Linked Life Data

14640404

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/14640404

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6
pubmed:dateCreated
2003-11-26
pubmed:abstractText
Performance of animals may decline with age. The effects of senescence, however, may differ between the sexes because of differences in physiology and behaviour. Acquired immunity provides hosts with efficient mechanisms of anti-parasite defence, but the effect of senescence on immunocompetence has never been studied in natural populations. In the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica), primary antibody response to an antigen during one breeding season declined with age in females, while secondary response during the following breeding season declined with age in both sexes. Parasite-mediated sexual selection theory posits that male secondary sexual characters reveal resistance to parasites. Males with large tail ornaments had stronger primary response, retained larger antibody levels until the following year, but did not differ in secondary response compared with short-tailed males, as predicted if ornamentation reflects resistance to parasites. This is the first study showing that immunocompetence declines with age in any vertebrate under natural conditions.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Nov
pubmed:issn
1010-061X
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
16
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1127-34
pubmed:dateRevised
2007-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2003
pubmed:articleTitle
Humoral immune response in relation to senescence, sex and sexual ornamentation in the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica).
pubmed:affiliation
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milano, Italy. nicola.saino@unimi.it
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article