title: Neuroendocrine changes upon exposure to predator odors.
abstract: Predator odors are non-intrusive and naturalistic stressors of high ethological relevance in animals. Upon exposure to a predator or its associated cues, robust physiological and molecular anti-predator defensive strategies are elicited thereby allowing prey species to recognize, avoid and defend against a possible predation threat. In this review, we will discuss the nature of neuroendocrine stress responses upon exposure to predator odors. Predator odors can have a profound effect on the endocrine system, including activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, and induction of stress hormones such as corticosterone and adrenocorticotropic hormone. On a neural level, short-term exposure to predator odors leads to induction of the c-fos gene, while induction of ΔFosB in a different brain region is detected under chronic predation stress. Future research should aim to elucidate the relationships between neuroendocrine and behavioral outputs to gage the different levels of anti-predator responses in prey species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behavior, College of Veterinary Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt.
authors.forename: Ibrahim M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Hegab
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Behavior, College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: whwei@yzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wanhong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017781:Genes, Immediate-Early / Q000502:physiology; D006728:Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D009812:Odorants; D055696:Olfactory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones
keywords: ACTH; Corticosterone; Odors; Predator; c-fos; ΔfosB