Lynn Christopher D, Dominguez Johnna T, DeCaro Jason A
Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, 35487.
Am J Hum Biol. 2016 Sep 10;28(5):603-9. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22847. Epub 2016 Mar 4.
A costly signaling model suggests tattooing inoculates the immune system to heightened vigilance against stressors associated with soft tissue damage. We sought to investigate this "inoculation hypothesis" of tattooing as a costly honest signal of fitness. We hypothesized that the immune system habituates to the tattooing stressor in repeatedly tattooed individuals and that immune response to the stress of the tattooing process would correlate with lifetime tattoo experience.
Participants were 24 women and 5 men (aged 18-47). We measured immune function using secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) and cortisol (sCORT) in saliva collected before and after tattoo sessions. We measured tattoo experience as a sum of number of tattoos, lifetime hours tattooed, years since first tattoo, percent of body covered, and number of tattoo sessions. We predicted an inverse relationship between SIgA and sCORT and less SIgA immunosuppression among those with more tattoo experience. We used hierarchical multiple regression to test for a main effect of tattoo experience on post-tattoo SIgA, controlling for pretest SIgA, tattoo session duration, body mass, and the interaction between tattoo experience and test session duration.
The regression model was significant (P = 0.006) with a large effect size (r(2) = 0.711) and significant and positive main (P = 0.03) and interaction effects (P = 0.014).
Our data suggest that the body habituates over time to the tattooing stressor. It is possible that individuals with healthy immune systems heal faster, making them more likely to get multiple tattoos. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 28:603-609, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
一种代价信号模型表明，纹身可使免疫系统对与软组织损伤相关的应激源提高警惕。我们试图研究纹身的这种“接种假说”，即纹身是一种代价高昂的健康诚实信号。我们假设，在多次纹身的个体中，免疫系统会适应纹身应激源，并且对纹身过程应激的免疫反应将与终生纹身经历相关。
参与者为24名女性和5名男性（年龄18 - 47岁）。我们在纹身前后收集的唾液中，使用分泌型免疫球蛋白A（SIgA）和皮质醇（sCORT）来测量免疫功能。我们将纹身经历测量为纹身数量、终生纹身时长、首次纹身以来的年数、身体覆盖百分比以及纹身次数的总和。我们预测SIgA与sCORT之间呈负相关，且纹身经历较多者的SIgA免疫抑制作用较小。我们使用分层多元回归来检验纹身经历对纹身后SIgA的主要影响，同时控制测试前的SIgA、纹身时段时长、体重以及纹身经历与测试时段时长之间的相互作用。
回归模型具有显著性（P = 0.006），效应量较大（r(2) = 0.711），主要效应显著且为正（P = 0.03），相互作用效应也显著（P = 0.014）。
我们的数据表明，随着时间推移，身体会适应纹身应激源。免疫系统健康的个体可能愈合得更快，从而更有可能多次纹身。《美国人类生物学杂志》28:603 - 609，2016年。© 20
