Programming Neuroendocrine Stress Axis Activity by Exposure to Glucocorticoids during Postembryonic Development of the Frog, Xenopus laevis

Exposure to elevated glucocorticoids during early mamma-liandevelopment canhaveprofound, long-termconsequences for health and disease. However, it is not knownwhether such actions occur in nonmammalian species, and if they do, whether the molecular physiological mechanisms are evolu-tionarily conserved. We investigated the effects of dietary re-striction, which elevates endogenous corticosterone (CORT), or exposure to exogenous CORT added to the aquariumwater of Xenopus laevis tadpoles on later-life measures of growth, feeding behavior, and neuroendocrine stress axis activity. Di-etary restriction of prometamorphic tadpoles reduced body size at metamorphosis, but juvenile frogs increased food in-take, showed catch-up growth through 21 d after metamor-phosis, andhad elevatedwhole-bodyCORTcontent compared with controls. Dietary restriction causes increased CORT i