Food Restriction and Refeeding Have No Effect on Cellular and Humoral Immunity in Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus)

Abstract Small mammals in the temperate area often face fluctuations in food availability. Changes in food availability may have a great influence on an animals’ immunity, which is important to their survival. We tested the hypothesis that cellular and humoral immunitywould be suppressed by food restriction and restored to control levels by refeeding in Mongolian gerbilsMeriones unguiculatus. Forty adult male gerbilswere randomly divided into food-restricted (80% of baseline food intake) and food ad lib. groups. Similarly, another 40 adult male gerbilswere also randomly assigned to two groups: a group for which food was restricted for 36 d and then provided ad lib. and a group that was continuously fed ad lib. Half of the gerbilsin each group were injected with phytohemagglutinin(PHA) and keyhole limpet hemocyaninsolution to assess cellular and humoral immunity, respectively; the others were injected with sterile saline as control groups. Food-restricted gerbilshad significantly lower body mass, b...