Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H4R2
Abstract
Immune–nociceptor connections are found in animals across phyla. Local inflammation and/or damage results in increased nociceptive sensitivity of the affected area. However, in mammals, immune responses far from peripheral nociceptors, such as immune responses in the gut, produce a general increase in peripheral nociceptive sensitivity. This phenomenon has not, to our knowledge, been found in other animal groups. We found that consuming heat-killed pathogens reduced the tactile force needed to induce a defensive strike in the caterpillar
Manduca sexta
. This increase in the nociceptive sensitivity of the body wall is probably part of the reconfiguration of behaviour and physiology that occurs during an immune response (e.g. sickness behaviour). This increase may help enhance anti-predator behaviour as molecular resources are shifted towards the immune system.
This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain’.
Funder
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
Subject
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Cited by
9 articles.
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