Meeting Abstract

9.10  Sunday, Jan. 4  Corticosteroid-binding globulin levels decrease 24 hours after an acute stressor in Japanese quial MALISCH, J.L.*; SATTERLEE, D.G.; COCKREM, J.F.; WADA, H.; BREUNER, C.W.; University of Montana; Louisiana State University; Massey University; Virginia Polytechnic Institute ; University of Montana jbunk001@ucr.edu

Corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG) circulates in the blood and is thought to be a potent modulator of the stress response; changes in plasma CBG capacity can alter total plasma concentration and tissue availability of glucocorticoids (GCs). Hence, the time frame of CBG change in an organism is of interest, as these changes will alter the organismal output of a stress response. It is clear that chronic stress causes CBG decline while the stressor persists. Recent evidence also demonstrates that shorter acute stressors, such as capture and handling, can reduce CBG during the 30-60 minutes of the stressor. However, recent evidence in mammals indicates a delayed response to acute stressors as well, in that brief stressors can reduce CBG capacity from 6 to 24 hours after the stressor is over. We investigated CBG levels 24 hours after an acute stressor in a unique study system: Japanese quail that are divergently selected for GC reactivity to acute stress. Quail selected for high acute stress reactivity have a two-fold higher response to crush cage stress as compared to quail selected for low stress reactivity and both lines differ from a third line of randomly bred Japanese quail. Using this model, we examined the interaction of selected stress reactivity with CBG response to determine if CBG shows a delayed decline in response to an acute stressor. We found lowered CBG capacity 24 hours after acute stress in all three lines of quail, with similar reduction in capacity among all three lines of quail. These results suggest that acute stressors can have long-term physiological effects even after total GC levels have returned to pre-stress levels.