小柯机器人

美国密歇根大学Michael D. Cherney等研究人员发现，来自象牙的睾酮历史显示长毛猛犸象的发情阶段。相关论文于2023年5月3日在线发表于国际学术期刊《自然》。

研究人员使用液相色谱与串联质谱法，结合精细的连续采样，来测量了现代和化石牙本质中的类固醇激素浓度。成年雄性非洲象（Loxodonta africana）的象牙显示出睾酮的周期性增加，显示出发情的发作，这是一个每年重复发生的行为和生理变化的时期，可以提高交配成功率。对一只雄性长毛象（Mammuthus primigenius）牙的平行评估表明，长毛象也经历了发情。这些结果为利用保存在牙本质中的类固醇来研究现代和已灭绝哺乳动物的发育、繁殖和压力的广泛研究提供了条件。由于牙本质通过贴合生长，抗退化，并且经常包含生长线，因此牙齿比其他组织有优势，可以作为内分泌数据的记录。鉴于分析精度所需牙本质粉末的量很低，研究人员预计牙本质-激素研究将扩展到更小的动物。因此，除了在动物学和古生物学中的广泛应用外，牙齿的激素记录可以支持医学、法医学、兽医和考古学研究。

据介绍，生物介质中的激素显示了与发育、繁殖、疾病和压力有关的不同时间尺度的内分泌活动。血清提供了即时的循环浓度，而各种组织则记录了随着时间推移积累的类固醇激素。人们对现代和古代背景下的角质、骨骼和牙齿中的激素进行了研究；然而，这种记录的生物学意义一直存在争议，而且与牙齿相关的激素的效用以前没有被证明。

附：英文原文

Title: Testosterone histories from tusks reveal woolly mammoth musth episodes

Author: Cherney, Michael D., Fisher, Daniel C., Auchus, Richard J., Rountrey, Adam N., Selcer, Perrin, Shirley, Ethan A., Beld, Scott G., Buigues, Bernard, Mol, Dick, Boeskorov, Gennady G., Vartanyan, Sergey L., Tikhonov, Alexei N.

Issue&Volume: 2023-05-03

Abstract: Hormones in biological media reveal endocrine activity related to development, reproduction, disease and stress on different timescales1. Serum provides immediate circulating concentrations2, whereas various tissues record steroid hormones accumulated over time3,4. Hormones have been studied in keratin, bones and teeth in modern5,6,7,8 and ancient contexts9,10,11,12; however, the biological significance of such records is subject to ongoing debate10,13,14,15,16, and the utility of tooth-associated hormones has not previously been demonstrated. Here we use liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry paired with fine-scale serial sampling to measure steroid hormone concentrations in modern and fossil tusk dentin. An adult male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) tusk shows periodic increases in testosterone that reveal episodes of musth17,18,19, an annually recurring period of behavioural and physiological changes that enhance mating success20,21,22,23. Parallel assessments of a male woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) tusk show that mammoths also experienced musth. These results set the stage for wide-ranging studies using steroids preserved in dentin to investigate development, reproduction and stress in modern and extinct mammals. Because dentin grows by apposition, resists degradation, and often contains growth lines, teeth have advantages over other tissues that are used as records of endocrine data. Given the low mass of dentin powder required for analytical precision, we anticipate dentin-hormone studies to extend to smaller animals. Thus, in addition to broad applications in zoology and palaeontology, tooth hormone records could support medical, forensic, veterinary and archaeological studies.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06020-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06020-9

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504
官方网址：http://www.nature.com/
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