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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Early-life manipulation of cortisol and its receptor alters stress axis programming and social competence
Contributor:
Reyes-Contreras, Maria;
Glauser, Gaétan;
Rennison, Diana J.;
Taborsky, Barbara
Published:
The Royal Society, 2019
Published in:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 374 (2019) 1770, Seite 20180119
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1098/rstb.2018.0119
ISSN:
0962-8436;
1471-2970
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
<jats:p>
In many vertebrate species, early social experience generates long-term effects on later life social behaviour. These effects are accompanied by persistent modifications in the expression of genes implicated in the stress axis. It is unknown, however, whether stress axis programming can affect the development of social competence, and if so, by which mechanism(s). Here, we used pharmacological manipulations to persistently reprogramme the hypothalamic–pituitary–interrenal axis of juvenile cooperatively breeding cichlids,
<jats:italic>Neolamprologus pulcher.</jats:italic>
During the first two months of life, juveniles were repeatedly treated with cortisol, mifepristone or control treatments. Three months after the last manipulation, we tested for treatment effects on (i) social competence, (ii) the expression of genes coding for corticotropin-releasing factor (
<jats:italic>crf</jats:italic>
), glucocorticoid receptor (
<jats:italic>gr1</jats:italic>
) and mineralocorticoid receptor (
<jats:italic>mr</jats:italic>
) in the telencephalon and hypothalamus and (iii) cortisol levels. Social competence in a social challenge was reduced in cortisol-treated juveniles, which is in accordance with previous work applying early-life manipulations using different social experiences. During early life, both cortisol and mifepristone treatments induced a persistent downregulation of
<jats:italic>crf</jats:italic>
and upregulation of
<jats:italic>mr</jats:italic>
in the telencephalon. We suggest that these persistent changes in stress gene expression may represent an effective physiological mechanism for coping with stress.
</jats:p>
<jats:p>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Developing differences: early-life effects and evolutionary medicine’.</jats:p>