Cohabitation impaired physiology, fitness and sex-related chemosignals in golden hamsters.
This study investigated the impact of long-term paternal presence (cohabitation) on several physiological parameters such as body weight, adrenal weight, cortisol of parents, and the survival of pups compared with brief daily encounters (isolation) of male-female pairs in golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus). We showed that females were affected more by cohabitation as evidenced by increased body and adrenal weights, elevated cortisol concentrations, and heavier uteri and spleens as compared with cohabiting male and isolated females. Furthermore, we found that tetradecanoic and hexadecanoic acids of the flank glands were sexually dimorphic, for which they were putative female pheromones. These two compounds were suppressed in females and elevated in males by cohabitation, suggesting that cohabitation impaired sex chemosignals. Overall, we concluded that housing females and males together had deleterious effects on adults and the survival of their pups in the golden hamster.
Zhang
Jian-Xu
JX
State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China. zhangjx@ioz.ac.cn
Rao
Xiao-Ping
XP
Sun
Lixing
L
Wang
Da-Wei
DW
Liu
Dingzhen
D
Zhao
Chenghua
C
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D049628:Body Size; D006224:Cricetinae; D005260:Female; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood; D008098:Litter Size; D008297:Male; D008647:Mesocricetus / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D009929:Organ Size; D011863:Radioimmunoassay / Q000379:methods; D011897:Random Allocation; D012046:Rehabilitation; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D006854:Hydrocortisone