Neuroendocrine–Immune Systems Response to Environmental Stressors in the Cephalopod Octopus vulgaris

Abstract

Under a continuous changing environment, animals are challenged with stresses and stimuli which demanding adaptation at behavioral and physiological levels. The adaptation strategies are finely regulated by animal nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. Although it's been established by now the usage of integrative approach to the study the endocrine and nervous systems (neuroendocrine), yet our understanding of how they cooperate with the immune system remains far from complete. The possible role that immune system plays as a component of the network has only been recognized recently. Octopus vulgaris is an important member of cephalopods and is considered as a model species, with considerable information about the neuroendocrine and immune systems. In the current review, we anticipate to shed light on the complexity and cross talk among the three systems and how they cooperate in setting physiological response to stresses-stimuli in O. vulgaris as a target species and primary example.

Sensorial Hierarchy in Octopus vulgaris’s Food Choice: Chemical vs. Visual

“…used, these results indicate that octopuses are able to decrease Δt to correctly solve operant tasks based on chemical information (Figure 4), this might be of importance in predation strategy in the wild where the prey is not closed in a jar, but hidden and ready to escape. However, while we posit that octopus, privileges its chemical stimuli over visual ones, we should appreciate that the two combined increase the probability of success in prey [74,95,96,126]. Our results demonstrate involvement of chemosensory sense in octopus food choice behaviour, and allows a reassessment of the importance of chemical perception in the ecology of octopus.…”

“…Despite the fact that the differences encountered in ∆t are affected by inter-individual variability, that is well known in this animal, and the limited number of specimens used, these results indicate that octopuses are able to decrease ∆t to correctly solve operant tasks based on chemical information (Figure 4), this might be of importance in predation strategy in the wild where the prey is not closed in a jar, but hidden and ready to escape. However, while we posit that octopus, privileges its chemical stimuli over visual ones, we should appreciate that the two combined increase the probability of success in prey [74,95,96,126].…”

“…When both chemical and visual information is available, octopuses combine information from all sensory inputs that they perceive and then the animals can camouflage themselves, escape a predator, or chase prey in the wild, or open jars for food in captivity [32,94,95]. This integration of several sensory inputs may occur at central and/or peripheral levels [74,96], but the relative contribution of each sense remains poorly understood.…”

The Digestive Tract of Cephalopods: a Neglected Topic of Relevance to Animal Welfare in the Laboratory and Aquaculture

“…A diverse range of genes has been implicated in the response of octopus to environmental stressors (reviewed in Di Cosmo and Polese, 2016) but the biological effects of the gene products on the physiology of the digestive tract and its control requires investigation.…”

OctoPartenopin: Identification and Preliminary Characterization of a Novel Antimicrobial Peptide from the Suckers of Octopus vulgaris

“…In this context, studies reporting the identification of AMPs in cephalopods were conducted on squids and cuttlefish [25,26]. Nevertheless, there is still a scarcity of knowledge regarding the defense mechanisms involved in O. vulgaris immune response, even if more researchers are focusing their attention on this topic [13,[27][28][29][30][31]. As a matter of fact, octopus lacks an adaptive immune system [32,33], but has an efficient innate immune system comprised of cellular and humoral components that act as the first line of defense against a broad spectrum of pathogens [13,34].…”