Skip to main content
Advertisement

Main menu

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
    • For library administrators
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Experimental Biology
  • COB
    • About The Company of Biologists
    • Development
    • Journal of Cell Science
    • Journal of Experimental Biology
    • Disease Models & Mechanisms
    • Biology Open

supporting biologistsinspiring biology

Journal of Experimental Biology

  • Log in
Advanced search

RSS  Twitter  Facebook  YouTube  

  • Home
  • Articles
    • Accepted manuscripts
    • Issue in progress
    • Latest complete issue
    • Issue archive
    • Archive by article type
    • Special issues
    • Subject collections
    • Interviews
    • Sign up for alerts
  • About us
    • About JEB
    • Editors and Board
    • Editor biographies
    • Travelling Fellowships
    • Grants and funding
    • Journal Meetings
    • Workshops
    • The Company of Biologists
    • Journal news
  • For authors
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Aims and scope
    • Presubmission enquiries
    • Article types
    • Manuscript preparation
    • Cover suggestions
    • Editorial process
    • Promoting your paper
    • Open Access
    • Outstanding paper prize
    • Biology Open transfer
  • Journal info
    • Journal policies
    • Rights and permissions
    • Media policies
    • Reviewer guide
    • Sign up for alerts
  • Contacts
    • Contact JEB
    • Subscriptions
    • Advertising
    • Feedback
    • For library administrators
Research Article
The effect of chronic and acute stressors, and their interaction, on testes function: an experimental test during testicular recrudescence
Mikus Abolins-Abols, Rachel E. Hanauer, Kimberly A. Rosvall, Mark P. Peterson, Ellen D. Ketterson
Journal of Experimental Biology 2018 221: jeb180869 doi: 10.1242/jeb.180869 Published 10 September 2018
Mikus Abolins-Abols
1505 S Goodwin Ave, Department of Animal Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
21001 E. 3rd St., Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Mikus Abolins-Abols
  • For correspondence: abolins@illinois.edu
Rachel E. Hanauer
21001 E. 3rd St., Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Rachel E. Hanauer
Kimberly A. Rosvall
21001 E. 3rd St., Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Kimberly A. Rosvall
Mark P. Peterson
31800 Technology Dr. NE, Life-Science Innovations, Willmar, MN 56201, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ellen D. Ketterson
21001 E. 3rd St., Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Ellen D. Ketterson
  • Article
  • Figures & tables
  • Supp info
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF + SI
  • PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

Organisms are expected to invest less in reproduction in response to a stressor, but theory predicts that this effect should depend on the frequency and duration of stressors in the environment. Here, we investigated how an acute stressor affected testes function in a songbird, and how chronic stressors influenced the acute stress response. We exposed male dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis) either to chronic or minimal (control) disturbance during testicular recrudescence, after which we measured baseline testosterone, testosterone after an acute handling stressor, and capacity to produce testosterone after hormonal stimulation. In a 2×2 design, we then killed males from the two chronic treatment groups either immediately or after an acute stressor to investigate the effect of long- and short-term stressors on the testicular transcriptome. We found that chronically disturbed birds had marginally lower baseline testosterone. The acute stressor suppressed testosterone in control birds, but not in the chronic disturbance group. The ability to elevate testosterone did not differ between the chronic treatments. Surprisingly, chronic disturbance had a weak effect on the testicular transcriptome, and did not affect the transcriptomic response to the acute stressor. The acute stressor, on the other hand, upregulated the cellular stress response and affected expression of genes associated with hormonal stress response. Overall, we show that testicular function is sensitive to acute stressors but surprisingly robust to long-term stressors, and that chronic disturbance attenuates the decrease in testosterone in response to an acute stressor.

FOOTNOTES

  • Competing interests

    The authors declare no competing or financial interests.

  • Author contributions

    Conceptualization: M.A.-A., R.E.H.; Methodology: M.A.-A., R.E.H., K.A.R.; Validation: M.A.-A., R.E.H.; Formal analysis: M.P.P.; Investigation: M.A.-A., K.A.R.; Resources: E.D.K.; Writing - original draft: M.A.-A.; Writing - review & editing: M.A.-A., R.E.H., K.A.R., M.P.P., E.D.K.; Visualization: M.A.-A.; Funding acquisition: E.D.K. and K.A.R.

  • Funding

    This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health grant R21HD073583 to K.A.R. and the National Science Foundation grant IOS-1257474 to E.D.K.

