Increased heat shock protein expression after stress in Japanese quail

Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have been shown to provide information on the biological impact of environmental stress to organisms, yet none have investigated the HSP response to stress in birds. Japanese quail were exposed to seven different stressors (mild restraint, loud noise, inescapable irritation, cold temperature, isolation in darkness, and two stressful social situations) and expression of HSP30, 60, 70, and 90 in heart, liver, lung, kidney and gonads was examined. Tonic Immobility (TI) tests were also conducted to assess whether the stressors increased fear response. Increased expression of HSP70 was found in the myocardial tissue of birds exposed to loud noise, inescapable irritation, cold temperature, and isolation in darkness. Increased expression of other HSPs was not apparent in the heart or any of the other all tissues examined. Longer TI was observed only in birds exposed to the noise stress. Evidence is presented that a fairly wide range of stressors caused increased expression of HSP70 in the Japanese quail myocardial tissue and that HSPs may provide useful biomarkers for the study of environmental stress in birds.