Bennett, Nigel CharlesFaulkes, Christopher G.Voigt, Cornelia2023-04-052023-04-052022-11-04Bennett, N.C.; Faulkes, C.G.; Voigt, C. Socially Induced Infertility in Naked and Damaraland Mole-Rats: A Tale of Two Mechanisms of Social Suppression. Animals 2022, 12, 3039. https://DOI.org/10.3390/ani12213039.2076-2615 (online)10.3390/ani12213039http://hdl.handle.net/2263/90384The 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.en© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.NeuroendocrineBehaviourBehaviorPhysiologyHormonesBathyergidsNaked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber)Damaraland mole-rat (Fukomys damarensis)Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH)Luteinising hormoneArticle