PRC, CNRS, IFCE, INRA, Université de Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Unit of Physiology, Pathophysiology, and Experimental Endocrinology, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, 1210, Vienna, Austria.
Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 30;8(1):1857. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-20319-y.
The influence of embryonic microclimate on the behavioural development of birds remains unexplored. In this study, we experimentally tested whether chronic exposure to suboptimal temperatures engendered plasticity in the expression of fear-related behaviours and in the expression of the corticotropin-releasing factor in the brains of domestic chicks (Gallus g. domesticus). We compared the neurobehavioural phenotypes of a control group of chicks incubated in an optimal thermal environment (37.8 °C) with those of a group of experimental chicks exposed chronically in ovo to suboptimal temperatures (27.2 °C for 1 hour twice a day). Chronic exposure to a suboptimal temperature delayed hatching and decreased growth rate and experimental chicks had higher neophobic responses than controls in novel food and novel environment tests. In addition, experimental chicks showed higher expression of corticotropin-releasing factor than did controls in nuclei of the amygdala, a structure involved in the regulation of fear-related behaviours. In this study, we report the first evidence of the strong but underappreciated role of incubation microclimate on the development of birds' behaviour and its neurobiological correlates.
胚胎微环境对鸟类行为发育的影响仍未被探索。在这项研究中，我们通过实验测试了慢性暴露于不适宜温度是否会导致家禽雏鸡（Gallus g. domesticus）的恐惧相关行为表达和促肾上腺皮质素释放因子表达出现可塑性。我们比较了在最佳热环境（37.8°C）下孵化的对照组雏鸡和慢性在卵中暴露于不适宜温度（每天两次 27.2°C 1 小时）的实验组雏鸡的神经行为表型。慢性暴露于不适宜温度会延迟孵化并降低生长速度，实验组雏鸡在新食物和新环境测试中比对照组表现出更高的新异恐惧症反应。此外，实验组雏鸡在参与调节恐惧相关行为的杏仁核核中表现出比对照组更高的促肾上腺皮质素释放因子表达。在这项研究中，我们首次报告了孵化微环境对鸟类行为及其神经生物学相关性发展的强烈但未被充分认识的作用。
