Development of an enzyme immunoassay to measure urinary and faecal 5a-androst-16-en-3-one in pigs

Androstenone, a volatile steroid that possesses pheromonal activity, is responsible for boar taint, sexual interactions, and reproduction in pigs. A wide range of analytical methods has been devel-oped to quantify and detect androstenone in adipose tissue and blood, which are invasive proce-dures. Therefore, the present study aimed to develop a non-invasive method to detect and quantify the androstenone. We produced group-specific polyclonal androstenone antibody to standardize and validate an enzyme immunoassay to measure faecal and urinary androstenone in Yorkshire boars and sows. Parallelism was performed to determine the immunoreactivity between faecal and urinary immunoreactive androstenone and respective antibody. In boars, urinary and faecal androstenone concentrations were higher on the day of mounting and copulation with sows. In sows, we also measured faecal progesterone metabolites to confirm the oestrus and mating. Faecal androstenone concentrations were peaked on the day of oestrus and mating in sows. Our results suggest that androstenone could be detected and quantified in faecal and urine samples of boars and sows. & BULL; Developed an enzyme immunoassay for measuring 5 a-androst-16-en-3-one as a marker of boar taint and sex pheromone in urine and faeces of pigs & BULL; Detection of 5 a-androst-16-en-3-one using a non-invasive method

Automated summary

Developed a non-invasive method to detect and quantify androstenone in faecal and urine samples of pigs using an enzyme immunoassay. Results showed that androstenone could be detected and quantified in faecal and urine samples of pigs.