Zhao Meng, Garland Theodore, Chappell Mark A, Andrew Jacob R, Harris Breanna N, Saltzman Wendy
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA.
J Exp Biol. 2018 Jan 11;221(Pt 1):jeb168559. doi: 10.1242/jeb.168559.
Reproduction strongly influences metabolism, morphology and behavior in female mammals. In species in which males provide parental care, reproduction might have similar effects on fathers. We examined effects of an environmental challenge on metabolically important physiological, morphological and behavioral measures, and determined whether these effects differed between reproductive and non-reproductive males in the biparental California mouse (). Males were paired with an ovary-intact female, an ovariectomized female treated with estrogen and progesterone to induce estrus, or an untreated ovariectomized female. Within each group, half of the animals were housed under standard laboratory conditions and half in cages requiring them to climb wire towers to obtain food and water; these latter animals were also fasted for 24 h every third day. We predicted that few differences would be observed between fathers and non-reproductive males under standard conditions, but that fathers would be in poorer condition than non-reproductive males under challenging conditions. Body and fat mass showed a housing condition×reproductive group interaction: the challenge condition increased body and fat mass in both groups of non-reproductive males, but breeding males were unaffected. Males housed under the physical and energetic challenge had higher blood lipid content, lower maximal aerobic capacity and related traits (hematocrit and relative triceps surae mass), increased pain sensitivity and increased number of fecal boli excreted during tail-suspension tests (a measure of anxiety), compared with controls. Thus, our physical and energetic challenge paradigm altered metabolism, morphology and behavior, but these effects were largely unaffected by reproductive condition.
繁殖对雌性哺乳动物的新陈代谢、形态和行为有强烈影响。在雄性提供亲代抚育的物种中，繁殖对父亲可能有类似影响。我们研究了环境挑战对代谢重要的生理、形态和行为指标的影响，并确定这些影响在双亲抚育的加利福尼亚小鼠的繁殖雄性和非繁殖雄性之间是否存在差异。雄性与卵巢完整的雌性、用雌激素和孕酮处理以诱导发情的去卵巢雌性或未处理的去卵巢雌性配对。在每组中，一半动物饲养在标准实验室条件下，另一半饲养在需要攀爬铁丝塔以获取食物和水的笼子里；后一组动物每三天还禁食24小时。我们预测在标准条件下，父亲和非繁殖雄性之间几乎观察不到差异，但在具有挑战性的条件下，父亲的状况会比非繁殖雄性差。身体和脂肪量呈现出饲养条件×繁殖组的相互作用：挑战条件增加了两组非繁殖雄性的身体和脂肪量，但繁殖雄性不受影响。与对照组相比，处于身体和能量挑战下饲养的雄性血脂含量更高，最大有氧能力及相关指标（血细胞比容和相对比目鱼肌质量）更低，疼痛敏感性增加，在悬尾试验（一种焦虑测量方法）中排出的粪便团数量增加。因此，我们的身体和能量挑战范式改变了新陈代谢、形态和行为，但这些影响在很大程度上不受繁殖状况的影响。
