Age and spatio-temporal variations in food resources modulate stress-immunity relationships in three populations of wild roe deer

•Adaptive immunity was positively or not linked to glucocorticoids (GCs)•Innate and inflammatory markers of immunity negatively correlated with GCs.•Negative links were stronger in poor environments and old individuals.•Individual and environmental factors must be considered to study GCs-immunity li...

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Published in:General and comparative endocrinology 2023-01, Vol.330, p.114141-114141, Article 114141
Main Authors: Carbillet, Jeffrey, Hollain, Marine, Rey, Benjamin, Palme, Rupert, Pellerin, Maryline, Regis, Corinne, Geffré, Anne, Duhayer, Jeanne, Pardonnet, Sylvia, Debias, François, Merlet, Joël, Lemaître, Jean-François, Verheyden, Hélène, Gilot-Fromont, Emmanuelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptive Immunity
Animal biology
Animals
Animals, Wild - metabolism
Biodiversity and Ecology
Computer Science
Deer - metabolism
Ecophysiology
Environmental Sciences
Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites
Food and Nutrition
Genetics
Glucocorticoids - metabolism
Hydrocortisone - metabolism
Innate immunity
Life Sciences
Modeling and Simulation
Populations and Evolution
Stress hormones
Trade-off
Vertebrate Zoology
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Summary:•Adaptive immunity was positively or not linked to glucocorticoids (GCs)•Innate and inflammatory markers of immunity negatively correlated with GCs.•Negative links were stronger in poor environments and old individuals.•Individual and environmental factors must be considered to study GCs-immunity links. Living in variable and unpredictable environments, organisms face recurrent stressful situations. The endocrine stress response, which includes the secretion of glucocorticoids, helps organisms to cope with these perturbations. Although short-term elevations of glucocorticoid levels are often associated with immediate beneficial consequences for individuals, long-term glucocorticoid elevation can compromise key physiological functions such as immunity. While laboratory works highlighted the immunosuppressive effect of long-term elevated glucocorticoids, it remains largely unknown, especially in wild animals, whether this relationship is modulated by individual and environmental characteristics. In this study, we explored the co-variation between integrated cortisol levels, assessed non-invasively using faecal cortisol metabolites (FCMs), and 12 constitutive indices of innate, inflammatory, and adaptive immune functions, in wild roe deer living in three populations with previously known contrasting environmental conditions. Using longitudinal data on 564 individuals, we further investigated whether age and spatio-temporal variations in the quantity and quality of food resources modulate the relationship between FCMs and immunity. Negative covariation with glucocorticoids was evident only for innate and inflammatory markers of immunity, while adaptive immunity appeared to be positively or not linked to glucocorticoids. In addition, the negative covariations were generally stronger in individuals facing harsh environmental constraints and in old individuals. Therefore, our results highlight the importance of measuring multiple immune markers of immunity in individuals from contrasted environments to unravel the complex relationships between glucocorticoids and immunity in wild animals. Our results also help explain conflicting results found in the literature and could improve our understanding of the link between elevated glucocorticoid levels and disease spread, and its consequences on population dynamics.
ISSN:0016-6480
1095-6840
DOI:10.1016/j.ygcen.2022.114141