Connors V A, Nickol B B
School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska-Lincoln 68588-0118.
Parasitology. 1991 Dec;103 Pt 3:395-402. doi: 10.1017/s0031182000059916.
Although the relationship between intestinal parasitism, the ingestion and use of energy, and host survival is expected, little work has been done to outline the effect of such organisms upon their host's nutritional requirements in an ecological context. This study is the first to demonstrate that an intestinal helminth previously reported to be of little or no histopathological consequence, Plagiorhynchus cylindraceus, has a significant detrimental impact upon the flow of food energy through a definitive host, the European starling, Sturnus vulgaris. Within both male and female adult European starlings reductions in standard metabolic rates occurred as the result of initial infection, indicating that the host's basal metabolism/thermal regulatory abilities were altered. Moreover, initially infected male starlings, but not females, had an increased consumption and excretion of energy and maintained lower average daily body weights versus controls when temperature stressed. These results appear to be due to either a parasite-mediated alteration in host activity and/or to the disruption of host-digestive abilities. Additionally, these data indicate that, overall, male and female S. vulgaris respond differently to infection and that intestinal helminths normally thought to be of little or no pathological consequence to the host are factors that should be addressed in future studies regarding animal energetics, ecology, and behaviour.
尽管肠道寄生虫、能量摄取与利用以及宿主存活之间的关系是可以预期的，但在生态背景下，针对此类生物体对宿主营养需求的影响所开展的研究却很少。本研究首次证明，一种先前被报道几乎没有或没有组织病理学影响的肠道蠕虫——柱状绕眼吸虫，对终末宿主欧椋鸟（Sturnus vulgaris）的食物能量流动具有显著的不利影响。在成年雄性和雌性欧椋鸟中，初次感染后标准代谢率均有所降低，这表明宿主的基础代谢/体温调节能力发生了改变。此外，初次感染的雄性欧椋鸟（而非雌性）在温度应激时，能量消耗和排泄增加，且平均日体重维持在低于对照组的水平。这些结果似乎是由于寄生虫介导的宿主活动改变和/或宿主消化能力的破坏所致。此外，这些数据表明，总体而言，雄性和雌性欧椋鸟对感染的反应不同，并且通常被认为对宿主几乎没有或没有病理影响的肠道蠕虫，是未来关于动物能量学、生态学和行为学研究中应予以关注的因素。
