Garrott R A, Monfort S L, White P J, Mashburn K L, Cook J G
Biology Department, Montana State University, Bozeman 59717, USA.
J Wildl Dis. 1998 Jan;34(1):126-31. doi: 10.7589/0090-3558-34.1.126.
Recent research has demonstrated the potential of pregnancy diagnosis in elk (Cervus elaphus nelsoni) using immunoassays of fecal steroid concentration. However, multiple samples are required to insure accurate results, limiting its utility for free-ranging animals. We attempted to develop an accurate one-sample pregnancy diagnosis using 153 fecal samples that were collected from free-ranging, radio-collared, adult female elk in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, USA) and from captive elk maintained at the Starkey Research Facility (La Grande, Oregon, USA) February through April 1992 and 1997. The pregnancy status of each animal was diagnosed using serum pregnancy-specific protein B (PSPB) assays providing fecal samples from 38 nonpregnant and 115 pregnant animals. Fecal radioimmunoassay (RIA) indicated that mean (+/- SD) progestagens (P4) were elevated significantly in pregnant (2.96 +/- 1.49 micrograms/gm) compared to nonpregnant (0.43 +/- 0.26 microgram/gm) individuals. Confidence intervals (1.96 +/- SE) for the two groups were widely separated (nonpregnant 0.34-0.51, pregnant 2.69-3.24) with little overlap in the range of concentrations measured for each group (nonpregnant 0.09-0.98, pregnant 0.90-8.29). These results indicate that fecal progestagens RIA provides a reliable method of noninvasive pregnancy diagnosis using single fecal samples collected from elk during late gestation. However, independent validation of the suggested discrimination criteria should be performed before routine application.
最近的研究表明，利用粪便类固醇浓度免疫测定法诊断马鹿（Cervus elaphus nelsoni）是否怀孕具有一定潜力。然而，需要多个样本才能确保结果准确，这限制了该方法在自由放养动物中的应用。我们试图利用153份粪便样本开发一种准确的单样本怀孕诊断方法，这些样本于1992年2月至4月以及1997年2月至4月从美国怀俄明州黄石国家公园自由放养、佩戴无线电项圈的成年雌性马鹿，以及美国俄勒冈州拉格兰德斯塔基研究设施饲养的圈养马鹿中采集。通过血清妊娠特异性蛋白B（PSPB）检测确定每只动物的怀孕状态，共提供了38只未怀孕和115只怀孕动物的粪便样本。粪便放射免疫分析（RIA）表明，与未怀孕个体（0.43±0.26微克/克）相比，怀孕个体（2.96±1.49微克/克）的平均（±标准差）孕激素（P4）显著升高。两组的置信区间（1.96±标准误）差异很大（未怀孕组0.34 - 0.51，怀孕组2.69 - 3.24），每组测量浓度范围几乎没有重叠（未怀孕组0.09 - 0.98，怀孕组0.90 - 8.29）。这些结果表明，粪便孕激素RIA为在妊娠后期从马鹿采集的单个粪便样本进行非侵入性怀孕诊断提供了一种可靠方法。然而，在常规应用之前，应进行建议的判别标准的独立验证。
