期刊
ANIMAL BIOLOGY
卷 62, 期 4, 页码 419-432出版社
BRILL ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS
DOI: 10.1163/157075612X642914
关键词
ACTH challenge; enzyme immunoassay; European badger; faecal cortisol metabolites; sample collection; sample storage
类别
资金
- Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation [CGL-2005-07681/BOS]
- FPU grant (Spanish Ministry of Education)
- FPI grant (Spanish Ministry of Science)
Due to the increasing demand for methods to quantify adrenal activity in response to stressors in wild animals, we evaluated whether stimulation with adrenocorticopic hormone (ACTH) increases faecal cortisol metabolite levels in European badgers. We also conducted several experiments to evaluate the effect of storage time and collection methods on cortisol metabolite levels of faecal samples. Faecal samples were collected from five captive European badgers (Metes meles) and cortisol metabolites were quantified by an enzyme immunoassay. Faecal cortisol metabolite levels increased 1-2 days after ACTH injection and dropped to pre-treatment levels 3 days after ACTH stimulation. We found that cortisol metabolic levels were not affected by the 8-hour time lapse from collection in the field until freezing of faecal samples, environmental exposure (temperature 25.66 +/- 2.55 degrees C; range 21.20-32.20) or mean relative humidity 62.77 +/- 9.90% (range 42.00-79.00). Cortisol metabolites were not homogenously distributed in the scats. Cortisol metabolite levels were significantly lower when faecal extracts and samples were frozen for long periods of time (14 weeks or more). Thus, the measurement of faecal cortisol metabolites is a suitable method for the non-invasive evaluation of adrenocortical activity in European badgers. However, some aspects related to the collection and storage of faecal samples should be considered in future studies conducted with this species.
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