Energetic and Immune Consequences of Fatherhood in a Biparental Mammal

生殖是一个耗费精力的过程，因此可能会损害健康和生存。在哺乳动物中，代价和权衡，包括生长减少、免疫功能受损和预期寿命降低，主要是研究并与雌性和母体护理有关。在包括人类在内的一些哺乳动物中，雄性/父亲也为他们的后代提供广泛的照顾；然而，父亲提供父亲照顾的后果还没有得到很好的研究。因此，这项研究将调查父亲对加州小鼠血液激素水平、身体成分(脂肪和瘦肉质量)、能量利用、运动表现和免疫功能的影响。加州小鼠是一种一夫一妻制的啮齿动物，父母双方都有广泛的父母行为。行为、形态和生理指标将在与繁殖的雌性动物一起居住的雄性动物和与手术绝育的雌性动物一起居住的雄性动物之间进行比较。由于压力可能会加剧为人父的后果，一半的动物将被关在标准的实验室条件下，另一半将被关在寒冷的条件下。研究结果将确定为人父母对父亲的行为、形态和生理的影响，并进一步表明这些影响是否因动物的年龄、生殖经历或压力而不同。这些结果将为父亲照顾的生物学提供新的见解，并可能对理解人类的育儿方式具有重要意义。此外，这项研究将有助于培训许多研究生和本科生，其中相当多的人将是代表性不足的少数群体和/或处于社会经济不利地位的人。

Reproduction is an energetically expensive process and therefore can lead to impairments in health and survival. In mammals the costs and tradeoffs, including reduced growth, impaired immune function, and lower life expectancy, have been mainly studies and associated with females and maternal care. In some mammals, including humans, males/fathers also provide extensive care for their offspring; however, the consequences for fathers of providing paternal care has not been well studied. Therefore, this research will investigate the effects of fatherhood on blood hormone levels, body composition (fat and lean mass), energy utilization, exercise performance, and immune function in the California mouse, a monogamous rodent in which both parents engage in extensive parental behavior. Behavioral, morphological, and physiological measures will be compared between males housed with a breeding female and males housed with a female that has been surgically neutered. Because the consequences of fatherhood might be exacerbated by stress, half of the animals will be housed under standard laboratory conditions and the other half under cold conditions. The results will identify the effects of parenthood on behavior, morphology and physiology in fathers, and will further indicate whether such effects differ with the animals' age, reproductive experience, or stress. These results will provide novel insights into the biology of paternal care and may have important implications for understanding parenting in humans. In addition, this research will contribute to the training of numerous graduate and undergraduate students, a substantial number of whom will be underrepresented minorities and/or socioeconomically disadvantaged.