Fox H E, White S A, Kao M H, Fernald R D
Department of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
J Neurosci. 1997 Aug 15;17(16):6463-9. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.17-16-06463.1997.
Many aspects of reproductive physiology are subject to regulation by social interactions. These include changes in neural and physiological substrates of reproduction. How can social behavior produce such changes? In experiments reported here, we manipulated the social settings of teleost fish and measured the effect (1) on stress response as reflected in cortisol production, (2) on reproductive potential as measured in production of the signaling peptide, gonadotropin-releasing hormone, and (3) on reproductive function measured in gonad size. Our results reveal that the level of the stress hormone cortisol depends critically on both the social and reproductive status of an individual fish and on the stability of its social situation. Moreover, the reproductive capacity of an individual fish depends on these same variables. These results show that social encounters within particular social contexts have a profound effect on the stress levels as well as on reproductive competence. Social behavior may lead to changes in reproductive state through integration of cortisol changes in time. Thus, information available from the stress pathway may provide socially relevant signals to produce neural change.
生殖生理学的许多方面都受到社会互动的调节。这些调节包括生殖的神经和生理基础的变化。社会行为是如何产生这些变化的呢？在本文所报道的实验中，我们操纵了硬骨鱼的社会环境，并测量了其产生的影响：（1）对应激反应的影响，以皮质醇分泌量作为反映指标；（2）对生殖潜能的影响，以信号肽促性腺激素释放激素的分泌量作为测量指标；（3）对生殖功能的影响，以性腺大小作为测量指标。我们的研究结果表明，应激激素皮质醇的水平严重依赖于单个鱼类的社会和生殖状态以及其社会环境的稳定性。此外，单个鱼类的生殖能力也取决于这些相同的变量。这些结果表明，特定社会背景下的社会接触对应激水平和生殖能力都有深远影响。社会行为可能通过整合随时间变化的皮质醇变化而导致生殖状态的改变。因此，应激途径提供的信息可能会产生与社会相关的信号，从而引起神经变化。
