Oxidative stress as an indicator of the costs of reproduction among free-ranging rhesus macaques.

ABSTRACT: Sex differences in longevity may reflect sex-specific costs of intra-sexual competition and reproductive effort. As male rhesus macaques experience greater intrasexual competition and die younger, we predicted that males would experience greater oxidative stress than females and that oxidative stress would reflect sex-specific measures of reproductive effort. Males, relative to females, had higher concentrations of 8-OHdG and malondialdehyde, which are markers of DNA oxidative damage and lipid peroxidation, respectively. Older macaques had lower 8-OHdG levels than younger ones, suggesting that oxidative stress decreases in parallel with known age-related declines in reproductive investment. Among males, a recent period of social instability affected oxidative status: males who attacked oth

SUBMITTER: Georgiev AV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4510843 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature