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Mounting an immune response correlates with decreased androgen levels in male peafowl, Pavo cristatus

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Abstract

Studies testing the “immunocompetence handicap hypothesis” have focussed on the immunosuppressive effects of androgens. Several recent studies have reported that mounting a humoral immune response might also result in a decrease in circulating androgen levels via a “negative feedback” on the hypothalamus–pituitary–gonadal axis (HPG). The aim of this correlative study was to analyse these immunosuppressive and HPG-suppressive interactions in reproductively active males of the peafowl. We collected blood samples of free living birds before and after challenging the immune system with a non-pathogenic antigen (sheep erythrocytes), and analysed immune parameters and plasma levels of the two main androgens in birds, testosterone and dihydrotestosterone. Males displaying larger versions of the main secondary sexual trait, the long and conspicuously ornamented train, tended to have higher androgen levels and significantly lower circulating levels of leukocytes, indicating that exaggerated ornaments might signal properties of the endocrine and immune system. Actual circulating levels of androgens did not correlate with the plasma levels of leukocytes and the antibody response to SRBC. However, changes in plasma levels of both androgens showed negative correlation with both leukocytes (P < 0.1) and SRBC responses (P < 0.05). The data therefore support the prediction that activity of the immune system is HPG-suppressive. Such suppression has been proposed to be especially costly during the reproductive season, during which androgens facilitate the expression of exaggerated traits that play an important role in sexual competition.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the administration of the “Jardim da Estrela” in Lisbon and the “Parque Marechal Carmona” in Cascais for kindly helping us during the study. We are grateful to Lynn Erckmann for expert help with the hormone assays, and to Dr. Maria da Luz Ferreira and Dr. Eugénia Rebelo of LNIV of the Ministry of Agriculture, Portugal, for carrying out the immunological assays. We further thank the reviewers and Dr. Yoshitaka Tsubaki for their constructive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. During this study AFHR was supported by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, SFRH/BPD/7143/2001). The research was further supported by FCT’s Plurianual Program to AFHR (R&D Unit 331/94), and a grant (IBN-9905679) from the National Science Foundation to JCW. The procedures used in this study comply with the Principles of Animal Care, publication No. 86–23, revised 1985, from the National Institutes of Health, USA, and with the current laws of Portugal.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unidade de Investigação em Eco-Etologia, Instituto Superior de Psicologia Aplicada, Rua Jardim do Tabaco 34, 1149-041, Lisbon, Portugal

    Albert F. H. Ros, Maria Correia & Rui F. Oliveira

  2. Department of Biology, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351800, Seattle, WA, 98195-1800, USA

    John C. Wingfield

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  1. Albert F. H. Ros
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  2. Maria Correia
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  3. John C. Wingfield
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  4. Rui F. Oliveira
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Correspondence to Albert F. H. Ros.

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Ros, A.F.H., Correia, M., Wingfield, J.C. et al. Mounting an immune response correlates with decreased androgen levels in male peafowl, Pavo cristatus . J Ethol 27, 209–214 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-008-0105-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10164-008-0105-0

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