Measuring Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in Mammals and Birds: The Importance of Validation

By C. Touma, Rupert Palme. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2005

846 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract: In recent years, the noninvasive monitoring of steroid hormone metabolites in feces of mammals and droppings of birds has become an increasingly popular technique. It offers several advantages and has been applied to a variety of species under various settings. However, using this technique to reliably assess an animal's adrenocortical activity is not that simple and straightforward to apply. Because clear differences regarding the metabolism and excretion of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCMs) exist, a careful validation for each species and sex investigated is obligatory. In this review, general analytical issues regarding sample storage, extraction procedures, and immunoassays are briefly discussed, but the main focus lies on experiments and recommendations addressing the validation of fecal GCM measurements in mammals and birds. The crucial importance of scrutinizing the physiological and biological validity of fecal GCM analyses in a given species is stressed. In particular, the relevance of the technique to detect biologically meaningful alterations in adrenocortical activity must be shown. Furthermore, significant effects of the animals' sex, the time of day, season, and different life history stages are discussed, bringing about the necessity to seriously consider possible sex differences as well as diurnal and seasonal variations. Thus, comprehensive information on the animals' biology and stress physiology should be carefully taken into account. Together with an extensive physiological and biological validation, this will ensure that the measurement of fecal GCMs can be used as a powerful tool to assess adrenocortical activity in diverse investigations on laboratory, companion, farm, zoo, and wild animals.

Subfields: Behavioral Neuroscience, Small Animals, Social Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3a611d3a187a5507feaa57442214d6c7ad346add

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Citations in the corpus

Measuring stress in wildlife: techniques for quantifying glucocorticoids (2011, methodology): “By injecting ACTH or dexamethasone and measuring whether GC levels in the tested medium (saliva, excreta) reflect the predicted changes in the blood, the method can be physiologically validated (Tourna and Palme 2005).”
On the use of non‐invasive hormone research in uncontrolled, natural environments: the problem with sex, diet, metabolic rate and the individual (2012, background): “This topic has been extensively dealt with in the literature (Goymann 2005; Möstl, Rettenbacher & Palme 2005; Palme 2005; Touma & Palme 2005; Wielebnowski & Watters 2007; Scott et al. 2008; Sheriff, Krebs & Boonstra 2010; Sheriff et al. 2011), but unfortunately, papers without these essential…”
Hair cortisol concentration as a noninvasive measure of long-term stress in free-ranging grizzly bears (Ursus arctos): considerations with implications for other wildlife (2010, background): “In wildlife, the use of noninvasive or opportunistic collection techniques presents additional challenges, as these methods may be subject to a suite of confounding factors associated with sampling protocols and the quantity or quality of sample available for analysis (e.g., von der Ohe and Servheen”
Fecal glucocorticoid metabolite analysis as an indicator of stress during translocation and acclimation in an endangered large mammal, the Grevy's zebra (2008, methodology): “…that there are many recommended tests to validate fecal glucocorticoid assays (e.g. Millspaugh & Washburn, 2004; Palme, 2005; Touma & Palme, 2005; Keay et al., 2006), there are limitations on what tests can be performed on endangered species [as supported by Palme (2005) and Touma & Palme (2005)].”
Exploration of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function as a tool to evaluate animal welfare. (2007, methodology): “Other methods, such as non-invasive urine sampling, and recently also faeces sampling for mink have been used to evaluate the HPA axis function, but a more thorough validation of these techniques is still awaited [144].”
Ski tourism affects habitat use and evokes a physiological stress response in capercaillie Tetrao urogallus: a new methodological approach (2007, methodology): “This may indicate a different metabolism of corticosterone (Goymann 2005; Touma & Palme 2005 ), a difference in steroid-binding plasma globulins (Breuner & Orchinik 2002) or reflect sex-specific differences in plasma corticosterone levels indicating that males are more stressed than females.”