Frequent serial fecal corticoid measures from rats reflect circadian and ovarian corticosterone rhythms.
Open accessAbstract
The circadian glucocorticoid rhythm provides important information on the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in individuals. Frequent repeated blood sampling can limit the kinds of studies conducted on this rhythm, particularly in small laboratory rodents that have limited blood volumes and are easily stressed by handling. We developed an extraction and assay protocol to measure fecal corticosterone metabolites in repeated samples collected from undisturbed male and female adult Sprague–Dawley rats. This fecal measure provides a non-invasive method to assess changes in corticosterone within a single animal over time, with sufficient temporal acuity to quantify several characteristics of the circadian rhythm: e.g. the nadir, acrophase, and asymmetry (saw-tooth) of the rhythm. Males excreted more immunoreactive fecal corticoids than did females. Across the estrous cycle, females produced more fecal corticoids on proestrus (the day of the preovulatory luteinizing hormone surge) than during estrus or metestrus. These results establish a baseline from which to study environmental, psychological, and physiological disturbances of the circadian corticosterone rhythm within individual rats.
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Sex differences in FCM in rodents are already relatively well established.
“Sex differences in FCM in rodents are already relatively well established ( Cavigelli et al., 2005).”
From Stage 2 Registered Report: Refinement of tickling protocols to improve positive animal welfare in laboratory rats (2025) · cites this paper as Cavigelli et al., 2005
The Sex differences section reports significantly higher fecal corticoid measures in male than female Sprague-Dawley rats. This establishes a sex difference in the rats studied, but the paper does not establish that such differences are well established across rodents generally. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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- Authors
- Cavigelli, S. A., Monfort, S. L., Whitney, T. K., Mechref, Y. S., Novotny, M., & McClintock, M. K.
- Affiliations
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Smithsonian Institution (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cavigelli, S A
- Venue
- Journal of Endocrinology
- Publisher
- Bioscientifica
- Published
- 2005-01
- Volume
- 184
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 153-163
- ISSN
- 0022-0795 (ISSN-L)
- 1479-6805
- OpenAlex
- W2162558736
- Cited by
- 148
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 4.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Endocrinology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Eli Lilly and Company
- Lilly Endowment
- National Institute on Aging (P01AG018911)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R37MH41788, R37MH041788)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F32HD008693, F32 HD08693)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Adrenal Hormones and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
- Keywords
- fecal corticosterone metabolites, corticosterone, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, estrous cycle, ovarian function, non-invasive hormone measurement, rats, sex differences, luteinizing hormone surge, acrophase
- MeSH terms
- Adrenal Cortex Hormones, Animals, Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Chromatography, Liquid, Circadian Rhythm, Corticosterone, Feces, Female, Male, Sensitivity and Specificity, Spectrum Analysis, Rats, Sprague-Dawley, Estrous Cycle, Rats
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