Schneider Jill E, Casper Janelle F, Barisich Amanda, Schoengold Candace, Cherry Sandeep, Surico Justine, DeBarba Ashley, Fabris Frank, Rabold Elizabeth
Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, 111 Research Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18015, USA.
Horm Behav. 2007 Mar;51(3):413-27. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2006.12.010. Epub 2007 Jan 4.
Energy consumption is critical for the energetically expensive processes related to reproduction, and thus, mechanisms that increase ingestive behavior are directly linked to reproductive success. Similarly, the mechanisms that inhibit hunger and ingestive behavior might be most adaptive when these mechanisms cause individuals to stop foraging, hoarding and eating in order to find and court potential mates. In the laboratory, ingestive behaviors are typically studied separately from reproductive behaviors even though it is likely that these behaviors evolved under conditions in which both food and mates were available. We examined the choice between paracopulatory and ingestive behaviors in a semi-natural environment in which both food and potential mates were available. Intact female Syrian hamsters showed a high preference for males on days 3 and 4 (day 4 being the day of ovulation and estrous behavior), and a 48-h period of food deprivation significantly decreased preference for sex and increased preference for eating and food hoarding on day 3 in 89% of the hamsters, although none became anestrous. The same period of food deprivation significantly decreased the level of vaginal marking without significant effects on plasma estradiol concentrations. Next, hamsters were either food deprived (FD) or fed ad libitum, and half of each group was treated with vehicle or the adipocyte hormone leptin. The percentage of females with a low preference for sex was significantly greater in the FD compared to the ad libitum-fed groups, and leptin treatment prevented this effect. Metabolic fuels, possibly acting through leptin and other hormones, might influence sensitivity to estradiol or enhance the downstream effects of estradiol, thereby increasing motivation for sex and decreasing the relative motivation to forage, hoard and eat food.
能量消耗对于与繁殖相关的高能量消耗过程至关重要，因此，增加摄食行为的机制与繁殖成功直接相关。同样，当抑制饥饿和摄食行为的机制促使个体停止觅食、囤积食物和进食以寻找并求偶潜在配偶时，这些机制可能具有最强的适应性。在实验室中，摄食行为通常与繁殖行为分开研究，尽管这些行为很可能是在食物和配偶都可得的条件下进化而来的。我们在食物和潜在配偶都可得的半自然环境中研究了副交配行为和摄食行为之间的选择。完整的雌性叙利亚仓鼠在第3天和第4天（第4天为排卵和发情行为日）对雄性表现出高度偏好，48小时的食物剥夺显著降低了第3天对性的偏好，并增加了89%的仓鼠对进食和食物囤积的偏好，尽管没有一只进入发情期。相同时间段的食物剥夺显著降低了阴道标记水平，而对血浆雌二醇浓度没有显著影响。接下来，将仓鼠分为食物剥夺组（FD）和自由进食组，每组中的一半用载体或脂肪细胞激素瘦素处理。与自由进食组相比，食物剥夺组中对性偏好较低的雌性百分比显著更高，而瘦素处理可防止这种影响。代谢燃料可能通过瘦素和其他激素起作用，可能会影响对雌二醇的敏感性或增强雌二醇的下游效应，从而增加对性的动机并降低觅食、囤积食物和进食的相对动机。
