TY - JOUR
T1 - Pre and post-natal antigen exposure can program the stress axis of adult zebra finches: Evidence for environment matching
AU - Merrill, Loren
AU - Grindstaff, J. L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Matt Anderson, Kent Andersson, Courtney Cupps, Sara Friedemann, Kaylee Hollingsworth, Lisa Hughes, Madeleine Naylor, Amanda Neujahr, Alecia Rains, Arielle Shanahan, and Matt Waselik provided invaluable assistance with zebra finch care and blood sampling. Thanks to Tara Stewart for feedback on the manuscript. There are no conflicts of interest for either of the authors. Funding for the project was provided by NIH Grant 1R15HD066378-01 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/3/1
Y1 - 2015/3/1
N2 - Both maternal exposure to stressors and exposure of offspring to stressors during early life can have lifelong effects on the physiology and behavior of offspring. Stress exposure can permanently shape an individual's phenotype by influencing the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is responsible for the production and regulation of glucocorticoids such as corticosterone (CORT). In this study we used captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to examine the effects of matching and mismatching maternal and early post-natal exposure to one of two types of antigens or a control on HPA axis reactivity in adult offspring. Prior to breeding, adult females were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) or a control. Offspring of females in each of the three treatments were themselves exposed to LPS, KLH or a control injection at 5 and 28. days post-hatch. When offspring were at least 18. months of age, standardized capture and restraint stress tests were conducted to determine the impact of the treatments on adult stress responsiveness. We found significant interaction effects between maternal and offspring treatments on stress-induced CORT levels, and evidence in support of the environment matching hypothesis for KLH-treated birds, not LPS-treated birds. KLH-treated offspring of KLH-treated mothers exhibited reduced stress-induced CORT levels, whereas LPS-treated or control offspring of KLH-treated mothers exhibited elevated stress-induced CORT levels. Although the treatment effects on baseline CORT were non-significant, the overall pattern was similar to the effects observed on stress-induced CORT levels. Our results highlight the complex nature of HPA axis programming, and to our knowledge, provide the first evidence that a match or mismatch between pre and post-natal antigen exposure can have life-long consequences for HPA axis function.
AB - Both maternal exposure to stressors and exposure of offspring to stressors during early life can have lifelong effects on the physiology and behavior of offspring. Stress exposure can permanently shape an individual's phenotype by influencing the development of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which is responsible for the production and regulation of glucocorticoids such as corticosterone (CORT). In this study we used captive zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to examine the effects of matching and mismatching maternal and early post-natal exposure to one of two types of antigens or a control on HPA axis reactivity in adult offspring. Prior to breeding, adult females were injected with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) or a control. Offspring of females in each of the three treatments were themselves exposed to LPS, KLH or a control injection at 5 and 28. days post-hatch. When offspring were at least 18. months of age, standardized capture and restraint stress tests were conducted to determine the impact of the treatments on adult stress responsiveness. We found significant interaction effects between maternal and offspring treatments on stress-induced CORT levels, and evidence in support of the environment matching hypothesis for KLH-treated birds, not LPS-treated birds. KLH-treated offspring of KLH-treated mothers exhibited reduced stress-induced CORT levels, whereas LPS-treated or control offspring of KLH-treated mothers exhibited elevated stress-induced CORT levels. Although the treatment effects on baseline CORT were non-significant, the overall pattern was similar to the effects observed on stress-induced CORT levels. Our results highlight the complex nature of HPA axis programming, and to our knowledge, provide the first evidence that a match or mismatch between pre and post-natal antigen exposure can have life-long consequences for HPA axis function.
KW - INHS
KW - Maternal effects
KW - Maternal immune activation
KW - Corticosterone
KW - Keyhole limpet hemocyanin
KW - Development
KW - Lipopolysaccharide
KW - Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
KW - Environment matching
KW - Stressors
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U2 - 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.12.013
DO - 10.1016/j.bbi.2014.12.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 25535860
VL - 45
SP - 71
EP - 79
JO - Brain, behavior, and immunity
JF - Brain, behavior, and immunity
ER -