Long-Term Monitoring of Fecal Steroid Hormones in Female Snow Leopards (Panthera uncia) during Pregnancy or Pseudopregnancy

Abstract

Knowledge of the basic reproductive physiology of snow leopards is required urgently in order to develop a suitable management conditions under captivity. In this study, the long-term monitoring of concentrations of three steroid hormones in fecal matter of three female snow leopards was performed using enzyme immunoassays: (1) estradiol-17β, (2) progesterone and (3) cortisol metabolite. Two of the female animals were housed with a male during the winter breeding season, and copulated around the day the estradiol-17β metabolite peaked subsequently becoming pregnant. The other female was treated in two different ways: (1) first housed with a male in all year round and then (2) in the winter season only. She did not mate with him on the first occasion, but did so latter around when estradiol-17β metabolite peaked, and became pseudopregnant. During pregnancy, progesterone metabolite concentrations increased for 92 or 94 days, with this period being approximately twice as long as in the pseudopregnant case (31, 42, 49 and 53 days). The levels of cortisol metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (1.35 µg/g) were significantly higher than in the pregnant females (0.33 and 0.24 µg/g) (P<0.05). Similarly, during the breeding season, the levels of estradiol-17β metabolite in the pseudopregnant female (2.18 µg/g) were significantly higher than those in the pregnant females (0.81 and 0.85 µg/g) (P<0.05). Unlike cortisol the average levels of estradiol-17β during the breeding season were independent of reproductive success.The hormone levels may also be related to housing conditions and the resulting reproductive success in female leopards. The female housed with a male during the non-breeding season had high levels of cortisol metabolites and low levels of estradiol-17β in the breeding season, and failed to become pregnant. This indicates that housing conditions in snow leopards may be an important factor for normal endocrine secretion and resulting breeding success.

Faecal cortisol metabolites in Bengal (Panthera tigris tigris) and Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris sumatrae)

“…This could be due to the female's reproductive hormone cycles since cyclic fluctuations of oestrogen and progesterone could influence the expression of FCM [38]. The reproductive and stress hormonal axes are tightly linked and the variation in corticosteroids could reflect the different phases of reproduction such as oestrous, gestation, lactation [21]. Most likely, it is the increased metabolic demands associated with reproduction that could drive the variation in FCM concentrations in females since cortisol is a metabolic hormone [48].…”

Detection of pregnancy and fertility status in big cats using an enzyme immunoassay based on 5α-pregnan-3α-ol-20-one

“…Furthermore, ELISA has more advantages for the analysis of many samples. In the last two decades, ELISAs have been developed for monitoring fecal steroid metabolites in a variety of animals [9,7,10,15,[17][18][19]22,[29][30][31][32]. Studies have also indicated that different species excrete different metabolites of the same parent steroid compound due to changes in metabolism and excretion pattern [11,26].…”

Aquagrams of Raw Milk for Oestrus Detection in Dairy Cows

“…Separated blood serum samples were stored frozen (−20°C) until enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test on P 4 was performed according to the modified method described by Kinoshita et al. (), without dilution.…”