Seasonal patterns of prolactin and corticosterone secretion in an Antarctic seabird that moults during reproduction

Crossin, Glenn T.; Dawson, Alistair; Phillips, Richard A.; Trathan, Phil; Gorman, Kristen B.; Adlard, Stacey; Williams, Tony

doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2011.10.003

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…To our knowledge, a single study has examined this question in domestic birds and it did not report any correlation between prolactin levels and the energetic status of chicken hens (Zadworny et al, 1988). Although this result was confirmed in several studies on wild birds (Hector and Goldsmith, 1985;Cherel et al, 1994;Angelier et al, 2009bAngelier et al, , 2015Heidinger et al, 2010;Kosztolanyi et al, 2012;Crossin et al, 2012), others found that parent birds have lower prolactin levels when in poor body condition (Criscuolo et al, 2006;Jonsson et al, 2006;O'Dwyer et al, 2006;Angelier et al, 2007bAngelier et al, , 2009bGroscolas et al, 2008;Spée et al, 2010;Schmid et al, 2011;Riechert et al, 2014b). The negative impact of nutritional conditions on circulating prolactin levels seems to only appear when individuals reach a lower threshold of body condition.…”

Section: Environmental Conditions and Prolactin Levelsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Prolactin levels drop at the end of the parental phase when parental activities decrease or even stop and the post-breeding molt life-history stage starts a few days after (Crossin et al, 2012). For instance, Deviche et al (2000) showed that both the post-breeding decrease in prolactin levels and the onset of molt occur earlier in young Dark-eyed juncos relative to older juncos and Dawson et al (2009) found that both the decrease in prolactin levels and the onset of molt were delayed in males relative to females in mute swans.…”

Section: Prolactin Stress and The Onset Of Moltmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does prolactin mediate parental and life-history decisions in response to environmental conditions in birds? A review

Angelier

Wingfield

Tartu

et al. 2016

Hormones and Behavior

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This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". In vertebrates, adjustments of physiology and behavior to environmental changes are often mediated by central physiological mechanisms, and more specifically by hormonal mechanisms. As a consequence, these mechanisms are thought to orchestrate life-history decisions in wild vertebrates. For instance, investigating the hormonal regulation of parental behavior is relevant to evaluate how parents modulate their effort according to specific environmental conditions. Surprisingly and despite being classically known as the 'parental hormone', prolactin has been overlooked in birds relative to this context. Our aim is to review evidence that changes in prolactin levels can mediate, at least to some extent, the response of breeding birds to environmental conditions. To do so, we first examine current evidence and limits for the role of prolactin in mediating parental behavior in birds. Second, we emphasize the influence of environmental conditions and stressors on circulating prolactin levels. In addition, we review to what extent prolactin levels are a reliable predictor of breeding success in wild birds. By linking environmental conditions, prolactin regulation, parental behavior, and breeding success, we highlight the potential role of this hormone in mediating parental decisions in birds. Finally, we also review the potential role of prolactin in mediating other life history decisions such as clutch size, re-nesting, and the timing of molt. By evaluating the influence of stressors on circulating prolactin levels during these other life-history decisions, we also raise new hypotheses regarding the potential of the prolactin stress response to regulate the orchestration of the annual cycle when environmental changes occur. To sum up, we show in this review that prolactin regulation has a strong potential to allow ecological physiologists to better understand how individuals adjust their life-history decisions (clutch size, parental behavior, re-nesting, and onset of molt) according to the environmental conditions they encounter and we encourage further research on that topic.

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Section: Environmental Conditions and Prolactin Levelsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Prolactin Stress and The Onset Of Moltmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does prolactin mediate parental and life-history decisions in response to environmental conditions in birds? A review

Angelier

Wingfield

Tartu

et al. 2016

Hormones and Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Prl can control skin molting in newts (Dent et al 1973) and feather molting in avian species (Dawson and Sharp 1998;Dawson et al 2009;Crossin et al 2012). Seasonal Prl in combination with other hormones is thought to modulate annual changes in hair growth of several species, including sheep, deer, and voles (Duncan and Goldman 1984;Curlewis et al 1988;Smale et al 1990;Dicks et al 1996;Nixon et al 2002;Randall 2007).…”

Section: Prl: a Conserved And Global Regulator Of Tissue Regenerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calcineurin/Nfatc1 signaling links skin stem cell quiescence to hormonal signaling during pregnancy and lactation

et al. 2014

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In most tissues, the prevailing view is that stem cell (SC) niches are generated by signals from within the nearby tissue environment. Here, we define genetic changes altered in hair follicle (HF) SCs in mice treated with a potent SC activator, cyclosporine A (CSA), which inhibits the phosphatase calcineurin (CN) and the activity of the transcription factor nuclear factor of activated T cells c1 (Nfatc1). We show that CN/Nfatc1 regulates expression of prolactin receptor (Prlr) and that canonical activation of Prlr and its downstream signaling via Jak/Stat5 drives quiescence of HF SCs during pregnancy and lactation, when serum prolactin (Prl) levels are highly elevated. Using Prl injections and genetic/pharmacological loss-of-function experiments in mice, we show that Prl signaling stalls follicular SC activation through its activity in the skin epithelium. Our findings define a unique CN-Nfatc1-PrlrStat5 molecular circuitry that promotes persistent SC quiescence in the skin.

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Pre-breeding energetic management in a mixed-strategy breeder

et al. 2014

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Integrative biologists have long appreciated that the effective acquisition and management of energy prior to breeding should strongly influence fitness-related reproductive decisions (timing of breeding and reproductive investment). However, because of the difficulty in capturing pre-breeding individuals, and the tendency towards abandonment of reproduction after capture, we know little about the underlying mechanisms of these life-history decisions. Over 10 years, we captured free-living, arctic-breeding common eiders (Somateria mollissima) up to 3 weeks before investment in reproduction. We examined and characterized physiological parameters predicted to influence energetic management by sampling baseline plasma glucocorticoids (i.e., corticosterone), very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), and vitellogenin (VTG) for their respective roles in mediating energetic balance, rate of condition gain (physiological fattening rate) and reproductive investment. Baseline corticosterone increased significantly from arrival to the initiation of reproductive investment (period of rapid follicular growth; RFG), and showed a positive relationship with body mass, indicating that this hormone may stimulate foraging behaviour to facilitate both fat deposition and investment in egg production. In support of this, we found that VLDL increased throughout the pre-breeding period, peaking as predicted during RFG. Female eiders exhibited unprecedentedly high levels of VTG well before their theoretical RFG period, a potential strategy for pre-emptively depositing available protein stores into follicles while females are simultaneously fattening. This study provides some of the first data examining the temporal dynamics and interaction of the energetic mechanisms thought to be at the heart of individual variation in reproductive decisions and success in many vertebrate species.

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Seasonal patterns of prolactin and corticosterone secretion in an Antarctic seabird that moults during reproduction

Cited by 12 publications

References 56 publications

Does prolactin mediate parental and life-history decisions in response to environmental conditions in birds? A review

Does prolactin mediate parental and life-history decisions in response to environmental conditions in birds? A review

Calcineurin/Nfatc1 signaling links skin stem cell quiescence to hormonal signaling during pregnancy and lactation

Pre-breeding energetic management in a mixed-strategy breeder

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