Cavigelli Sonia A, Guhad Faisal A, Ceballos Rachel M, Whetzel Courtney A, Nevalainen Timo, Lang C Max, Klein Laura Cousino
Behavioral Health Department, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA.
J Am Assoc Lab Anim Sci. 2006 Nov;45(6):17-21.
We applied novel noninvasive fecal steroid measures to characterize aged rats' responses to a series of common animal room disturbances, including a direct comparison of male and female immunoreactive corticosterone metabolites in feces. The fecal measure provides a unique method to measure the physiologic responses of laboratory animals to altered husbandry procedures. This assay is noninvasive and, because rodents produce fecal pellets throughout the day, long-term monitoring can be conducted to capture abnormal levels associated with alterations in husbandry procedures. Over a 3-h period, 10 male and 10 female Fischer 344 rats (age, 82 wk) were exposed to a series of events that can occur in a colony housing room (keys jingling, cage lids opening, alteration of the light cycle). Fecal samples were collected at timed intervals on the day before and several days after the exposure, extracted, and analyzed for fecal corticoid metabolites by use of a commercial enzyme immunoassay. Fecal metabolites in these aged rats were elevated 3- to 5-fold above baseline levels approximately 20 h after exposure to the experimental events. Overall, we detected more immunoreactive fecal corticoid metabolites in feces from male rats than female rats, even though female rats normally secrete greater amounts of glucocorticoids into circulation. Our results indicate that this assay can be used to identify marked elevations in corticoid metabolite levels after alterations in laboratory husbandry procedures. We discuss the implications of these findings for animal researchers and those involved in animal husbandry.
我们应用了新型非侵入性粪便类固醇检测方法，以表征老年大鼠对一系列常见动物房干扰的反应，包括直接比较雄性和雌性大鼠粪便中免疫反应性皮质酮代谢物。粪便检测提供了一种独特的方法来测量实验动物对饲养程序改变的生理反应。该检测是非侵入性的，并且由于啮齿动物全天都会产生粪便颗粒，因此可以进行长期监测，以捕捉与饲养程序改变相关的异常水平。在3小时内，将10只雄性和10只雌性Fischer 344大鼠（年龄82周）暴露于一系列可能在群体饲养室中发生的事件（钥匙叮当声、笼盖打开、光照周期改变）。在暴露前一天和暴露后几天的特定时间间隔收集粪便样本，进行提取，并使用商业酶免疫测定法分析粪便皮质类固醇代谢物。在暴露于实验事件后约20小时，这些老年大鼠的粪便代谢物水平比基线水平升高了3至5倍。总体而言，我们在雄性大鼠粪便中检测到的免疫反应性粪便皮质类固醇代谢物比雌性大鼠更多，尽管雌性大鼠通常会向循环系统中分泌更多的糖皮质激素。我们的结果表明，该检测方法可用于识别实验室饲养程序改变后皮质类固醇代谢物水平的显著升高。我们讨论了这些发现对动物研究人员和参与动物饲养的人员的意义。
