Departamento de Fisiología, Biofísica y Neurociencias, CINVESTAV-IPN, México, México.
Neuroimmunomodulation. 2010;17(3):209-12. doi: 10.1159/000258726. Epub 2010 Feb 4.
Depression and stress are related pathologies extensively studied in humans. However, this relationship is not well known in animals kept in zoos and even less known in wild animals. In zoo animals, acute and chronic stress caused by difficulties in coping with stressors such as public presence and noise, among others, can induce the appearance of repetitive pathological behaviors such as stereotypies, many times associated with organic pathologies that deeply affect their health and welfare. In the wild, factors such as deforestation, habitat fragmentation, lack of food and water, and human disturbances are potential causes of acute and chronic stress for the resident fauna. Glucocorticoids (GC) have been extensively used as stress indicators in many species including humans. Since chase and handling of wild animals immediately raise their GC serum levels, noninvasive methods have been developed to assess stress without interference caused by sample collection. The hormones and their metabolites can be measured in various body fluids and excreta and detect basal feedback free hormone concentrations as well as the response to ACTH and handling. In order to study the influence of disturbing factors we have measured GC as stress indicators by noninvasive techniques in dolphins and felids (ocelots, jaguarundis and margays) and cortisol and testosterone in spider monkeys.
抑郁和压力是在人类中广泛研究的相关病理学。然而，这种关系在动物园中饲养的动物中并不为人所知，在野生动物中甚至知之甚少。在动物园动物中，由于难以应对公众存在和噪音等应激源而导致的急性和慢性压力，会诱发重复性病理行为的出现，如刻板行为，这些行为常常与深刻影响其健康和福利的器质性病变有关。在野外，森林砍伐、栖息地破碎化、食物和水的缺乏以及人类的干扰等因素，可能是居住动物产生急性和慢性压力的潜在原因。糖皮质激素（GC）已被广泛用作包括人类在内的许多物种的应激指标。由于对野生动物的追逐和处理会立即提高其血清 GC 水平，因此已经开发出非侵入性方法来评估应激，而不会因样本采集而产生干扰。这些激素及其代谢物可以在各种体液和排泄物中进行测量，并检测基础反馈游离激素浓度以及对 ACTH 和处理的反应。为了研究干扰因素的影响，我们已经通过非侵入性技术在海豚和猫科动物（豹猫、猞猁和虎猫）中测量了 GC 作为应激指标，并在蜘蛛猴中测量了皮质醇和睾酮。
