Measuring Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in Mammals and Birds: The Importance of Validation
Open accessAbstract
In recent years, the noninvasive monitoring of steroid hormone metabolites in feces of mammals and droppings of birds has become an increasingly popular technique. It offers several advantages and has been applied to a variety of species under various settings. However, using this technique to reliably assess an animal's adrenocortical activity is not that simple and straightforward to apply. Because clear differences regarding the metabolism and excretion of glucocorticoid metabolites (GCMs) exist, a careful validation for each species and sex investigated is obligatory. In this review, general analytical issues regarding sample storage, extraction procedures, and immunoassays are briefly discussed, but the main focus lies on experiments and recommendations addressing the validation of fecal GCM measurements in mammals and birds. The crucial importance of scrutinizing the physiological and biological validity of fecal GCM analyses in a given species is stressed. In particular, the relevance of the technique to detect biologically meaningful alterations in adrenocortical activity must be shown. Furthermore, significant effects of the animals' sex, the time of day, season, and different life history stages are discussed, bringing about the necessity to seriously consider possible sex differences as well as diurnal and seasonal variations. Thus, comprehensive information on the animals' biology and stress physiology should be carefully taken into account. Together with an exten…
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The physiological stress response in vertebrates results in increased secretion of glucocorticoid hormones subsequent to activation of the HPA axis.
“The physiological stress response in vertebrates results in an increased secretion of glucocorticoid hormones (GCs) subsequent to the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis (Möstl and Palme, 2002;Touma and Palme, 2005;Sheriff et al., 2011).”
From Effect of weather conditions and presence of visitors on adrenocortical activity in captive African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) (2017) · cites this paper as Touma and Palme, 2005
Gender differences in adrenal activity have been previously reported in several species and may be due to different physiological and behavioural aspects.
“Gender differences in adrenal activity have been previously reported in several species and may be due to different physiological and behavioural aspects (Touma and Palme, 2005).”
From Effect of weather conditions and presence of visitors on adrenocortical activity in captive African penguins (Spheniscus demersus) (2017) · cites this paper as Touma and Palme, 2005
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- Authors
- TOUMA, C., & PALME, R.
- Affiliations
- Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (DE)
- University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (AT)
- ORCID
- PALME, RUPERT
- Venue
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2005-06
- Volume
- 1046
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 54-74
- ISSN
- 0077-8923 (ISSN-L)
- 1749-6632
- OpenAlex
- W2072631898
- Cited by
- 844
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 37 · 2022: 42 · 2021: 73 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 46 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 43 · 2016: 48 · 2015: 40 · 2014: 40 · 2013: 50 · 2012: 48
- FWCI
- 5.74
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- edoc.mpg.de
- Locations
- Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- WBI Studies Repository (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Science Foundation
- HORIZON EUROPE Excellent Science
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Keywords
- fecal glucocorticoid metabolites, non-invasive hormone measurement, adrenocortical function, analytical method validation, immunoassay, sample storage, sample extraction, sex differences, diurnal variation, seasonal variation, life stages, stress physiology, mammals, birds
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Circadian Rhythm, Feces, Glucocorticoids, Mammals, Seasons, Sex Factors, Reproducibility of Results
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