First published online March 21, 2005
Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 1287-1295 (2005)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2005
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01531
Androgen control of immunocompetence in the male house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus Müller
Pierre Deviche* and
Luis Cortez
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
85287-4501, USA

View larger version (13K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 1. Standard curve of the ELISA assay used to measure plasma testosterone (T)
concentrations (filled circles). The curve represents the percentage T bound
to the antibody (B/B0x102) as a function of the T
concentration added to the assay well. The graph also shows the curve obtained
by assaying T in a house finch plasma sample at various dilutions (open
circles). Each point represents one assay well.
|
|

View larger version (14K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 2. Plasma testosterone (T) concentrations (median ±0.5 interquartile
intervals), widths of the cloacal protuberance (CP; id.) and body masses (mean
± S.D.) of adult male house finches as a function of time
after the beginning of T administration on Day 0. *Indicates a
significant difference (StudentNewmanKeuls test,
P<0.05) between T-treated (filled circles; N=10) and
control (open circles; N=10) males.
|
|

View larger version (15K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 3. (A) Humoral immunity (plasma heterologous antibody concentration measured
as the number of plate wells with hemagglutination; means + S.D.)
in control (white columns; N=10) and testosterone-(T) treated (black
columns; N=10) adult male house finches five (D39) and 21 (D55) days
after the fourth injection of antigen (washed sheep red blood cells). Samples
were collected 39 (D39) and 55 (D55) days after initiation of the T or control
treatment. *Indicates a significant (P<0.05) difference
between two groups (StudentNewmanKeuls test). (B) Cell-mediated
immunity (difference in wing web thickness from day 63; medians ±0.5
interquartile intervals) measured one (D64), two (D65) and three (D66) days
after one local injection of phytohemaglutinin to testosterone-treated (filled
circles) and control (open circles) males. *Indicates a
statistically significant difference between C and T males.
#Indicates a difference between time points within a same group.
See legend of A for additional comments.
|
|

View larger version (16K):
[in a new window]
|
Fig. 4. Number of lymphocytes (medians ±0.5 interquartile intervals) per
1000 erythrocytes counted on stained thin blood smears of adult male house
finches treated with testosterone-filled (black circles; N=10) or
control (white circles; N=10) Silastic capsules. Capsules were
implanted on Day 0. All birds received one weekly injection of sheep red blood
cells for 4 weeks starting on Day 13.
|
|

CiteULike
Complore
Connotea
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Technorati
Twitter What's this?
© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2005