ArticlePloS one2016
Validation of a Fecal Glucocorticoid Assay to Assess Adrenocortical Activity in Meerkats Using Physiological and Biological Stimuli.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Methodological confounds of measuring urinary oxidative stress in wild animals.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Behavioural change during dispersal and its relationship to survival and reproduction in a cooperative breeder.The Journal of animal ecology · 2021Article
- Association between stress and bilateral symmetrical alopecia in free-ranging Formosan macaques in Mt. Longevity, Taiwan.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- The development of individual differences in cooperative behaviour: maternal glucocorticoid hormones alter helping behaviour of offspring in wild meerkats.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Cost of dispersal in a social mammal: body mass loss and increased stress.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Group size and visitor numbers predict faecal glucocorticoid concentrations in zoo meerkats.Royal Society open science · 2017Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In mammals, glucocorticoid (i.e. GC) levels have been associated with specific life-history stages and transitions, reproductive strategies, and a plethora of behaviors. Assessment of adrenocortical activity via measurement of glucocorticoid metabolites in feces (FGCM) has greatly facilitated data collection from wild animals, due to its non-invasive nature, and thus has become an established tool in behavioral ecology and conservation biology. The aim of our study was to validate a fecal glucocorticoid assay for assessing adrenocortical activity in meerkats (Suricata suricatta), by comparing the suitability of three GC enzyme immunoassays (corticosterone, 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone and 11oxo-etiocholanolone) in detecting FGCM increases in adult males and females following a pharmacological challenge with adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and biological stimuli. In addition, we investigated the time course characterizing FGCM excretion, the effect of age, sex and time of day on FGCM levels and assessed the potential effects of soil contamination (sand) on FGCM patterns. Our results show that the group specific 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone assay was most sensitive to FGCM alterations, detecting significant and most distinctive elevations in FGCM levels around 25 h after ACTH administration. We found no age and sex differences in basal FGCM or on peak response levels to ACTH, but a marked diurnal pattern, with FGCM levels being substantially higher in the morning than later during the day. Soil contamination did not significantly affect FGCM patterns. Our results emphasize the importance of conducting assay validations to characterize species-specific endocrine excretion patterns, a crucial step to all animal endocrinology studies using a non-invasive approach.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.