Meeting Abstract
Testosterone (T) and corticosterone (CORT) are steroids that play important roles in vertebrate reproduction and display complex immunomodulatory function that can affect survival. We investigated the immune consequences of experimental acute elevation of T and CORT in Rhinella jimi toads during reproductive season. Due to abnormal T plasma levels, the T transdermal treatment increase androgens to levels compare to the dry period. This resulted in a decrease of the swelling response to the PHA challenge, which is consistent to previous results found for this species in the wild. Additionally, T transdermal application did not display any effect on bacterial killing ability of the plasma (BKA). CORT treatment lead to a more quick response to PHA challenge, but did not affects PHA swelling response or BKA. Although, after treatment individuals displaying higher CORT plasma levels basal and 1h after treatment lowered their BKA response 1h and 10h after treatment, evidencing the effects of high CORT plasma levels in the immune function mediated by complement system proteins. These results indicate that lower levels of androgens suppress inflammatory response; acute doses of CORT increase immune efficiency and high doses of CORT could be immunossupressive to complement system.
