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Post-natal glucocorticoid elevation affects GnRH-induced luteinizing hormone concentration in female house sparrows.
- Source :
-
General & Comparative Endocrinology . Nov2019, Vol. 283, pN.PAG-N.PAG. 1p. - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- • Current mass interacts with early-life stress to affect reproductive condition. • Treated females with high mass exhibit higher luteinizing hormone levels. • Females with high muscle scores had lower induced luteinizing hormone. Most non-mammalian studies investigating the long-term effects of early-life stressor exposure on endocrine regulation have focused on the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis. However, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis may more directly affect fitness by regulating reproduction. Changes in HPG axis regulation could allow vertebrates to adaptively mitigate negative effects of early-life stressor exposure. However, only a few studies have examined long-term effects of early-life stressor experience on the HPG axis, and these have found mixed results. Here, we evaluate long-term effects of post-natal corticosterone exposure on the HPG axis in adult female house sparrows (Passer domesticus). We elevated circulating corticosterone non-invasively in wild nestling house sparrows between 8 and 11 days post-hatching, and then brought birds into captivity at fledging. Early in their first breeding season (ages 285-353d post-hatching), females were given a gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) challenge. We found that early-life corticosterone exposure interacted with current condition such that females exposed to elevated post-natal corticosterone had higher baseline and GnRH-induced luteinizing hormone (LH) concentration than control females, but only if they had a high mass. Our results suggest that female house sparrows may mitigate negative impacts of early-life corticosterone exposure by investing in early reproduction, but only when current energetic condition allows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *ENGLISH sparrow
*LUTEINIZING hormone
*GONADOTROPIN releasing hormone
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00166480
- Volume :
- 283
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- General & Comparative Endocrinology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 138779819
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.113238