Meeting Abstract
P2.163 Sunday, Jan. 5 15:30 Association of mRNA abundance for various steroid hormone related factors in circulating blood cells with plasma chemical components during the stress response in the American alligator KOHNO, S*; GUILLETTE, LJ, Jr; Med Univ of South Carolina/Hollings Marine Lab, Charleston; Med Univ of South Carolina/Hollings Marine Lab, Charleston kohno@musc.edu
The molecular response of blood cells following exposure to acute capture stress and the associated elevation in plasma glucocorticosteroids concentrations has been poorly evaluated in reptiles. Juvenile American alligators were restrained for 16 hours to examine the stress response in plasma and blood cells. Plasma corticosterone concentrations were increased by restraint as were plasma concentrations of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatin kinase (CK), uric acid (UA) and glucose with sexual dimorphism in AST and CK concentrations. The lapse time of restraint was associated with mRNA levels of heat-shock protein 90β (HSP90β) in red blood cells (RBC), glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and androgen receptor (AR) in white blood cells (WBC), and cJUN in both blood cell types. Cloacal temperature was negatively correlated with cJUN in WBC, whereas plasma corticosterone concentrations were positively correlated with HSP90β in WBC. A two-way cluster analysis revealed that two different groups of factors analyzed here: i.) GR in RBC and HSP90β mRNA in both blood cells are associated with the corticosterone level in plasma, and ii) AR and c-JUN mRNA in both blood cells were associated with the cloacal temperature and body compositions. Although these data were difficult to interpret as the direct causation(s) and phenomenon in this study, we propose that this approach, which is both physiological approach on plasma and molecular biological approach on blood cells, could provide important insights into the molecular responses associated with the stress in reptiles as well as many other non-traditional model species including endangered species.
