Cope Holly R, Keeley Tamara, Keong Joy, Smith Daniel, Silva Fabiola R O, McArthur Clare, Webster Koa N, Mella Valentina S A, Herbert Catherine A
Sydney School of Veterinary Science, University of Sydney, Camperdown, NSW 2006, Australia.
School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia.
Animals (Basel). 2022 Jun 24;12(13):1627. doi: 10.3390/ani12131627.
Volunteer wildlife rehabilitators rescue and rehabilitate thousands of native animals every year in Australia. However, there is little known about how exposure to novel stimuli during rehabilitation could affect the physiology of wildlife. We investigated this question in a species that commonly enters rehabilitation, the common brushtail possum (). We evaluated five enzyme immunoassays (EIA) to determine the most suitable for measuring faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM) as a proxy for evaluating the response of brushtail possums to potential stressors during rehabilitation. An adrenocorticotrophin hormone (ACTH) challenge was conducted on wild-caught possums to determine the best-performing EIA based on the successful detection of FGM peaks in at least two of three possums. While a number of assays met these criteria, the 11-oxoaetiocholanolone (abbreviation: 72a) EIA was selected as it had the largest amplitude of change in response to the ACTH challenge. This assay was then used to measure FGM concentrations in 20 possums during rehabilitation. There was high variation in baseline FGM concentrations and response to captivity between possums. Significant changes in FGM levels were detected in most possums during captivity, but were not reliably associated with potentially stressful events that were identified by rehabilitators. The probability of an FGM peak occurring within five days of a potentially stressful event was about 50%, regardless of the type of event. Our study has demonstrated that injured and orphaned possums show changes in FGMs during captivity and rehabilitation and has identified events that can induce a physiological response in some individuals. We recommend that research now focus on the relationship between these responses during rehabilitation and pre- and post-release survival.
在澳大利亚，志愿者野生动物康复师每年救助并康复数千只本土动物。然而，对于康复过程中接触新刺激如何影响野生动物的生理机能，人们知之甚少。我们以一种常见的进入康复阶段的物种——帚尾袋貂来研究这个问题。我们评估了五种酶免疫测定法（EIA），以确定最适合测量粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（FGM）的方法，以此作为评估帚尾袋貂在康复过程中对潜在应激源反应的指标。对野外捕获的袋貂进行促肾上腺皮质激素（ACTH）激发试验，根据至少三只袋貂中有两只成功检测到FGM峰值来确定表现最佳的EIA。虽然有多种测定法符合这些标准，但选择了11-氧代雄烷醇酮（缩写：72a）EIA，因为它在ACTH激发试验中的变化幅度最大。然后使用该测定法测量20只袋貂在康复期间的FGM浓度。袋貂之间的基线FGM浓度和对圈养的反应存在很大差异。在圈养期间，大多数袋貂的FGM水平都有显著变化，但与康复师确定的潜在应激事件没有可靠关联。无论应激事件的类型如何，在潜在应激事件发生后五天内出现FGM峰值的概率约为50%。我们的研究表明，受伤和孤儿袋貂在圈养和康复期间FGM会发生变化，并确定了一些能在某些个体中诱发生理反应的事件。我们建议现在的研究重点关注康复期间这些反应与放生前和放生后的生存之间的关系。
