The role of parasite–induced immunodepression, rank and social environment in the modulation of behaviour and hormone concentration in male laboratory mice (Mus musculus)

Barnard, C. J.; Behnke, Jerzy M.; Gage, A. R.; Brown, Hazel; Smithurst, Peter R.

doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0349

Cited by 73 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…There was demonstrated in study on the outbred male mice CFLP that high aggressiveness and high level of blood testosterone in dominants coincided with low immunoresponsiveness and with high susceptibility to infection with blood parasite Babesia microti [111,112]. The positive correlation between aggressiveness and parasite ability was found in CFLP mice under experimental infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus [113]. The directly opposite results were received in study of the inbred mice C57Bl.…”

Section: Showiness Dominance and Immunocompetencementioning

confidence: 51%

The Role of the Immune System in Behavioral Strategies of Reproduction

Мошкин

Gerlinskaya

Evsikov

2000

Journal of Reproduction and Development

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Abstract. Since both reproduction and immunocompetence are costly, the negative reciprocal relationships between these functions were found in many species. Due to reproductive immunosuppression, some fraction of seasonally breeding populations of small mammals reproduces in the first breeding season, while others reproduce in the next one. Elevation of breeding efforts under the increased risk of mortality and the reproductive delay until recovery are the polar variants of mating behavior of parasitized individuals. However the parasite-induced changes of odor, visual or acoustic signals limit the mating success of the infected hosts. The direct influence of the immune system, regularly activated by infections, to chemicals signals can be answer to the question: why these signals are honest? Decrease of a strange infection risk by kin breeding can be a satisfactory strategy of an isolated population. Nevertheless, many species follow the inbreeding avoidance strategy, where the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes play key role in kin recognition. The advantage of MHC heterozygosity was found at the all steps of the breeding cycle; including mating choice, fertilization, pre-and postnatal development. So, the relationships between immune system and neuroendocrine regulation of behavior give proximate explanations of the evolutionary stable strategies of breeding behavior.

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Section: Showiness Dominance and Immunocompetencementioning

confidence: 51%

The Role of the Immune System in Behavioral Strategies of Reproduction

Мошкин

Gerlinskaya

Evsikov

2000

Journal of Reproduction and Development

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“…Furthermore, this endocrine imbalance may be considered as an adaptive response of the host (Wedekind and Folstad 1994) that, with the help of acquired immunity, accounts for the low parasitemia which characterizes a recrudescence. In fact, in accordance with the adaptive modulation hypothesis first postulated for parasite-mediated sexual selection (Folstad and Karter 1992), several authors have suggested that rodents may regulate testosterone profiles to balance the competing demands of immunity and reproduction (Klein et al 1997;Barnard, et al 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Reduction in testosterone concentration and its effect on the reproductive output of chronic malaria-infected male mice

2004

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An experimental host-parasite association involving BALB/c male mice infected with Plasmodium chabaudi chabaudi was used in order to investigate the influence of the parasite on the sexual physiology and behavior of infected hosts. Infected males displayed complete courtship behavior leading to ejaculation and sired litters on several occasions. A weekly assay of testosterone and corticosterone plasma concentrations revealed a twofold decrease in the testosterone level at 4 and 5 weeks post-injection, during recrudescence. This imbalance was accompanied by a decrease in the overall duration of the social investigation contacts occurring during courtship and by a reduction in the fertilization rate of the infected animals. These physiological perturbations can be regarded as an adaptive response of the host to the recrudescing parasites, which illustrates the rodents' capacity for regulating the testosterone profiles needed to balance the competing demands of immunity and reproduction.

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“…A further mechanism involved in the lower occurrence of allergic reaction in parasitized individuals, which might also account for our observation of shorter duration of edema in A. costaricensis-infected rats, is overproduction of anti-inflammatory corticosteroid hormones (24,25) induced by the helminth infection. However, in our model, we did not find any alteration in serum corticosterone level in A. costaricensis-infected rats even after allergic challenge, indicating that yet another mechanism should underlie the curtailment of allergic edema noted in infected animals in our model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Cyclooxygenase-2-Derived Prostaglandin E2 and Lipoxin A4 Accelerate Resolution of Allergic Edema inAngiostrongylus costaricensis-Infected Rats: Relationship with Concurrent Eosinophilia

Bandeira‐Melo¹,

Serra²,

Diaz³

et al. 2000

The Journal of Immunology

127

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In noninfected rats, challenge with allergen following local IgE sensitization induced a pleurisy marked by intense protein exudation that plateaued from 30 min to 4 h after challenge, reducing thereafter. Infection of rats with Angiostrongylus costaricensis induced a 5-fold increase in blood eosinophil numbers by 25 days postinfection, whereas the numbers of eosinophils in the pleural cavity ranged from normal to a weak increase. In infected rats, identically sensitized, challenge with Ag induced a much shorter duration of pleural edema with complete resolution by 4 h, but no change in the early edema response. In parallel, infection increased the number of eosinophils recovered from the pleural cavity at 4 h, but not at 30 min, following allergen challenge. Pretreatment with IL-5 (100 IU/kg, i.v.) also increased eosinophil numbers in blood and, after allergen challenge, shortened the duration of the pleural edema and increased pleural eosinophil numbers. There were increases in the levels of both PGE2 and lipoxin A4 (LXA4) in pleural exudate. Selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors, NS-398, meloxicam, and SC-236, did not alter pleural eosinophilia, but reversed the curtailment of the edema in either infected or IL-5-pretreated rats. Pretreatment of noninfected animals with the PGE analogue, misoprostol, or two stable LXA4 analogues did not alter the magnitude of pleural exudation response, but clearly shortened its duration. These results indicate that the early resolution of allergic pleural edema observed during A. costaricensis infection coincided with a selective local eosinophilia and seemed to be mediated by COX-2-derived PGE2 and LXA4.

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The role of parasite–induced immunodepression, rank and social environment in the modulation of behaviour and hormone concentration in male laboratory mice (Mus musculus)

Cited by 73 publications

References 55 publications

The Role of the Immune System in Behavioral Strategies of Reproduction

The Role of the Immune System in Behavioral Strategies of Reproduction

Reduction in testosterone concentration and its effect on the reproductive output of chronic malaria-infected male mice

Cyclooxygenase-2-Derived Prostaglandin E2 and Lipoxin A4 Accelerate Resolution of Allergic Edema inAngiostrongylus costaricensis-Infected Rats: Relationship with Concurrent Eosinophilia

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