Is Behavioral Fever in Plethodon glutinosus Affected by the Amount of the Pyrogen Poly(I:C)?
Location
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Start Date
4-5-2024 9:00 AM
End Date
4-5-2024 11:30 AM
Poster Number
136
Name of Project's Faculty Sponsor
Joe Bidwell
Faculty Sponsor's Department
Biological Sciences
Competition Type
Competitive
Type
Poster Presentation
Presentation Category
Science, Technology and Engineering
Abstract or Artist's Statement
Ectotherms undergo a process called behavioral fever where they seek out warm climates to produce a fever. Using the imunostimulant polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), salamanders injected with poly(I:C) should seek out warmer microclimates to induce behavioral fever. Slimy salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus) injected with variable doses of poly(I:C) might be expected to show variable fever responses. They may also change their temperature preferences at different points during fever, perhaps even occupying unsafe temperatures for a while. Subjects will be acquired during the spring season, and subject salamanders will be collected two at a time for a given experiment. Upon collection salamanders will be placed in a plastic bag for transport and taken to an onsite mobile lab facility. There, they will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: an amphibian phosphate buffered saline (APBS) injected control, a 7.5µg/g pyrogen injected group, a 15.0µg/g pyrogen injected group, and a 22.5µg/g pyrogen injected group. Individuals will be injected with their randomly determined treatment on first arrival to the mobile lab. They will either be injected with a pyrogen solution or the saline solution. The salamanders will then be allowed 1 hour of waiting time before the behavioral trials begin. Behavioral chambers to monitor the behavioral fever of subjects are to be set up for this experiment. These chambers consist of two sets of four interconnected chambers with a small but navigable passage between each. Each chamber is climate controlled to be held at a constant 95% humidity, and the temperature in each chamber will vary between 15°C, 19°C, 23°C, and 27°C in increments of two. To detect which chamber a salamander is in a specific chamber a python program and monitoring equipment will keep track of the salamander’s presence. The trial itself will take place over a 12-hour period. Throughout these behavioral trails, corticosterone (a stress hormone) will need to be collected to help quantify the behavioral fever response of the salamanders. This can be achieved through dermal swabbing. Three swabs will be obtained for each individual salamander. The first swab is collected upon collection. The second swab is obtained just before individuals are placed in the behavioral chambers, and the third swab is obtained at end of the 12-hour trial period. Results expected are that slimy salamanders injected with pyrogen will show some degree of behavioral fever. This will appear as behavioral chamber data of salamander occupancy in the warmer chambers, and these salamanders should show a higher dermal corticosterone response. The amount of time the pyrogen injected salamanders spend within each chamber should vary depending upon their pyrogen dosage.
Is Behavioral Fever in Plethodon glutinosus Affected by the Amount of the Pyrogen Poly(I:C)?
D.P. Culp Center Ballroom
Ectotherms undergo a process called behavioral fever where they seek out warm climates to produce a fever. Using the imunostimulant polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I:C)), salamanders injected with poly(I:C) should seek out warmer microclimates to induce behavioral fever. Slimy salamanders (Plethodon glutinosus) injected with variable doses of poly(I:C) might be expected to show variable fever responses. They may also change their temperature preferences at different points during fever, perhaps even occupying unsafe temperatures for a while. Subjects will be acquired during the spring season, and subject salamanders will be collected two at a time for a given experiment. Upon collection salamanders will be placed in a plastic bag for transport and taken to an onsite mobile lab facility. There, they will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups: an amphibian phosphate buffered saline (APBS) injected control, a 7.5µg/g pyrogen injected group, a 15.0µg/g pyrogen injected group, and a 22.5µg/g pyrogen injected group. Individuals will be injected with their randomly determined treatment on first arrival to the mobile lab. They will either be injected with a pyrogen solution or the saline solution. The salamanders will then be allowed 1 hour of waiting time before the behavioral trials begin. Behavioral chambers to monitor the behavioral fever of subjects are to be set up for this experiment. These chambers consist of two sets of four interconnected chambers with a small but navigable passage between each. Each chamber is climate controlled to be held at a constant 95% humidity, and the temperature in each chamber will vary between 15°C, 19°C, 23°C, and 27°C in increments of two. To detect which chamber a salamander is in a specific chamber a python program and monitoring equipment will keep track of the salamander’s presence. The trial itself will take place over a 12-hour period. Throughout these behavioral trails, corticosterone (a stress hormone) will need to be collected to help quantify the behavioral fever response of the salamanders. This can be achieved through dermal swabbing. Three swabs will be obtained for each individual salamander. The first swab is collected upon collection. The second swab is obtained just before individuals are placed in the behavioral chambers, and the third swab is obtained at end of the 12-hour trial period. Results expected are that slimy salamanders injected with pyrogen will show some degree of behavioral fever. This will appear as behavioral chamber data of salamander occupancy in the warmer chambers, and these salamanders should show a higher dermal corticosterone response. The amount of time the pyrogen injected salamanders spend within each chamber should vary depending upon their pyrogen dosage.