Coradello Mara Adriana, Morais Rosana Nogueira, Roper James, Spercoski Katherinne Maria, Massuda Thiago, Nogueira Selene Siqueira Cunha, Nogueira-Filho Sérgio Luiz Gama
Laboratório de Etologia Aplicada, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Rod. Ilhéus Itabuna km16, Ilhéus, BA 45662-900, Brazil.
J Zoo Wildl Med. 2012 Jun;43(2):275-82. doi: 10.1638/2011-0046.1.
The possibility of assessing endogenous adrenal activity in the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu) was tested by using an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) challenge in a fecal glucocorticoid metabolite (FGM) assay. Feces were collected from 12 captive adult male peccaries beginning 48 hr prior to challenge; six of these animals received the challenge as an ACTH injection and the other six were injected with saline solution. Feces collection ended 120 hr after injections. As a control, feces were collected for eight consecutive days from another six adult male peccaries that remained in their original mixed-sex herds in semiconfined paddocks. All feces samples were freeze-dried, extracted by an ethanol vortex method, and assayed for glucocorticoids by means of an enzyme immunoassay. FGM concentrations were compared between the treatments by a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by a post hoc Tukey test. The assay is reliable but, instead of the usual proportion of 1:50 in ethanol (fecal mass:solvent), 1:10 is recommended for best extraction of FGM. Baseline FGM concentrations were similar among the ACTH, saline, and control treatments (29.7 +/- 11.2 ng/g(-1) dry feces) during the 48 hr before the challenge. The ACTH group reached an FGM excretion peak at 24 hr post-treatment, followed by a decline, while in the control and saline groups FGM levels remained relatively constant. Therefore, the fecal glucocorticoid metabolite assay reflects endogenous adrenal activity in the collared peccary and is a powerful tool for noninvasive stress monitoring in peccaries.
通过在粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（FGM）检测中使用促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）激发试验，来测试评估领西猯（Pecari tajacu）内源性肾上腺活动的可能性。在激发试验前48小时开始，从12只圈养成年雄性西猯收集粪便；其中6只动物接受ACTH注射激发，另外6只注射盐溶液。注射后120小时结束粪便收集。作为对照，从另外6只成年雄性西猯连续8天收集粪便，这些西猯留在半封闭围场中原来的混合性别群体中。所有粪便样本均冷冻干燥，采用乙醇涡旋法提取，并通过酶免疫测定法检测糖皮质激素。通过重复测量方差分析（ANOVA），然后进行事后Tukey检验，比较各处理之间的FGM浓度。该检测方法可靠，但为了最佳提取FGM，建议使用1:10（粪便质量：溶剂）的乙醇比例，而不是通常的1:50。在激发试验前48小时，ACTH、盐溶液和对照处理的基线FGM浓度相似（29.7±11.2 ng/g（-1）干粪便）。ACTH组在处理后24小时达到FGM排泄峰值，随后下降，而对照组和盐溶液组的FGM水平保持相对稳定。因此，粪便糖皮质激素代谢物检测反映了领西猯的内源性肾上腺活动，是西猯非侵入性应激监测的有力工具。
