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Related Experiment Videos

How Truly Conserved Is the "Well-Conserved" Vertebrate Stress Response?

L M Romero1, B M G Gormally1

  • 1Department of Biology, Tufts University, Robinson Hall, 200 College Avenue, Medford, MA 02155, USA.

Integrative and Comparative Biology
|March 26, 2019
PubMed
Summary

Vertebrate stress responses, involving the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, show conserved anatomy but variable regulation across species and individuals. This functional variation complicates linking stress to fitness outcomes.

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Area of Science:

  • Comparative physiology
  • Neuroendocrinology
  • Animal behavior

Background:

  • The vertebrate stress response is a conserved survival mechanism.
  • It involves two main pathways: the rapid autonomic nervous system (fight-or-flight) and the slower hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the functional variation in vertebrate stress response pathways.
  • To discuss the challenges in correlating stress responses with fitness outcomes.

Main Methods:

  • Review of existing literature on vertebrate stress response pathways.
  • Analysis of anatomical and physiological data.
  • Examination of temporal and species-specific variations in pathway activation.

Main Results:

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  • While the anatomy of stress response pathways is conserved across vertebrates, their regulation and activation patterns vary significantly.
  • Seasonal variations and modulation by prior experience influence stress pathway activity differently across species.
  • Functional output of the stress response is not as conserved as its structure.

Conclusions:

  • Broad generalizations about the fitness consequences of stress responses are difficult due to observed functional variation.
  • Understanding species- and individual-specific stress response dynamics is crucial for accurate fitness correlation.