Figure 5

Agglutination and lysis ability of juvenile veiled chameleon plasma collected during development. Because agglutination and lysis titers were highly correlated (r = 0.98), these two metrics are represented by a unit-less principal component (PC) score, where a higher score indicates (i) enhanced activation of the complement cascade by antibodies, and (ii) greater capacity for complement to lyse foreign cells. Prior to carotenoid supplementation (left of vertical dashed line), there were no significant differences in agglutination and lysis between families or treatment groups. However, family A had significantly higher PC scores than family B at Weeks 14 and 17 of the study. Despite differences based on family of origin, there was no evidence of an effect of carotenoid supplementation on agglutination or lysis. Post hoc analyses found no relationship between PC scores and circulating carotenoid levels within treatment group, or between PC score and mass within family. Measurements for all groups were collected at the same times, but data points are offset for ease of interpretation. Points represent mean values with standard errors calculated from raw data.