Limits to using HPA axis activity as an indication of animal welfare

Otovic, Pete; Hutchinson, Eric K.

doi:10.14573/altex.1406161

Cited by 52 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…Arguments for the utility of cognitive bias over other (physiological and behavioral) measures are diverse (Paul, Harding, & Mendl 2005;Otovic & Hutchinson, 2015;cf. Wemelsfelder, 1997).…”

Section: Why Is Judgement Bias Important?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reviews of cognitive theories of emotion present the rationale for using cognitive bias measures and discuss limitations and future directions (Mellor, 2015;Mendl et al, 2009;Otovic & Hutchinson, 2015;Paul et al, 2005). ; for earlier discussion see Mendl et al, 2009;Paul et al, 2005); expectancy biases -akin to optimism and pessimism regarding future events (rats: van der Harst, Baars & Spruijt, 2003), and reward sensitivity -susceptibility to despondency following loss or failure (rats: Burman et al, 2008b).…”

Section: Resources and Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare

Bethell

2015

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

121

130

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“…Arguments for the utility of cognitive bias over other (physiological and behavioral) measures are diverse (Paul, Harding, & Mendl 2005;Otovic & Hutchinson, 2015;cf. Wemelsfelder, 1997).…”

Section: Why Is Judgement Bias Important?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resources and Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare

Bethell

2015

Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

121

130

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Instead, the studied populations can associate micro‐adaptations (e.g., significant genetic differentiation among populations), different trajectory in life‐history strategies (Chamaillé‐Jammes et al., ; Dupoué, Rutschmann, Le Galliard, Clobert, et al., ; Rutschmann et al., ), which might explain some variations in corticosterone levels between populations. Besides, we must acknowledge that baseline corticosterone alone may not always correlate with individual stress and animal welfare (Otovic & Hutchinson, ). Instead, the acute GC response to a stressor following a standard capture–restrain process or the capacity to recover from such stress response represent complementary indicators of GC secretion that might better predict reproduction and/or survival rate than baseline levels (Blas, Bortolotti, Tella, Baos, & Marchant, ; Romero & Wikelski, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduction in baseline corticosterone secretion correlates with climate warming and drying across wild lizard populations

Dupoué

Rutschmann

Galliard

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Climate change should lead to massive loss of biodiversity in most taxa, but the detailed physiological mechanisms underlying population extinction remain largely elusive so far. In vertebrates, baseline levels of hormones such as glucocorticoids (GCs) may be indicators of population state as their secretion to chronic stress can impair survival and reproduction. However, the relationship between GC secretion, climate change and population extinction risk remains unclear. In this study, we investigated whether levels of baseline corticosterone (the main GCs in reptiles) correlate with environmental conditions and associated extinction risk across wild populations of the common lizard Zootoca vivipara. First, we performed a cross-sectional comparison of baseline corticosterone levels along an altitudinal gradient among 14 populations. Then, we used a longitudinal study in eight populations to examine the changes in corticosterone levels following the exposure to a heatwave period. Unexpectedly, baseline corticosterone decreased with increasing thermal conditions at rest in females and was not correlated with extinction risk. In addition, baseline corticosterone levels decreased after exposure to an extreme heatwave period. This seasonal corticosterone decrease was more pronounced in populations without access to standing water. We suggest that low basal secretion of corticosterone may entail downregulating activity levels and limit exposure to adverse climatic conditions, especially to reduce water loss. These new insights suggest that rapid population decline might be preceded by a downregulation of the corticosterone secretion.

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“…Glucocorticoids affect metabolism, growth, reproduction, and resource allocation (Breuner et al, 2013). Cortisol is also an established marker to assess hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activation (Otovic and Hutchinson, 2015). Although specific proteins binding cortisol affecting the circulating pool of bioactive free cortisol (FC) in plasma have been described (as reviewed in Breuner and Orchinik, 2002), analytic methods are inconsistent and data on a more profound analysis of cortisol fractions is scarce.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Free and bound cortisol in plasma and saliva during ACTH challenge in dairy cows and horses

Schwinn

Sauer

Gerber

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Science

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Cortisol levels reflect hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity. While most plasma cortisol is supposed to be bound to the soluble corticosteroid-binding globulin (CBG), only free cortisol (FC) actively regulates metabolic and immunological processes. We aimed to establish a multispecies suitable method to assess FC in cows and horses which in combination with total cortisol (TC) allows interpreting proportional changes of cortisol in saliva as well as in blood in response to a standardized HPA axis activation via ACTH. We further investigated if the ratios of cortisol fractions as obtained at basal levels in healthy horses (herbivorous and monogastric) and dairy cows (herbivorous and ruminant) change during HPA axis activation, and to which extent saliva cortisol (SC) is representative for alterations in plasma FC and adrenal cortex reactivity. However, it was not the objective of the present study to directly compare the two species. Dosages of ACTH applied in cows and horses were based on published data. Synthetic ACTH was intravenously administered to eight dairy cows (0.16 µg/kg BW) and five horses (1 µg/kg BW). Blood and saliva were collected every 30 min for 3 h from a jugular vein catheter, and analyzed for TC and SC, the ratio of free cortisol (rFC), and the concentration of FC (cFC) in plasma. During the entire sampling period of the ACTH test, plasma TC was paralleled by blood cFC, rFC, and SC in both cows and horses. All cortisol fractions increased within 30 min of ACTH administration compared to basal values (0 min, P < 0.05). Peak TC concentration reached 63.2 ± 9.6 ng/mL and 73.2 ± 11.8 ng/mL in bovine and equine plasma, respectively. Peak values of rFC averaged 17.9 ± 4.5% in cows and 19.2 ± 7.8% in horses. The ratio of SC to cFC in horses remained similar during the ACTH challenge suggesting that SC is recruited from plasma FC. However, SC increased less compared to plasma TC and FC during HPA axis activation in cows. In conclusion, the short-term activation of the HPA axis caused not only an elevation of TC, but also a similar increase of rFC in both species. SC closely reflected changes of FC in horses, but less accurately in cows. The concomitant evaluation of changes among cortisol fractions might give further indications on adaptation mechanisms in glucocorticoid regulation as well as differentiate cortisol-related health disorders.

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Limits to using HPA axis activity as an indication of animal welfare

Cited by 52 publications

References 80 publications

A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare

A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare

Reduction in baseline corticosterone secretion correlates with climate warming and drying across wild lizard populations

Free and bound cortisol in plasma and saliva during ACTH challenge in dairy cows and horses

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