Cortisol and corticosterone in immune organs and brain of European starlings: developmental changes, effects of restraint stress, comparison with zebra finches
Open Access
- 1 July 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physiological Society in American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
- Vol. 297 (1), R42-R51
- https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.90964.2008
Abstract
Glucocorticoids (GCs) are produced in the adrenal glands and also in extra-adrenal sites, including immune organs and brain. Here, we examined regulation of systemic GC levels in plasma and local GC levels in immune organs and brain during development. We conducted two studies and examined a total of 462 samples from 70 subjects. In study 1, we determined corticosterone and cortisol levels in the plasma, immune organs, and brain of wild European starlings on posthatch day 0 (P0) and P10 (at baseline and after 45 min of restraint). Baseline corticosterone and cortisol levels were low in the immune organs and brain at P0 and P10, providing little evidence for local GC synthesis in starlings. At P0, restraint had no significant effects on corticosterone or cortisol levels in the plasma or tissues; however, there was a trend for restraint to increase both corticosterone and cortisol in the immune organs. At P10, restraint increased corticosterone levels in the plasma and all tissues, but restraint increased cortisol levels in the plasma, thymus, and diencephalon only. In study 2, we directly compared GC levels in European starlings and zebra finches at P4. In zebra finches but not starlings, cortisol levels were higher in the immune organs than in plasma. This difference in immune GC levels might be due to evolutionary lineage, life history strategy, or experiential factors, such as parasite exposure. This is the first study to measure immune GC levels in wild animals and one of the first studies to measure local GC levels after restraint stress.Keywords
This publication has 62 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effects of minor laboratory procedures, adrenalectomy, social defeat or acute alcohol on regional brain concentrations of corticosteroneBrain Research, 2008
- Sex differences in DHEA and estradiol during development in a wild songbird: Jugular versus brachial plasmaHormones and Behavior, 2008
- Sex- and age-related variation in neurosteroidogenic enzyme mRNA levels during quail embryonic developmentBrain Research, 2008
- Corticosterone selectively decreases humoral immunity in female eiders during incubationJournal of Experimental Biology, 2006
- Developmental stress selectively affects the song control nucleus HVC in the zebra finchProceedings. Biological sciences, 2004
- Song as an honest signal of past developmental stress in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris)Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2003
- European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)Published by Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology ,1993
- Plasma corticosterone in wild starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) immediately following capture and in relation to body weight during the annual cycleGeneral and Comparative Endocrinology, 1983
- Characterization and measurement of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in rat brain.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1981
- The Relationship Between Brain and Plasma Corticosterone Stress Response in Developing Rats1Endocrinology, 1973