Female mice seek refuge from castrated males, but not intact or vasectomized males, mitigating a socially-induced glucocorticoid response
Autor: | Robert C. Brooks, Teagan Gale, Michael Garratt |
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Rok vydání: | 2019 |
Předmět: |
Male
media_common.quotation_subject Physiology Experimental and Cognitive Psychology Biology Sexual conflict Mice Sexual Behavior Animal 03 medical and health sciences Behavioral Neuroscience chemistry.chemical_compound 0302 clinical medicine Vasectomy medicine Animals 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences Castration 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology Mating Social Behavior Glucocorticoids media_common Behavior Animal 05 social sciences Attraction Induced stress chemistry Female Reproduction Stress Psychological 030217 neurology & neurosurgery Glucocorticoid medicine.drug |
Zdroj: | Physiology & Behavior. 211:112678 |
ISSN: | 0031-9384 |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112678 |
Popis: | Sexual conflict may be manifested during social interactions, shaping the costs of reproduction in sexually reproducing species. This conflict, and the physical necessity of intromission, can intensify the already costly nature of reproduction for female mammals. To identify and partition the costs that males inflict on females during mating and reproduction, we paired female mice with either other females or castrated, vasectomised, or intact (sham-vasectomised) males, thus manipulating exposure to social mating behavior and costs arising from fertilization. We also provided females with refuges where males could not enter, to test whether females show avoidance or attraction to males of different gonadal status expected to exhibit different levels of social behavior. We found that females paired with vasectomised and castrated males spent the most time in their refuge. Females housed with castrated males also had increased glucocorticoid levels, an effect that was mitigated when females could retreat from these males to a refuge. This suggests that females actively refuge from castrated males, and that housing with such males is sufficient to generate an increased glucocorticoid response. Our results show that females choose to refuge from males depending on the partner’s gonadal status, choices that are linked to social induced stress responses but not exposure to male mating behaviour. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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