{"id":118214,"date":"2026-09-11T21:18:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/publikasjoner\/increased-adrenal-responsiveness-and-delayed-hatching-date-in-relation-to-polychlorinated-biphenyl-exposure-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T21:18:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T19:18:49","slug":"increased-adrenal-responsiveness-and-delayed-hatching-date-in-relation-to-polychlorinated-biphenyl-exposure-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla","status":"publish","type":"nva_publication","link":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/publications\/increased-adrenal-responsiveness-and-delayed-hatching-date-in-relation-to-polychlorinated-biphenyl-exposure-in-arctic-breeding-black-legged-kittiwakes-rissa-tridactyla\/","title":{"rendered":"Increased adrenal responsiveness and delayed hatching date in relation to polychlorinated biphenyl exposure in Arctic-breeding black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">High levels of environmental contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organochlorine<br \/>\npesticides (OCPs) and mercury (Hg) have been reported in some Arctic top predators such as seabirds.<br \/>\nChronic exposure to these contaminants might alter the response to environmental changes through<br \/>\ninterference with the regulation of corticosterone (CORT), a glucocorticoid stress hormone released by<br \/>\nthe hypothalamo\u2013pituitary\u2013adrenal (HPA) axis. Positive and negative relationships between CORT and<br \/>\nenvironmental contaminants have been reported in polar seabirds. However, patterns appear<br \/>\ninconclusive and it is difficult to attribute these relationships to a dysfunction of the HPA axis or to other<br \/>\nconfounding effects. In order to explore the relationships between the HPA axis activity and contaminants,<br \/>\nwe tested whether different aspects of the HPA axis of an Arctic seabird, the black-legged kittiwakes<br \/>\nRissa tridactyla, would be related to blood Hg, PCB and OCP concentrations. Male kittiwakes<br \/>\nwere caught during the incubation period in Svalbard and were subjected to different stress series: (1)<br \/>\na capture-restraint stress protocol, (2) an injection of dexamethasone (DEX) that enabled to test the<br \/>\nefficacy of the HPA negative feedback and (3) an injection of adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) that<br \/>\ninformed on the adrenal responsiveness. The HPA axis activity was unrelated to ROCPs and Hg.<br \/>\nHowever, birds with high concentrations of RPCBs released more CORT after the ACTH injection. It is<br \/>\nsuggested that RPCBs may increase the number of ACTH-receptors on the adrenals. Additionally,<br \/>\nhatching date was delayed in males with higher concentrations of RPCBs and ROCPs. This study gives<br \/>\nnew evidence that PCBs and adrenal activity may be related. Thus high PCB burden may make individuals<br \/>\nmore prone to other stressors such as ongoing climate change.<br \/>\nCorticosterone<br \/>\nACTH<br \/>\nDexamethasone<br \/>\nAdrenal gland<br \/>\nPCBs<br \/>\nReproduction<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_id":"","_status":"PUBLISHED","_sync_date":"2026-09-11 21:14:37","footnotes":""},"nva_tax_category":[1099],"class_list":["post-118214","nva_publication","type-nva_publication","status-publish","hentry","nva_tax_category-scientific-journal-publication"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/118214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/nva_publication"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_publication\/118214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"nva_tax_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nilu.gnist.dev\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nva_tax_category?post=118214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}