Meeting Abstract
Hormone modulation of immune response in vertebrates is relatively well understood, however the immune system of invertebrates is complex, non-adaptive, and poorly explored. Royal jelly (RJ), a modulator of reproduction and growth in honeybees, and juvenile growth hormone (JH), which maintains adolescent morphology and physiology across diverse invertebrate taxa and aids in reproductive ability after maturation, were used as endocrine treatments to better understand the immune response of Madagascar hissing cockroaches (Gromphadorhina portentosa) in various treatment conditions. Zone of inhibition tests were performed to observe bacteria growth in relationship to hormonal modulation using hemolymph from Madagascar hissing cockroaches reared in each of the respective treatment groups: RJ, JH, and RJ + JH. In addition to exogenous hormone treatments, prior experiments suggest that nutritional state also impacts immune response. For this reason, starvation testing was also observed to determine immune response 24 hours post feeding and one-week post feeding.
