Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences-Production, Landscape, Agroenergy, Università degli Studi di Milano, Milan, Italy.
PLoS One. 2021 Jul 22;16(7):e0254842. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254842. eCollection 2021.
Stress exposure during perinatal period may lead to maternal cortisol increase that negatively affects the offspring development. In recent years, the interest on non-invasive sampling methods to measure cortisol as a marker of stress is increasing in both humans and animals. Indeed, discomfort due to blood collection may compromise the diagnostic outcome, mainly in uncooperative patients. So far, some alternative matrices but not milk have been explored in adult dogs, while no data are available on the neonate and paediatric live pups. This study aimed to measure cortisol concentration in different biological substrates in both dams (blood, saliva, hair and milk) and pups (saliva and hair) at established times from proestrus up to two months after parturition. For this purpose, five female German shepherd bitches and their 22 pups were enrolled. Cortisol concentration was assessed using the enzyme immunoassay kit (Salivary Cortisol ELISA kit, Salimetrics) after matrices appropriate preparation if required. Cortisol was measurable in all the substrates, except some milk samples below the detection limit. Maternal cortisol concentrations differed among the matrices (P <0.0001) with the highest values recorded in plasma (median 0.596 μg/dL) compared to saliva (median 0.159 μg/dL), hair (median 0.083 μg/dL) and milk (median 0.045 μg/dL). Cortisol in dams did not vary within the same matrix over time. In pups, salivary (median 0.295 μg/dL) cortisol was always higher than hair (median 0.049 μg/dL; P <0.0001). At birth (P = 0.01) and two months later (P = 0.05), neonatal salivary cortisol was higher compared to other samplings. The present study demonstrates the suitability of these innovative substrates for cortisol measurement, suggesting them as potential diagnostic support in canine neonatology and welfare.
围产期应激暴露可能导致母体皮质醇增加，从而对后代的发育产生负面影响。近年来，人们对非侵入性采样方法来测量皮质醇作为应激标志物的兴趣在人类和动物中都有所增加。事实上，由于采血引起的不适可能会影响诊断结果，尤其是在不合作的患者中。到目前为止，已经在成年犬中探索了一些替代基质，但在新生儿和儿科幼犬中尚无数据。本研究旨在测量发情前期至分娩后两个月内不同生物基质（母犬的血液、唾液、毛发和乳汁以及幼犬的唾液和毛发）中皮质醇的浓度。为此，招募了五只德国牧羊犬母犬及其 22 只幼犬。如果需要，使用酶联免疫吸附试剂盒（Salimetrics 公司的唾液皮质醇 ELISA 试剂盒）对基质进行适当的准备后，评估皮质醇浓度。除了一些低于检测限的牛奶样本外，所有基质均能检测到皮质醇。母犬皮质醇浓度在不同基质之间存在差异（P<0.0001），其中血浆中的皮质醇浓度最高（中位数 0.596μg/dL），其次是唾液（中位数 0.159μg/dL）、毛发（中位数 0.083μg/dL）和乳汁（中位数 0.045μg/dL）。在同一基质中，母犬的皮质醇浓度随时间的变化而变化。在幼犬中，唾液（中位数 0.295μg/dL）中的皮质醇始终高于毛发（中位数 0.049μg/dL；P<0.0001）。与其他采样相比，新生儿唾液皮质醇在出生时（P=0.01）和两个月后（P=0.05）更高。本研究证明了这些创新基质测量皮质醇的适用性，提示它们可能成为犬科新生儿学和福利的潜在诊断支持。
