Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Horm Behav. 2023 Jun;152:105354. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105354. Epub 2023 Apr 18.
Mating related behavior during ovarian cycling can be energetically demanding and constitute a significant stressor, requiring physiological responses to mediate investment in reproduction. To better understand the proximate mechanisms underlying these responses, we examine hormonal and behavioral variation across the ovarian cycle during conceptive and nonconceptive cycles in wild female chacma baboons (Papio ursinus). We quantified immunoreactive fecal estradiol, progesterone, and cortisol metabolites for 21 adult females, and calculated activity budgets and rates of received aggression from over 5000 15-min behavioral samples. We found conception to be associated with higher concentrations of both estradiol and cortisol during the follicular phase, but no difference in progesterone between conceptive and nonconceptive cycles for either the follicular or luteal phase. While females spent less time feeding during the follicular compared to the luteal phase, we found no difference in time spent feeding, moving, or copulating between conceptive and nonconceptive cycles of the same phase. Rates of received aggression also were similar across the ovarian cycle, with no difference between conceptive and nonconceptive cycles. Finally, we found positive associations between cortisol and estradiol, indicating that glucocorticoids (GCs) do not suppress hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) activity and reproductive function in this context. Overall, our results suggest that elevated GCs may play an adaptive role in mobilizing energy during sexually receptive periods of ovarian cycling.
在卵巢周期期间，交配相关行为可能需要大量能量，并构成重大应激源，需要生理反应来调节生殖投资。为了更好地理解这些反应的潜在机制，我们在野生雄性狒狒（Papio ursinus）的可受孕和不可受孕周期中，检查了卵巢周期中激素和行为的变化。我们对 21 名成年雌性的免疫反应粪便雌二醇、孕酮和皮质醇代谢物进行了量化，并计算了超过 5000 个 15 分钟行为样本的活动预算和收到攻击的比率。我们发现受孕与滤泡期雌二醇和皮质醇浓度升高有关，但在滤泡期和黄体期，受孕和非受孕周期之间的孕酮没有差异。虽然与黄体期相比，雌性在滤泡期的进食时间较少，但我们在同一阶段的受孕和非受孕周期之间，发现进食、移动或交配的时间没有差异。收到攻击的比率在卵巢周期中也相似，受孕和非受孕周期之间没有差异。最后，我们发现皮质醇和雌二醇之间存在正相关，表明在这种情况下，糖皮质激素（GCs）不会抑制下丘脑-垂体-性腺（HPG）的活动和生殖功能。总的来说，我们的结果表明，在卵巢周期的性接受期间，升高的 GCs 可能在动员能量方面发挥适应性作用。
