Parasites, stress and reindeer: infection with abomasal nematodes is not associated with elevated glucocorticoid levels in hair or faeces

Carlsson, Anja M.; Mastromonaco, Gabriela F.; Vandervalk, E.; Kutz, Susan

doi:10.1093/conphys/cow058

Cited by 26 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 85 publications

(124 reference statements)

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“…However, the peak FCM levels were lower when compared to the ACTH challenge test. A study by Carlsson et al [26] found no increase in FCM levels eight hours after handling stress, but their method was not validated for this species. This underlines the importance of performing validation studies in every animal species and validating each method of FCM analysis against baseline values found under practical and representative conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites to Assess Adrenocortical Activity in Reindeer

Özkan

Jørgensen

Eilertsen

et al. 2019

Animals

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Simple SummaryWe validated an 11-oxoaetiocholanolone enzyme immunoassay for measuring faecal cortisol metabolites (FCMs) in reindeer. Samples were collected from eight male reindeer following adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) stimulation and from another group of reindeer during handling and calf marking. The overall FCM levels peaked after seven to eight hours in both locations, proving that the assay is suited to evaluate the adrenocortical activity in reindeer.AbstractSeveral non-invasive methods for assessing stress responses have been developed and validated for many animal species. Due to species-specific differences in metabolism and excretion of stress hormones, methods should be validated for each species. The aim of this study was to conduct a physiological validation of an 11-oxoaetiocholanolone enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for measuring faecal cortisol metabolites (FCMs) in male reindeer by administration of adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH; intramuscular, 0.25 mg per animal). A total of 317 samples were collected from eight male reindeer over a 44 h period at Tverrvatnet in Norway in mid-winter. In addition, 114 samples were collected from a group of reindeer during normal handling and calf marking at Stjernevatn in Norway. Following ACTH injection, FCM levels (median and range) were 568 (268–2415) ng/g after two hours, 2718 (414–8550) ng/g after seven hours and 918 (500–6931) ng/g after 24 h. Levels were significantly higher from seven hours onwards compared to earlier hours (p < 0.001). The FCM levels at Stjernevatn were significantly (p < 0.001) different before (samples collected zero to two hours; median: 479 ng/g) and after calf marking (eight to ten hours; median: 1469 ng/g). Identification of the faecal samples belonging to individual animals was conducted using DNA analysis across time. This study reports a successful validation of a non-invasive technique for measuring stress in reindeer, which can be applied in future studies in the fields of biology, ethology, ecology, animal conservation and welfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites to Assess Adrenocortical Activity in Reindeer

Özkan

Jørgensen

Eilertsen

et al. 2019

Animals

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“…For example, lower probability of survival was associated with higher hair cortisol in grey mouse lemurs ( Microcebus murinus; Rakotoniaina et al., ) as well as higher hair corticosterone in root voles ( Microtus oeconomus ; Książek et al, ). Other studies have used hair cortisol to investigate the effects of social status (Koren & Geffen, ; Koren et al., ), social density (Dettmer, Novak, Meyer, & Suomi, ; Grigg, Nibblett, Robinson, & Smits, ; Salas et al., ), human disturbance (Agnew, Smith, & Fowkes, ; Bourbonnais, Nelson, Cattet, Darimont, & Stenhouse, ; Ewacha, Roth, Anderson, Brannen, & Dupont, ; Fourie et al., ; Lyons, Mastromonaco, Edwards, & Schulte‐Hostedde, ), hunting (Bryan et al., ), diet (Bryan, Darimont, et al, ; Lafferty, Laudenslager, Mowat, Heard, & Belant, ), resource availability (Bryan et al., ), parasitism (Carlsson, Mastromonaco, Vandervalk, & Kutz, ), season (Di Francesco et al., ), and climate variability (Bechshøft et al., ; Fardi, Sauther, Cuozzo, Jacky, & Bernstein, ; Macbeth, Cattet, Obbard, Middel, & Janz, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other studies have used hair cortisol to investigate the effects of social status (Koren & Geffen, 2009;Koren et al, 2006), social density (Dettmer, Novak, Meyer, & Suomi, 2014;Grigg, Nibblett, Robinson, & Smits, 2017;Salas et al, 2016), human disturbance (Agnew, Smith, & Fowkes, 2016;Bourbonnais, Nelson, Cattet, Darimont, & Stenhouse, 2013;Ewacha, Roth, Anderson, Brannen, & Dupont, 2017;Fourie et al, 2015;Lyons, Mastromonaco, Edwards, & Schulte-Hostedde, 2017), hunting (Bryan et al, 2015), diet (Bryan, Darimont, et al, 2013;Lafferty, Laudenslager, Mowat, Heard, & Belant, 2015), resource availability (Bryan et al, 2014), parasitism (Carlsson, Mastromonaco, Vandervalk, & Kutz, 2016), season (Di Francesco et al, 2017), and climate variability (Bechshøft et al, 2013;Fardi, Sauther F I G U R E 1 Procedure for analysis of steroid hormones in hair from wild and domestic animals. Typical steps include (1) initial hair prep (e.g., removal of follicles, sorting guard hairs from underfur), (2) washing (e.g., 1-3× with water and 1-3× with isopropanol), (3) cutting or grinding (optional), (4) weighing hair into a vial, (5) extraction of steroids from hair using a solvent (typically methanol), (6) separation of extract from hair matrix by centrifugation, and (7) analysis using EIA, RIA, or LC-MS/MS.…”

