Transgenerational effects of early experience on behavioral, hormonal and gene expression responses to acute stress in the precocial chicken

Vivian C. Goerlich, Daniel Natt, Magnus Elfwing, Barry Macdonald, Per Jensen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Stress during early life can profoundly influence an individual's phenotype. Effects can manifest in the short-term as well as later in life and even in subsequent generations. Transgenerational effects of stress are potentially mediated via modulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) as well as epigenetic mechanisms causing heritable changes in gene expression. To investigate these pathways we subjected domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) to intermittent social isolation for the first three weeks of life. The early life stress resulted in a dampened corticosterone response to restraint stress in affected birds and in their male offspring. Stress-specific genes, such as early growth response 1 (EGR1) and corticotropin releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1), were upregulated immediately after restraint stress, but not under baseline conditions. Treatment differences in gene expression were also correlated across generations which indicate transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. In an associative learning test early stressed birds made more correct choices suggesting a higher coping ability in stressful situations. This study is the first to show transgenerational effects of early life stress in a precocial species by combining behavioral, endocrinological, and transcriptomic measurements. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)711-718
Number of pages8
JournalHormones and Behavior
Volume61
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2012
Externally publishedYes

Funding

The authors would like to thank the members of the AVIAN group, and especially Ida Gustafson and Lejla Bektic for their help with sample collection and maintenance of the birds. The project was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council and the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning.

Keywords

  • Early growth response
  • Corticotropin releasing hormone receptor
  • Postnatal stress
  • Transgenerational effects
  • Steroid hormones
  • Gene expression
  • BARN SWALLOW NESTLINGS
  • ARGININE VASOTOCIN
  • JAPANESE-QUAIL
  • ZEBRA FINCHES
  • GALLUS-GALLUS
  • BASE-LINE
  • SIZE
  • EPIGENETICS
  • PLASMA
  • LIFE

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Transgenerational effects of early experience on behavioral, hormonal and gene expression responses to acute stress in the precocial chicken'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this