Uncovering system-specific stress signatures in primate teeth with multimodal imaging
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Author(s)
Austin, Christine
Smith, Tanya M
Farahani, Ramin MZ
Hinde, Katie
Carter, Elizabeth A
Lee, Joonsup
Lay, Peter A
Kennedy, Brendan J
Sarrafpour, Babak
Wright, Rosalind J
Wright, Robert O
Arora, Manish
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
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Show full item recordAbstract
Early life stress can disrupt development and negatively impact long-term health trajectories.
Reconstructing histories of early life exposure to external stressors is hampered by the absence of
retrospective time-specific biomarkers. Defects in tooth enamel have been used to reconstruct stress
but the methods used are subjective and do not identify the specific biological systems impacted
by external stressors. Here we show that external physical and social stressors impart biochemical
signatures in primate teeth that can be retrieved to objectively reconstruct the timing of early life
developmental disruptions. Using teeth ...
View more >Early life stress can disrupt development and negatively impact long-term health trajectories. Reconstructing histories of early life exposure to external stressors is hampered by the absence of retrospective time-specific biomarkers. Defects in tooth enamel have been used to reconstruct stress but the methods used are subjective and do not identify the specific biological systems impacted by external stressors. Here we show that external physical and social stressors impart biochemical signatures in primate teeth that can be retrieved to objectively reconstruct the timing of early life developmental disruptions. Using teeth from captive macaques, we uncovered elemental imprints specific to disruptions of skeletal growth, including major disruptions in body weight trajectory and moderate to severe illnesses. Discrete increases in heat shock protein-70 expression in dentine coincided with elemental signatures, confirming that elemental signals were associated with activation of stress-related pathways. To overcome limitations of conventional light-microscopic analysis, we used high resolution Raman microspectral imaging to identify structural and compositional alterations in enamel and dentine that coincided with elemental signatures and with detailed medical and behavioural data. Integrating these objective biochemical markers with temporal mapping of teeth enables the retrospective study of early life developmental disruptions and their ensuing health sequelae.
View less >
View more >Early life stress can disrupt development and negatively impact long-term health trajectories. Reconstructing histories of early life exposure to external stressors is hampered by the absence of retrospective time-specific biomarkers. Defects in tooth enamel have been used to reconstruct stress but the methods used are subjective and do not identify the specific biological systems impacted by external stressors. Here we show that external physical and social stressors impart biochemical signatures in primate teeth that can be retrieved to objectively reconstruct the timing of early life developmental disruptions. Using teeth from captive macaques, we uncovered elemental imprints specific to disruptions of skeletal growth, including major disruptions in body weight trajectory and moderate to severe illnesses. Discrete increases in heat shock protein-70 expression in dentine coincided with elemental signatures, confirming that elemental signals were associated with activation of stress-related pathways. To overcome limitations of conventional light-microscopic analysis, we used high resolution Raman microspectral imaging to identify structural and compositional alterations in enamel and dentine that coincided with elemental signatures and with detailed medical and behavioural data. Integrating these objective biochemical markers with temporal mapping of teeth enables the retrospective study of early life developmental disruptions and their ensuing health sequelae.
View less >
Journal Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
6
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s). 2016. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images
or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license,
unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license,
users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this
license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Subject
Biomedical and clinical sciences
Archaeological science
Biological (physical) anthropology