We tested the winter immunity enhancement hypothesis (WIEH) on male desert hamsters (Phodopus roborovskii) kept under long‐day (LD) and short‐day (SD) photoperiods. We assumed that under SD in a laboratory, the adaptive humoral immune responsiveness to the antigenic challenge would be enhanced due to the lack of winter physical stressors and food shortages and/or because of the action of an endogenous winter bolstering mechanism, while under LD the immune responsiveness would be suppressed by the activity of the reproductive system. The results support the WIEH in part. We did not find a difference in antibody production in response to sheep erythrocytes between SD and LD hamsters, but SD males had the lower number of granulocytes and the higher number of lymphocytes in white blood cell counts. Reproductive activity was lower in SD males. These males demonstrated an increase in their mass‐specific resting metabolic rate, their mass‐specific maximal metabolic rate and their level of cortisol. The result of a generalized linear model analysis indicates the negative effect on secondary immunoresponsiveness to sheep erythrocytes of mid‐ventral gland size, the organ characterizing individual reproductive quality, and designates a tradeoff between antibody production and reproductive effort. The mass‐independent maximal metabolic rate also negatively affected antibody production, indicating a tradeoff between maximal aerobic performance and the adaptive immune function. The higher stress in SD males seems to be the most likely reason for the lack of the effect of daylight duration on antibody production.

中文翻译：

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在冬季增强适应性体液免疫：在长期和短期光周期下的沙漠仓鼠（Phodopus roborovskii：Cricetidae，Rodentia）进行假设检验。

我们测试了雄性沙漠仓鼠（Phodopus roborovskii的冬季免疫增强假说（WIEH））保持在长日（LD）和短日（SD）光周期下。我们假设在SD下的实验室中，由于缺乏冬季物理应激源和食物短缺和/或由于内源性冬季支持机制的作用，对抗原性挑战的适应性体液免疫反应性将得到增强，而在LD下，生殖系统的活动会抑制免疫反应。结果部分支持了WIEH。我们没有发现SD和LD仓鼠在应答绵羊红细胞时抗体产生的差异，但是SD雄性白细胞计数中的粒细胞数量较少，而淋巴细胞数量较高。SD男性的生殖活动较低。这些男性表现出特定质量的静息代谢率增加，它们的质量特异性最大代谢率和皮质醇水平。广义线性模型分析的结果表明，对腹中部大小的绵羊红细胞的继发免疫反应具有负面影响，该器官表征个体生殖质量，并在抗体生产和生殖努力之间进行权衡。不依赖于质量的最大代谢率也对抗体的产生产生负面影响，这表明在最大有氧性能和适应性免疫功能之间进行权衡。SD雄性的较高压力似乎是缺乏日光持续时间对抗体产生影响的最可能原因。广义线性模型分析的结果表明，对腹中部大小的绵羊红细胞的继发免疫反应具有负面影响，该器官表征个体生殖质量，并在抗体生产和生殖努力之间进行权衡。不依赖于质量的最大代谢率也对抗体的产生产生负面影响，这表明在最大有氧性能和适应性免疫功能之间进行权衡。SD雄性的较高压力似乎是缺乏日光持续时间对抗体产生影响的最可能原因。广义线性模型分析的结果表明，对腹中部大小的绵羊红细胞的继发免疫反应具有负面影响，该器官表征个体生殖质量，并在抗体生产和生殖努力之间进行权衡。不依赖于质量的最大代谢率也对抗体的产生产生负面影响，这表明在最大有氧性能和适应性免疫功能之间进行权衡。SD雄性的较高压力似乎是缺乏日光持续时间对抗体产生影响的最可能原因。不依赖于质量的最大代谢率也会对抗体产生产生负面影响，这表明最大有氧性能和适应性免疫功能之间需要权衡。SD雄性的较高压力似乎是缺乏日光持续时间对抗体产生影响的最可能原因。不依赖于质量的最大代谢率也会对抗体产生产生负面影响，这表明最大有氧性能和适应性免疫功能之间需要权衡。SD雄性的较高压力似乎是缺乏日光持续时间对抗体产生影响的最可能原因。