Cantini Dante, Choleris Elena, Kavaliers Martin
Department of Psychology, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON N6A 3K7, Canada.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Jan 17;14(2):296. doi: 10.3390/ani14020296.
Animals are under constant threat of parasitic infection. This has influenced the evolution of social behaviour and has strong implications for sexual selection and mate choice. Animals assess the infection status of conspecifics based on various sensory cues, with odours/chemical signals and the olfactory system playing a particularly important role. The detection of chemical cues and subsequent processing of the infection threat that they pose facilitates the expression of disgust, fear, anxiety, and adaptive avoidance behaviours. In this selective review, drawing primarily from rodent studies, the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the detection and assessment of infection status and their relations to mate choice are briefly considered. Firstly, we offer a brief overview of the aspects of mate choice that are relevant to pathogen avoidance. Then, we specifically focus on the olfactory detection of and responses to conspecific cues of parasitic infection, followed by a brief overview of the neurobiological systems underlying the elicitation of disgust and the expression of avoidance of the pathogen threat. Throughout, we focus on current findings and provide suggestions for future directions and research.
动物一直面临寄生虫感染的威胁。这影响了社会行为的进化，对性选择和配偶选择具有重要意义。动物根据各种感官线索评估同种个体的感染状况，其中气味/化学信号和嗅觉系统起着特别重要的作用。对化学线索的检测以及随后对它们所构成的感染威胁的处理，促进了厌恶、恐惧、焦虑和适应性回避行为的表达。在这篇选择性综述中，主要借鉴啮齿动物研究，简要探讨了感染状况检测和评估的神经生物学机制及其与配偶选择的关系。首先，我们简要概述与病原体回避相关的配偶选择方面。然后，我们特别关注对同种寄生虫感染线索的嗅觉检测和反应，接着简要概述引发厌恶和表达对病原体威胁的回避行为的神经生物学系统。在整个过程中，我们关注当前的研究发现，并为未来的方向和研究提供建议。
