Urinary cortisol sampling: a non-invasive technique for examining cortisol concentrations in the Weddell seal, Leptonychotes weddellii
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.20088.abs This study investigated the feasibility and validity of using non-invasively collected ice urine samples to measure cortisol concentrations in Weddell seals. Radio-immunoassays were used to determine urinary cortisol, and spectrophotometric assay was used to determine creatinine concentrations. This allowed for urinary cortisol/creatinine ratios (UCCR) to be compared between pure urine and urine collected […]
Endocrine monitoring and its application to the management of the giant panda
Abstract 10.1002/zoo.10108.abs Urinary estrogens (n=10) and progestins (n=4) were monitored in a total of 10 giant panda females. Estrogens were evaluated with two different immunoassays during the estrous period. The two different methodologies gave similar hormonal profiles, but different quantitative results due to differences in the crossreactivity of the different assay systems. High-pressure liquid chromatography […]
Effect of a cage divider permitting social stimuli on stress and food intake in rats
The need to obtain data from individual laboratory animals has forced many researchers to singly-house small animals. This is costly to the researcher and isolation can adversely affect animal physiology and behavior which in turn may threaten the validity and generalization of experiment results to humans. We assessed the practical use of a housing device […]