Circulating and Excreted Corticosteroids and Metabolites, Hematological, and Serum Chemistry Parameters in the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Before and After a Stress Response

15Citations
Citations of this article
36Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.
Get full text

Abstract

Comparisons of circulating and excreted corticosteroid profiles during a biological stress response could provide more data concerning the timing and magnitude of acute hormone changes in different sample matrices. A stress test was performed in 13 zoo-based killer whales (Orcinus orca) whereby animals were elevated out of the water on a rising lift-bottom platform for 20 min. Paired blood and feces were tested for cortisol, corticosterone, aldosterone, and their metabolites and hematological and serum chemistry parameters. Circulating corticosteroids significantly increased during the stress test and returned to pre-treatment concentrations within 24 h, indicating hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal-axis activation. Concentrations of fecal corticosteroid metabolites did not change significantly during the stress test. Significant differences between pre-test levels and the stress test stage were observed for counts of white blood cells and absolute neutrophils, consistent with a stress leukogram. For serum chemistry, significant deviations from baseline levels were seen for the majority (20/37) of measured parameters. This study provides a direct measurement of the physiologic response of clinically healthy killer whales to a stress event. However, due to the lack of significant changes in fecal hormone metabolite profiles, further investigation of the excretory dynamics of corticosteroids during acute and chronic stress is warranted.

References Powered by Scopus

A general and simple method for obtaining R<sup>2</sup> from generalized linear mixed-effects models

8070Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Small sample inference for fixed effects from restricted maximum likelihood

3582Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Endocrinology of the stress response

1347Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Influence of season, age, sex, and time of day on the endocrine profile of the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus)

13Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Circulating concentrations of thyroid hormones and cortisol in wild and semi-natural Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis)

10Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Social, Reproductive and Contextual Influences on Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites in Captive Yangtze Finless Porpoises (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) and Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)

9Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Steinman, K. J., Robeck, T. R., Fetter, G. A., Schmitt, T. L., Osborn, S., DiRocco, S., … O’Brien, J. K. (2020). Circulating and Excreted Corticosteroids and Metabolites, Hematological, and Serum Chemistry Parameters in the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Before and After a Stress Response. Frontiers in Marine Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00830

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 13

72%

Researcher 4

22%

Professor / Associate Prof. 1

6%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 14

67%

Veterinary Science and Veterinary Medic... 4

19%

Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Bi... 2

10%

Chemistry 1

5%

Article Metrics

Tooltip
Social Media
Shares, Likes & Comments: 15

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free