Departamento de Biología Animal, Biología Vegetal y Ecología, Facultad de Ciencias Experimentales, Universidad de Jaén, E-23071 Jaén, Spain.
Vet Parasitol. 2011 Feb 10;175(3-4):306-12. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.10.024. Epub 2010 Oct 21.
Testes mass is a key factor in male reproductive success and is potentially exposed to so-called 'parasitic castration'. This is the result of the direct destruction or alteration of reproductive cell lineages (parasitic castration sensu stricto), or the indirect detrimental effects - for example, via body condition - on the ability of progenitors to produce or rear offspring (parasitic castration sensu lato). There are enormous gaps in our knowledge on the effects of parasites on the testes of wild mammals and in an attempt to rectify this dearth of data we examined the relationship between the skin parasite Sarcoptes scabiei and testes mass in Iberian ibex Capra pyrenaica. We considered data from 222 males that were culled in the population from the Sierra Nevada in Spain. Our results provide evidence that sarcoptic mange is associated with reduced size-corrected testes mass in Iberian ibex which supports the hypothesis that parasitism is a determining factor in gonad plasticity in male mammals. We discuss several hypothetical causes of this relationship and highlight the need to deepen the sub-lethal effects of pathogens if we are to accurately understand their modulator effects on host population dynamics.
睾丸质量是雄性生殖成功的关键因素，并且可能会受到所谓的“寄生性去势”的影响。这是生殖细胞谱系直接破坏或改变的结果（寄生性去势本义），或者是通过身体状况等间接对后代繁殖能力的不利影响（寄生性去势广义）。我们对寄生虫对野生哺乳动物睾丸的影响知之甚少，为了纠正这一数据空白，我们研究了皮肤寄生虫疥螨和伊比利亚野山羊睾丸质量之间的关系。我们分析了从西班牙内华达山脉种群中被扑杀的 222 只雄性的相关数据。研究结果表明，疥螨性皮炎与伊比利亚野山羊睾丸大小校正质量的减少有关，这支持了寄生虫是雄性哺乳动物性腺可塑性的决定因素的假设。我们讨论了这种关系的几种假设原因，并强调需要深入研究病原体的亚致死效应，如果我们要准确了解它们对宿主种群动态的调节作用的话。