  • Data availability

    Data described and analyzed in this article are available from the figshare digital repository: doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.6987023

  • Supplementary information

    Supplementary information available online at http://jeb.biologists.org/lookup/doi/10.1242/jeb.180869.supplemental

  • Received March 20, 2018.
  • Accepted June 29, 2018.
  • © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd
http://www.biologists.com/user-licence-1-1/
View Full Text
Previous ArticleNext Article
Back to top
Previous ArticleNext Article

This Issue

Keywords

  • Stress
  • Reproduction
  • Gonad
  • Testosterone
  • Transcriptome
  • Songbird

 Download PDF

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Experimental Biology.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The effect of chronic and acute stressors, and their interaction, on testes function: an experimental test during testicular recrudescence
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Experimental Biology
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Experimental Biology web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Research Article
The effect of chronic and acute stressors, and their interaction, on testes function: an experimental test during testicular recrudescence
Mikus Abolins-Abols, Rachel E. Hanauer, Kimberly A. Rosvall, Mark P. Peterson, Ellen D. Ketterson
Journal of Experimental Biology 2018 221: jeb180869 doi: 10.1242/jeb.180869 Published 10 September 2018
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Research Article
The effect of chronic and acute stressors, and their interaction, on testes function: an experimental test during testicular recrudescence
Mikus Abolins-Abols, Rachel E. Hanauer, Kimberly A. Rosvall, Mark P. Peterson, Ellen D. Ketterson
Journal of Experimental Biology 2018 221: jeb180869 doi: 10.1242/jeb.180869 Published 10 September 2018

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Alerts

Please log in to add an alert for this article.

Sign in to email alerts with your email address

Article navigation

  • Top
  • Article
    • ABSTRACT
    • INTRODUCTION
    • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • RESULTS
    • DISCUSSION
    • Acknowledgements
    • FOOTNOTES
    • References
  • Figures & tables
  • Supp info
  • Info & metrics
  • PDF + SI
  • PDF

Related articles

Cited by...

More in this TOC section

  • Nest substrate and tool shape significantly affect the mechanics and energy requirements of avian eggshell puncture
  • Jaw kinematics and tongue protraction-retraction during Chewing and drinking in the pig
  • Early developmental stages of native populations of Ciona intestinalis under increased temperature are affected by local habitat history
Show more RESEARCH ARTICLE

Similar articles

Other journals from The Company of Biologists

Development

Journal of Cell Science

Disease Models & Mechanisms

Biology Open

Advertisement

Predicting the Future: Species Survival in a Changing World

Read our new special issue exploring the significant role of experimental biology in assessing and predicting the susceptibility or resilience of species to future, human-induced environmental change.


Adam Hardy wins the 2020 Journal of Experimental Biology Outstanding Paper Prize

Congratulations to winner Adam Hardy for his work showing that goby fins are as touch sensitive as primate fingertips. Read Adam’s paper and find out more about the 12 papers nominated for the award.


Stark trade-offs and elegant solutions in arthropod visual systems

Many elegant eye specializations that evolved in response to visual challenges continue to be discovered. A new Review by Meece et al. summarises exciting solutions evolved by insects and other arthropods in response to specific visual challenges.


Head bobbing gives pigeons a sense of perspective

Pigeons might look goofy with their head-bobbing walk, but it turns out that the ungainly head manoeuvre allows the birds to judge distance.

Articles

  • Accepted manuscripts
  • Issue in progress
  • Latest complete issue
  • Issue archive
  • Archive by article type
  • Special issues
  • Subject collections
  • Interviews
  • Sign up for alerts

About us

  • About JEB
  • Editors and Board
  • Editor biographies
  • Travelling Fellowships
  • Grants and funding
  • Journal Meetings
  • Workshops
  • The Company of Biologists
  • Journal news

For Authors

  • Submit a manuscript
  • Aims and scope
  • Presubmission enquiries
  • Article types
  • Manuscript preparation
  • Cover suggestions
  • Editorial process
  • Promoting your paper
  • Open Access
  • Outstanding paper prize
  • Biology Open transfer

Journal Info

  • Journal policies
  • Rights and permissions
  • Media policies
  • Reviewer guide
  • Sign up for alerts

Contact

  • Contact JEB
  • Subscriptions
  • Advertising
  • Feedback

 Twitter   YouTube   LinkedIn

© 2021   The Company of Biologists Ltd   Registered Charity 277992