Stress markers in anurans: How stress stimuli affects saliva glucocorticoids levels and seasonality affects brain receptors

• Grant number: 19/13164-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: September 08, 2019
• End date: September 07, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Ribeiro Gomes
• Grantee: Carla Bonetti Madelaire
• Supervisor: Charles Loren Buck
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Northern Arizona University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 18/00406-0 - SEASONAL RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMMUNOCOMPETENCE, STERIODS AND STRESS RESPONSE IN ECTOTERMS, BP.PD

Abstract

Glucocorticoids (GC) help organisms maintain homeostasis under predictable and unpredictable life events. The release of GC usually results in adaptative effects. However, the continuous elevation of this steroid during critical periods, such as the reproductive season, can result in deleterious effects in animals' physiology and behavior. In this way, it is expected that some species present physiological mechanisms to mitigate the effects of the stress response. Additionally, GC are among the variables that are measured to assess a population's stress status and the establishment of modern methods that can measure this stress marker is essential to build knowledge for conservation efforts. The aim of this project is to 1) understand if anuran from a highly seasonal environment can modulate the expression of GC receptors in different life-history stages, which could minimize their stress sensibility; and 2) to standardize measures GC metabolites in saliva samples in anurans from natural and stress related contexts, helping assess populational stress status through non-invasive sampling methods that are less disturbing to animals.

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MADELAIRE, CARLA B.; ZENA, LUCAS A.; DILLON, DANIELLE; SILVA, DIEGO P.; HUNT, KATHLEEN E.; BUCK, C. LOREN; BICEGO, KENIA C.; GOMES, FERNANDO R.. ho Rules Over Immunology? Seasonal Variation in Body Temperature, Steroid Hormones, and Immune Variables in a Tegu Lizar. INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY, v. 61, n. 5, p. 1867-1880, NOV 2021. (12/24206-4, 18/00406-0, 15/04849-6, 14/16320-7, 19/13164-8, 17/01652-2)