Abstract:
The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) and the Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis)
possess extreme reproductive skew with a single reproductive female responsible for reproduction.
In this review, we synthesize advances made into African mole-rat reproductive patterns and physiology
within the context of the social control of reproduction. Non-reproductive female colony
members have low concentrations of luteinising hormone (LH) and a reduced response of the pituitary
to a challenge with gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH). If the reproductive female
is removed from the colony, an increase in the basal plasma LH and increased pituitary response
to a GnRH challenge arises in the non-reproductive females, suggesting the reproductive female
controls reproduction. Non-reproductive male Damaraland mole-rats have basal LH concentrations
and elevated LH concentrations in response to a GnRH challenge comparable to the breeding
male, but in non-breeding male naked mole-rats, the basal LH concentrations are low and there is
a muted response to a GnRH challenge. This renders these two species ideal models to investigate
physiological, behavioural and neuroendocrine mechanisms regulating the hypothalamic-pituitarygonadal
axis. The recently discovered neuropeptides kisspeptin and RFamide-related peptide-3 are
likely candidates to play an important role in the regulation of reproductive functions in the two
mole-rat species.
