Environmental Stressors and Innate Immunity: Is there a correlation? Nora Egan Demers Florida Gulf Coast University 2000

How do organisms respond to environmental stressors? n Is innate immunity a good indicator to monitor ecosystem health? n Are innate defense mechanisms suppressed in chronically stressed organisms (in vitro and in vivo assessment) from disturbed or polluted sites compared to pristine sites? 2000

STRESSSTRESS SocialhierarchyinteractionsSocialhierarchyinteractions Predator-PreyinteractionsPredator-Preyinteractions Habitat Degradation HandlingHandling CrowdingCrowding PollutionPollution 2000

Habitat fragmentation n Pine uplands n Threatened by development n home to many threatened and endangered species

Gopher tortoise n Species of special concern in Florida n Keystone species (burrows home to numerous others) n Mitigation parks to protect n Long lived

Commensals n Burrows home to >300 invertebrates n vertebrates: – indigo snake –gopher frog –mice & rats –toads –birds (wren, quail, owl)

Gopherus polyphemus n Many afflicted with URTD caused by Mycoplasma agassizii n Disease incidence linked to stressors

Assays to monitor innate immunity using non-lethal blood samples n cortisol concentrations n catecholamine concentrations n complete blood cell count n plasma lysozyme activity n alpha-macroglobulin protease inhibitor activity n alpha 2 -macroglobulin protease inhibitor activity n cortisol concentrations n catecholamine concentrations n complete blood cell count n plasma lysozyme activity n alpha-macroglobulin protease inhibitor activity n alpha 2 -macroglobulin protease inhibitor activity 2000

Plasma proteins of interest –C3 –CRP –fibronectin fragments –mannose binding protein –Heat shock proteins –antibody –C3 –CRP –fibronectin fragments –mannose binding protein –Heat shock proteins –antibody 2000

How to monitor innate immunity in ecosystems? n Develop battery of assays (non-lethal samples) to monitor in other species n Collaborate with field biologists, wildlife biologsts, conservation biologists, zoos, Audubon, etc. -collect blood samples from organisms in pristine and disturbed sites n Realize importance of both acute and chronic stressors on responses 2000

What we can learn: n How do organisms immune systems respond to stressors? n How do those responses influence survival? n Can monitoring innate immune mechanisms serve as an early indicator for ecosystem health? n Evolution of innate immunity in vertebrates 2000