Meeting Abstract
The immune system is essential for survival and its performance can vary depending on the physiological state of the organism (i.e., energetic state, life-stage, etc.). Much of the current research into immune function dynamics has focused on energy balance as the driver of changes in immune function; conversely, the role of water has received little attention. Water is a fundamental resource and essential to life; dehydration typically has negative impacts on most major physiological functions although recent research has found a positive relationship between dehydration and innate immune performance. However, these studies examined the effects of dehydration on immunity in adults and did not explore how maternal dehydration might affect her reproductive output. Thus, we examined the trans-generational effects of hydration state during gravidity in adult female Children’s pythons (Antaresia childreni ) and how hydric imbalances impact egg and offspring quality. Females were either given access to water or water restricted while gravid, and we evaluated osmolality and innate immune function of freshly oviposited eggs. We also dehydrated late-stage eggs, and then collected body fluid samples from control and dehydrated embryos 3 days prior to hatching. We detected no negative effects of maternal dehydration on the oviposited eggs, suggesting the eggs are buffered from maternal hydric state. Additionally, we found that neonates just prior to hatching are prone to dehydration and that it is positively correlated with increased innate immune performance, similar to adults.
