Dias Pedro Américo D, Coyohua-Fuentes Alejandro, Canales-Espinosa Domingo, Chavira-Ramírez Roberto, Rangel-Negrín Ariadna
Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
Primate Behavioral Ecology Lab, Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico.
Horm Behav. 2017 Aug;94:13-20. doi: 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2017.06.003. Epub 2017 Jun 21.
Hormones have a key role in energy allocation, so their study allows understanding individual metabolic strategies. Because different hormones convey different information on the responses of individuals to energetic demands, a simultaneous analysis of variation in multiple hormones may offer a more reliable picture of metabolic strategies than single hormone assessments. In this study we focused on determining which factors were related to variation in fecal glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone metabolites in wild mantled howler monkeys (Alouatta palliata). Over 12months, we determined fecal glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone metabolite levels of 11 adults belonging to two groups, and examined the relationship between hormone metabolites and a variety of behavioral, physiological, and ecological factors (e.g., food intake, sex/reproductive state, activity, participation in agonistic interactions). We found that glucocorticoids were elevated in gestating and lactating females compared to males and cycling females, and were also higher when individuals were more active and participated in agonistic interactions. Thyroid hormone levels were also related to sex/reproductive state and activity, but were additionally positively related to fruit intake and negatively related to young leaf intake. Our study demonstrates that the non-invasive measurement of glucocorticoid and thyroid hormones of howler monkeys allows assessing different underlying physiological processes. By combining different biomarkers, which has seldom been done with wildlife, we could also parse the influence of psychological vs. metabolic challenges for individual energetic condition, which may be instrumental for deciding which factors should be accounted for when studying different hormone-behavior interactions.
激素在能量分配中起着关键作用，因此对它们的研究有助于理解个体的代谢策略。由于不同的激素传达了个体对能量需求反应的不同信息，与单一激素评估相比，同时分析多种激素的变化可能会提供更可靠的代谢策略图景。在本研究中，我们着重确定哪些因素与野生鬃毛吼猴（Alouatta palliata）粪便中糖皮质激素和甲状腺激素代谢物的变化有关。在12个月的时间里，我们测定了分属两组的11只成年吼猴的粪便糖皮质激素和甲状腺激素代谢物水平，并研究了激素代谢物与各种行为、生理和生态因素（如食物摄入量、性别/生殖状态、活动、参与争斗互动）之间的关系。我们发现，与雄性和处于发情期的雌性相比，妊娠期和哺乳期雌性的糖皮质激素水平升高，而且当个体更活跃并参与争斗互动时，糖皮质激素水平也更高。甲状腺激素水平也与性别/生殖状态和活动有关，但还与水果摄入量呈正相关，与嫩叶摄入量呈负相关。我们的研究表明，对吼猴糖皮质激素和甲状腺激素进行非侵入性测量可以评估不同的潜在生理过程。通过结合不同的生物标志物（在野生动物研究中很少这样做），我们还可以剖析心理挑战与代谢挑战对个体能量状况的影响，这可能有助于决定在研究不同的激素-行为相互作用时应考虑哪些因素。
