Immuno-competence data

The exposure of yolk androgens can positively stimulate chick growth and competitive ability but may negatively affect immunity. It has been hypothesized that only chicks from immunologically superior fathers can bear the cost of prenatal exposure to high androgen levels. To test this hypothesis we paired roosters from two selection lines, one up- and one down-selected for natural antibodies, with hens from a control line. We measured yolk testosterone and androstenedione levels, and we injected the treatment group  of  eggs of each female with testosterone suspended in sesame oil and the control group with sesame oil only. We then measured hatching success, growth, and characterised the humoral and cellular immune responses using three different challenges: a PHA, an LPS, and an SRBC challenge. We found that the hatching success, body mass, initial levels of natural antibodies, and the chicks immunological responses to the three different challenges development were affected neither by...

卵黄雄激素（yolk androgens）暴露可正向促进雏鸡生长与竞争能力，但可能对免疫功能产生负面影响。已有假说提出，仅免疫性能优异的父本所产雏鸡，方可承受产前暴露于高雄激素水平的相关成本。为验证该假说，我们将两个天然抗体（natural antibodies）选育品系的公鸡——分别为正向选育品系与负向选育品系——与对照品系（control line）母鸡进行交配。我们测定了卵黄睾酮（testosterone）与雄烯二酮（androstenedione）水平，并将每只母鸡所产的卵分为处理组与对照组：处理组卵注射悬浮于芝麻油（sesame oil）中的睾酮，对照组仅注射芝麻油。随后我们测定了孵化成功率、雏鸡生长情况，并通过三项不同的免疫挑战实验——植物血凝素（Phytohemagglutinin, PHA）、脂多糖（Lipopolysaccharide, LPS）与绵羊红细胞（Sheep Red Blood Cell, SRBC）挑战——表征体液与细胞免疫应答。我们发现，孵化成功率、体重、天然抗体初始水平，以及雏鸡对三项免疫挑战的免疫应答发育情况，均未受……