Shea John F
Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 300 Aronoff Laboratory, 318 West 12th Ave. Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
J Insect Sci. 2005 Nov 11;5:31. doi: 10.1093/jis/5.1.31.
In their intermediate host, parasites alter aspects of host physiology including waste production and body weight. Further, this alteration may differ between female and male hosts. To study this, a beetle (Tenebrio molitor)-tapeworm (Hymenolepis diminuta) system was used. Infected and uninfected male and female beetles were individually housed in vials without food. Each beetle's weight change and frass production were measured over 24 h periods at 3, 7, 12 and 16 days post-infection. Treatment (infection) had no effect on weight change, but males lost more weight than females. Further, infected females produced more frass than control females. Males on the day of infection had a higher food intake than females. These results suggest that males will be more exposed to infection than females and could explain why males had a higher median cysticercoid infection level.
在中间宿主体内，寄生虫会改变宿主生理学的多个方面，包括废物产生和体重。此外，这种改变在雌性和雄性宿主之间可能存在差异。为了研究这一点，使用了甲虫（黄粉虫）-绦虫（微小膜壳绦虫）系统。将受感染和未受感染的雄性和雌性甲虫分别饲养在没有食物的小瓶中。在感染后3天、7天、12天和16天的24小时时间段内，测量每只甲虫的体重变化和粪便产生量。处理（感染）对体重变化没有影响，但雄性比雌性体重减轻更多。此外，受感染的雌性比对照雌性产生更多的粪便。感染当天，雄性的食物摄入量高于雌性。这些结果表明，雄性比雌性更容易受到感染，这可以解释为什么雄性的囊尾蚴感染水平中位数更高。
