rather than senescence, and are influenced by environmental quality.