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【medical-news】母亲传递疾病给后代
The study provides the first evidence for a transgenerational effect on immune response based on environmental cues — with maternal perception of disease risk in the immediate environment potentially determining offspring disease resistance and social dominance.
The results are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Pregnant female mice were housed next to males infected with Babesia microti, which is a mild blood parasite causing few symptoms, but some anaemia. The partitioned cages allowed the females to see, hear and smell their infected neighbours, but not touch them, ensuring that the disease did not spread. Researchers then measured the effect of these ‘ambient cues’ on maternal physiology and behaviour, along with the social behaviour and immune response to disease challenge in the adult offspring.
The dams (female mice that had given birth) were found to have increased blood serum levels of corticosterone after being housed next to the infected males — double the amount found in dams housed next to a control group of males that were not infected. Corticosterone is a stress hormone known to have effects on foetal and new-born development.
The offspring of the dams exposed to infected neighbours were significantly less aggressive as adults than the control group offspring. In the final part of the experiment, all offspring were infected with B microti to see if the ambient exposure affected their immunity. The offspring which had developed in the diseased environment showed an earlier onset, peak and clearance of the infection than the offspring from the control dams.
The research group in the University’s School of Biology have studied many populations of mice, and noted that aggression is associated with social dominance and territory acquisition — and consequently increased access to mating opportunities. However, studies in a wide range of species have shown that the benefits of aggressive behaviour are counter balanced by reduced resistance to disease. The results of this new study support the existence of a ‘trade off’ between social dominance and disease resistance.
“It seems that the mothers in our study are priming offspring for the environment they will live in. When the risk of disease is high, improved immunity may outweigh any costs associated with reduced social dominance.” said Dr Olivia Curno, who led the research funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
“It is unlikely that mice are the only species with this fascinating ability. Therefore our work may have important implications for our understanding of epidemiological processes and individual disease susceptibility in general. Future investigation should explore exactly how the females detect disease in their neighbours and use this information so cleverly.”
http://www.mphtimes.com/us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2249:mothers-pass-on-disease-clues-to-offspring&catid=80:descendiblity&Itemid=151 本人已认领该文编译，48小时后若未提交译文，请其他战友自由认领。 When there is a threat of disease during pregnancy, mothers produce less aggressive sons with more efficient immune systems, researchers at The University of Nottingham have discovered.
诺丁汉大学的研究人员发现，怀孕期间经历某种疾病威胁的母亲，生下的孩子攻击性较弱但具有更有效的免疫系统。
The study provides the first evidence for a transgenerational effect on immune response based on environmental cues — with maternal perception of disease risk in the immediate environment potentially determining offspring disease resistance and social dominance.
这项研究首次给出了环境因素对免疫应答的跨代影响—母亲对直接的环境潜在的疾病危险的感知决定了其后代的疾病抵抗力和社会优势。
The results are published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
（这项研究）结果发表在Proceedings of the Royal Society B。
Pregnant female mice were housed next to males infected with Babesia microti, which is a mild blood parasite causing few symptoms, but some anaemia. The partitioned cages allowed the females to see, hear and smell their infected neighbours, but not touch them, ensuring that the disease did not spread. Researchers then measured the effect of these ‘ambient cues’ on maternal physiology and behaviour, along with the social behaviour and immune response to disease challenge in the adult offspring.
把怀孕母鼠饲养在感染了果氏巴贝虫的雄鼠隔壁，果氏巴贝虫是一种血寄生虫，它不产生明显的症状，但导致某种程度的贫血。使用分段的笼子，使得母鼠能看见、听见和嗅到她们被感染的邻居们，但不会接触他们，确保这种疾病不会被传播扩散。然后研究者观测环境因素对母鼠生理学和行为学的影响，以及她们成年后代的社会行为和对疾病威胁的免疫反应。
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作者:admin@医学,生命科学 2011-09-18 05:11
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