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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 297/1/R42    most recent 90964.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Schmidt, K. L. Articles by Soma, K. K. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schmidt, K. L. Articles by Soma, K. K.

ARTICLES

Cortisol and corticosterone in immune organs and brain of European starlings: developmental changes, effects of restraint stress, comparison with zebra finches

¹Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; ²Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and ³Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Submitted 26 November 2008 ; accepted in final form 21 April 2009

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.

altricial; avian; bird; bursa of Fabricius; development; diencephalon; glucocorticoid; immune system; immunosteroid; lymphocyte; nervous system; neurosteroid; songbird; spleen; stress hyporesponsive period; thymus

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