Pierson T, Heideman P D
Institute of Reproductive Biology, University of Texas, Austin 78712.
J Reprod Fertil. 1994 Nov;102(2):459-62. doi: 10.1530/jrf.0.1020459.
The effects of social cues from adult conspecifics on the rate of sexual maturity were studied in a tropical rodent, the cane mouse (Zygodontomys brevicauda), in the laboratory. Several aspects of the biology of this species have suggested that it might be atypical in that young females may not accelerate or decelerate their rate of reproductive development in response to social cues. This hypothesis was tested by housing 16-day-old females with an adult male, an adult female, or alone, and reproductive development was assessed periodically, beginning when the mice were 20 days old. Young females paired with males underwent more uterine growth and matured markedly earlier than did isolated controls. Young females paired with adult females exhibited less uterine growth than did isolated controls. Thus, social cues both accelerate and decelerate reproductive development in females of this species, and the hypothesis that social cues have no effect on reproductive development in young females was rejected. The evolutionary conditions that favour unresponsiveness of young females to social cues appear to be restrictive, and may be rare in mammals.
在实验室中，对热带啮齿动物蔗鼠（Zygodontomys brevicauda）进行了研究，以探讨成年同种个体的社会线索对性成熟速率的影响。该物种生物学的几个方面表明，它可能是非典型的，因为年轻雌性可能不会根据社会线索加速或减速其生殖发育速率。通过将16日龄雌性与成年雄性、成年雌性或单独饲养在一起进行了该假设的测试，并从小鼠20日龄开始定期评估生殖发育情况。与雄性配对的年轻雌性子宫生长更多，并且比单独饲养的对照组明显更早成熟。与成年雌性配对的年轻雌性子宫生长比单独饲养的对照组少。因此，社会线索在该物种的雌性中既加速又减速生殖发育，并且关于社会线索对年轻雌性生殖发育没有影响的假设被否定。有利于年轻雌性对社会线索无反应的进化条件似乎具有局限性，并且在哺乳动物中可能很少见。
