Non-invasive faecal monitoring of stress in captive and free-ranging wild animals

作者：Malikova Martina^*; Voslarova Eva; Vecerek Vladimir

来源：Berliner und Munchener Tierarztliche Wochenschrift, 2018, 131(3-4): 150-158.

DOI：10.2376/0005-9366-16083

• mammals
• faecal samples
• steroids
• cortisol metabolites
• enzyme immunoassay

Non-invasive monitoring of faecal metabolites of glucocorticoid hormones over the last two decades has become a frequently used method of assessing stress responses in wild animals. The number of studies focusing on this area of research is constantly growing, and also growing is the number of animals for which these methods have been described and validated in a variety of potentially stressful situations. The following text summarizes the advantages of non-invasive methods, particularly analysis of faecal samples, over invasive methods and their application in assessing stress in wild animals. Reference to species in which these methods have been successfully applied is given. Metabolism and excretion of glucocorticoid hormones and their elimination in the form of metabolites in faeces are described. Finally, the paper summarizes the principles of proper sample collection and their storage, and also discusses possible methods of analysis of those samples, which consists of extraction and immunoassay.

• 出版日期2018-4