The development of an immunoassay to measure immunoglobulin A in Asian elephant feces, saliva, urine and serum as a potential biomarker of well-being

Edwards, Katie L.; Bansiddhi, Pakkanut; Paris, Stephen; Galloway, Marie; Brown, Janine L.

doi:10.1093/conphys/coy077

Cited by 30 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…The fecal ball was mixed by hand and two ~20 g subsamples were placed into two zip-lock plastic bags and frozen at −20 °C for separate GC and IgA extraction processes. Saliva was collected using a Salivette ® kit (Sarstedt Inc., Newton, NC, USA) [ 16 , 24 ] by wiping a synthetic swab inside the buccal area for 30–60 s; collection was complete within 5 min or less. The mahout used food to get the elephant to open its mouth so the sample collector could swipe the mouth with a gloved hand, and rewarded it after collection was complete.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, immunoglobulin A (IgA) has been proposed as a novel biomarker for welfare assessments of wildlife species [ 21 , 22 , 23 ], including Asian elephants [ 16 , 24 ]. IgA is the primary immune protein in humoral mucosal immunity as first-line mucosal protection against pathogens [ 25 ] and is an indicator of health and immune function [ 25 , 26 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IgA is the primary immune protein in humoral mucosal immunity as first-line mucosal protection against pathogens [ 25 ] and is an indicator of health and immune function [ 25 , 26 ]. In one Asian elephant, IgA was significantly elevated in association with a systemic illness [ 24 ]. However, in other species, increased IgA was also observed in response to positive stimuli, like environmental enrichment [ 25 ], and relaxing activities like watching movies, lying down, and massage [ 27 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, measures of IgA may be useful in determining how animals respond to different types (positive or negative) and durations (acute or chronic) of stressful stimuli, both intrinsic and extrinsic [ 16 , 25 ]. Furthermore, combining the two indices could provide more robust interpretations of findings from welfare studies [ 24 ]. For example, inverse relationships between GC and IgA have been found in several species [ 21 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], so examining GC to IgA ratios might be even more informative.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, inverse relationships between GC and IgA have been found in several species [ 21 , 29 , 30 , 31 ], so examining GC to IgA ratios might be even more informative. Both biomarkers can be measured non-invasively in feces and saliva [ 16 , 24 , 25 ], which adds to their utility by avoiding unintentional stress due to blood draws [ 9 , 25 , 32 ], but more work is needed to determine how they function in the stress response of elephants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Tourist Activities on Fecal and Salivary Glucocorticoids and Immunoglobulin A in Female Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

Kosaruk

Brown

Plangsangmas

et al. 2020

Animals

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Asian elephants have been an important part of wildlife ecotourism in Thailand for over two decades. Elephants in tourist camps are exposed to a variety of management styles and daily activities that can potentially affect health and welfare. This study investigated relationships between a novel welfare biomarker, immunoglobulin A (IgA), and daily camp activities, and compared results to glucocorticoid (GC) measures. Often no-riding camps are portrayed as providing better welfare than camps that offer riding. Therefore, we predicted that elephants at no-riding camps would have lower GC and higher IgA concentrations, and a low GC/IgA ratio. Forty-four female elephants from six elephant camps were divided into three groups based on riding activities: saddle-riding, bareback-riding, and no-riding. Fecal and salivary samples were collected monthly for 1 year along with evaluations of body condition, foot health, and wounding. Camp environment and management varied among camps, although the major difference was in riding activities. Concentrations of GCs and IgA varied among the working groups, but not always consistently between sample matrices. Overall fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations were lowest in the saddle-riding group. Only in one bareback-riding camp did the elephants exhibit a potentially positive welfare response with a low GC/IgA ratio over time. Other results varied between the two biomarkers, with considerable variability across camps, suggesting there is more to good welfare than whether elephants participate in riding or not. Several other human-induced stressors, like chaining, ankus use, and limited social opportunities are likely to be impacting well-being and should be considered to ensure management practices meet physical and psychological welfare needs.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Effect of Tourist Activities on Fecal and Salivary Glucocorticoids and Immunoglobulin A in Female Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

Kosaruk

Brown

Plangsangmas

et al. 2020

Animals

Self Cite

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Responsiveness of fecal immunoglobulin A to HPA‐axis activation limits its use for mucosal immunity assessment

Behringer

Müller‐Klein

Strübe

et al. 2021

American J Primatol

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The assessment of mucosal immunity as a component of animal health is an important aspect for the understanding of variation in host immunity, and its tradeoff against other life‐history traits. We investigated immunoglobulin A (IgA), the major type of antibody associated with mucosal immunity, in relation to changes in parasitic burden following anthelminthic treatment in noninvasively collected fecal samples in a semi‐free ranging group of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). We measured IgA in 340 fecal samples of fourteen females and nine males. As IgA has been found to be responsive to stressors, we also related fecal IgA (fIgA) levels to fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM) measured in the same samples as part of a previous study. We found a high variability within and between individual fIgA levels over time. Running generalized additive mixed models, we found that fIgA levels were higher in males than in females, but did not change in response to the anthelmintic treatment and the resulting reduction in worm burden. Instead, fIgA level changes were significantly correlated to changes in fGCM levels. Our findings indicate that due to the strong responsiveness of fIgA to HPA‐axis activity, the measurement of fIgA may have certain limitations with respect to reflecting gastrointestinal parasitic burden. Moreover, the responsiveness of fIgA to stressors interferes with the interpretation of IgA levels in fecal samples as a measure of mucosal immunity, at least in our study population of the Barbary macaques.

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Urinary cytokine measurements do not reflect surgery‐induced inflammation in rhesus macaques

Higham

Cooper

Whalen

et al. 2023

American J Primatol

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Measurement of the health and disease status of free-ranging primates is often limited by a lack of available biomarkers of immune activation and inflammation that can be applied noninvasively via the measurement of urine or fecal samples. Here, we evaluate the potential usefulness of noninvasive urinary measurements of a number of cytokines, chemokines, and other markers of inflammation and infection.We took advantage of surgery-associated inflammation in seven captive rhesus macaques, collecting urine samples before and after the medical interventions. We measured these urine samples for 33 different markers of inflammation and immune activation that are known to be responsive to inflammation and infection in rhesus macaque blood samples, via the Luminex platform. We also measured all samples for concentrations of the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), which we had validated in a prior study as an effective biomarker of inflammation. Despite urine samples being collected in captivity under ideal conditions (clean, no contamination with feces or soil, frozen quickly), 13/33 biomarkers measured via Luminex were found at concentrations below detection limits in >50% of samples. Of the remaining 20 markers, only 2 showed significant increases in response to surgery-IL18 and MPO (myeloperoxidase). However, suPAR measurements of the same samples show a consistent marked increase in response to surgery that is absent from the patterns of IL18 and MPO measurement.Given that our samples were collected under conditions that are greatly preferable to those usually encountered in the field, urinary cytokine measurements via the Luminex platform seem overall unpromising for primate field studies.

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The development of an immunoassay to measure immunoglobulin A in Asian elephant feces, saliva, urine and serum as a potential biomarker of well-being

Cited by 30 publications

References 69 publications

Effect of Tourist Activities on Fecal and Salivary Glucocorticoids and Immunoglobulin A in Female Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

Effect of Tourist Activities on Fecal and Salivary Glucocorticoids and Immunoglobulin A in Female Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

Responsiveness of fecal immunoglobulin A to HPA‐axis activation limits its use for mucosal immunity assessment

Urinary cytokine measurements do not reflect surgery‐induced inflammation in rhesus macaques

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