Section: Biological Validations and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards the validation of endogenous steroid testing in wildlife hair

Koren

Bryan

Matas

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Ecology

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1. Hair analysis is emerging as a popular tool to examine stress and reproduction hormone levels in wild mammals. The reliability of this approach, however, depends on an understanding of steroid hormone incorporation into hair as well as appropriate validations.2. We reviewed studies that have examined steroid hormones in wildlife hair with the goal of summarizing the analytical, physiological, and biological evidence that this approach is meaningful. Accordingly, we differentiated among validations aimed at evaluating the reliability of the analytical method versus those designed to assess whether hormone levels in hair reflect physiologically meaningful processes in the target species.3. Our literature survey revealed that endogenous steroids have been examined in hair from 40 species of nonhuman animals across seven mammalian classes.Although the majority (85%) of 72 studies reported analytical validations of the method, physiological validations have only been reported for five species.Moreover, results of physiological validations were inconsistent among studies.This highlights the need for further research, carefully designed to differentiate between the multiple purported models of steroid incorporation into hair in species with different types of hair and different hair growth patterns. 4. To complement our review of published studies, we present new data supporting a positive relationship between levels of the steroid, cortisol, in hair and blood across eight mammalian species. In addition, we present novel results from a laboratory-based study showing variable hair growth in genetically identical laboratory mice that were kept under controlled conditions. 5. Synthesis and applications. Collectively, this Review reveals substantial progress towards the validation of stress hormone assays in hair from a variety of wildlife species. Further validations of reproductive steroids, combined with appropriate physiological validations, would expand the potential applications of hair analyses 548 | Journal of Applied Ecology KOREN Et al.

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“…Environmental factors that affect cortisol levels and body condition of ungulates include parasites, disease, reproductive output, disturbance, habitat quality, weather, climate, starvation and/or injury. Body condition can be negatively related to parasite infection, although the effect size is variable (Carlsson et al , 2016; Sánchez et al , 2018). We did not examine the effect of parasites on body condition on ungulates in our study area, although there was an outbreak of anthrax due to Bacillus anthracis that killed 28 bison in our study area in 2008 (Shury et al , 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…capture and restraint), which can initiate the stress response and alter GC levels (Kersey and Dehnhard, 2014). Minimally invasive methods of GC quantification often use feces, urine, feathers and hair as alternatives (Lafferty et al , 2015; Carlsson et al , 2016; Dantzer et al , 2016; Di Francesco et al , 2017; Seeber et al , 2018). Quantification of fecal GCs has been conducted on a wide range of taxa and provides a measure of stress during the time of gut passage (Bonier et al , 2004; Schwarzenberger, 2007; Kersey and Dehnhard, 2014; Rolland et al , 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic stress and body condition of wolf-killed prey in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan

Shave

Derocher

Cherry

et al. 2019

Conservation Physiology

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Chronic stress and poor body condition can cause adverse physiological and behavioural responses and may make animals more vulnerable to predation. We examined hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and marrow lipid content, as bioindicators of chronic stress and body condition, respectively, of bison (Bison bison bison), moose (Alces alces) and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) killed by wolves (Canis lupus) in Prince Albert National Park (PANP), Saskatchewan, Canada. The Sturgeon River plains bison population in PANP is one of only a few wild populations of plains bison in their historical range in Canada and has experienced a decline of around 50% since 2005. We expected wolf-killed bison to have elevated HCC compared to human-harvested bison and that there would be a negative relationship between HCC and marrow lipids among wolf-killed animals. We compared HCC between different mortality sources for bison (wolf-killed n = 20 or human-harvested n = 23) and found that HCC was significantly elevated in wolf-killed bison (̄ = 7.56 ± 1.35 pg/mg). We found that HCC, species, sex and snow depth were all significant predictor variables of marrow lipid content of bison (n = 14), moose (n = 11) and deer (n = 27). Bison displayed the strongest negative correlation between HCC and marrow lipid content (r2 = 0.31). Our results suggest that chronic stress and poor body condition make prey more vulnerable to predation by wolves. HCC and marrow lipid content can provide reliable indicators of the physiological response of animals to stressors and may provide information on expected predator success that can be used to predict predator population dynamics.

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Parasites, stress and reindeer: infection with abomasal nematodes is not associated with elevated glucocorticoid levels in hair or faeces

Cited by 26 publications

References 85 publications

Measuring Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites to Assess Adrenocortical Activity in Reindeer

Measuring Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites to Assess Adrenocortical Activity in Reindeer

Towards the validation of endogenous steroid testing in wildlife hair

Chronic stress and body condition of wolf-killed prey in Prince Albert National Park, Saskatchewan

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