Assessing the utility of urinary and fecal cortisol as an indicator of stress in golden snub-nosed monkeys ( Rhinopithecus roxellana )

PeerJ

article

Haochun Chen¹  Hui Yao³  Wanji Yang¹  Penglai Fan¹  Zuofu Xiang¹ 

[1] Institute of Evolutionary Ecology and Conservation Biology, Central South University of Forestry & Technology;College of Life Science and Technology, Central South University of Forestry & Technology;Key Lab of Conservation Biology for Shennongjia Golden Snub-nosed Monkeys, Hubei Province

关键词: Stress;    Cortisol concentration;    Lag time;    Golden snub-nosed monkeys;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.3648

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Cortisol concentration (CC) is often used as a stress indicator in animals, as high CC is associated with elevated stress levels. During field research, non-invasive methods of measuring CC, such as collection of urine and feces, are superior to using blood samples when monitoring free-ranging animals’ stress levels. However, due to different metabolic pathways, whether CC can be detected in urine and feces to reliably assess stress varies across species. Therefore, it is important to ascertain whether urine and fecal samples are a reliable source for determining CCs and to determine a suitable sampling regime. In this study, we subjected three captive adult golden snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) to a high-stress situation (capture and injection). Urine and feces were collected for four days before and for four days after the manipulations for laboratory analysis. Immunoreactive CC was detected with a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kit and showed distinct rises. Peak CC values in urine were detected within 5 h, while peak fecal CC ranged between 5 and 24 hours post-interference. These results provide evidence that CC in urine and feces can be used to assess stress levels in the golden snub-nosed monkey. The optimal time frame to collect urinary and fecal samples for CC analysis is within one day of a potential stressful event.

【 授权许可】

CC BY