Gregg Jennifer K, Wynne-Edwards Katherine E
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6.
Dev Psychobiol. 2005 Sep;47(2):179-88. doi: 10.1002/dev.20079.
Placentophagia in mammals typically occurs only in females during the birth. Male hamsters, Phodopus campbelli, with an extensive paternal behavior repertoire eat placenta during the birth and as alloparental juveniles. Two fresh placentae were presented to sexually naïve males and females covering the developmental range from puberty through reproductive maturity and into senescence. Expectant parents and new mothers were also tested. Placentophagia occurred in both sexes at all developmental stages and was higher in reproductive than in naïve hamsters. Placentophagia declined with increasing age in females, but not males. Liver was readily accepted, but acceptance did not decline with age in females, and was not low in juvenile males, confirming that animals distinguished between the two tissues. Senescent females consumed both tissues willingly. In these paternal males, which do not experience pregnancy or parturition, and in naïve females that selectively refuse placenta, the stimuli influencing placentophagia remain unknown.
哺乳动物中的食胎盘行为通常只发生在分娩时的雌性身上。具有广泛父性行为模式的雄性坎氏毛足鼠在分娩时以及作为异亲幼崽时会食用胎盘。向性成熟前、青春期至生殖成熟期以及衰老期的性幼稚雄性和雌性提供了两个新鲜胎盘。还对准父母和新妈妈进行了测试。食胎盘行为在所有发育阶段的两性中都有发生，且生殖期的仓鼠比性幼稚仓鼠的发生率更高。雌性的食胎盘行为随年龄增长而下降，但雄性没有。肝脏很容易被接受，但雌性对肝脏的接受度不会随年龄下降，幼年雄性对肝脏的接受度也不低，这证实了动物能够区分这两种组织。衰老的雌性会欣然食用这两种组织。在这些未经历怀孕或分娩的父性雄性以及选择性拒绝胎盘的性幼稚雌性中，影响食胎盘行为的刺激因素仍然未知。
