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Carbillet J, Saks L, Sepp T. Salivary corticosterone reflects plasmatic levels in a wild seabird. Gen Comp Endocrinol 2024; 345:114390. [PMID: 37844650 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2023.114390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2023] [Revised: 09/11/2023] [Accepted: 10/11/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023]
Abstract
Wild animals have been increasingly exposed to a wide range of stressors, mainly due to the intensification of human activities and habitat modifications. Consequently, new tools in order to assess the physiological and health status of wild animals have been developed. In particular, glucocorticoids have received a special attention. Primarily metabolic hormones, they are also used to evaluate the stress level of organisms. While historically measured in blood samples, new less-invasive methods have been recently developed to measure glucocorticoids in matrices such as faeces, hairs/feathers, or saliva. To date, measurements in saliva are still in their infancy despite the numerous advantages of the matrix: non-invasive, reflects the biologically active portion of glucocorticoids, allows to measure both baseline and stress-induced levels. In addition, most studies using saliva have been performed on domestic and captive animals, and recent development in wild animals have focused on mammals. Here, we show, for the first time, that saliva could also be reliably used in free-ranging birds, as glucocorticoid levels in saliva strongly correlated with plasma levels. This promising result opens new avenues for a non-invasive sampling method to assess health status of wild birds in conservation biology and ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey Carbillet
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia.
| | - Lauri Saks
- Estonian Marine Institute, University of Tartu, Mäealuse 14, 12618 Tallinn, Harju County, Estonia
| | - Tuul Sepp
- Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Tartu 51014, Estonia
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Sait STL, Survilienė V, Jüssi M, Gonzalez SV, Ciesielski TM, Jenssen BM, Asimakopoulos AG. Determination of steroid hormones in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) blood plasma using convergence chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Talanta 2023; 254:124109. [PMID: 36535212 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2022.124109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Revised: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 11/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
A hybrid solid phase extraction (HybridSPE) protocol tailored to ultra-performance convergence chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPC2-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of 19 steroid hormones in grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) blood plasma. In this study, the protocol demonstrated acceptable absolute recoveries ranging from 33 to 90%. The chromatographic separation was carried out using a gradient elution program with a total run time of 5 min. For most target analytes, the method repeatability ranged from 1.9 to 24% and the method limits of quantification (mLOQs) ranged from 0.03 to 1.67 ng/mL. A total of 9 plasma samples were analysed to demonstrate the applicability of the developed method, and 13 steroid hormones were quantified in grey seal pup plasma. The most prevalent steroids: cortisol, cortisone, corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, progesterone and 17α-hydroxyprogesterone were detected at concentrations in the range of 12.6-40.1, 7.10-24.2, 0.74-10.7, 1.06-5.72, 0.38-4.38 and <mLOQ - 1.01 ng/mL, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first study to determine steroid hormones in the plasma of pinnipeds using convergence chromatography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannen Thora Lea Sait
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Vaida Survilienė
- Institute of Biosciences, Life Sciences Center, Vilnius University, Sauletekio Av. 7, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Mart Jüssi
- Pro Mare MTÜ, Saula, Kose, Harjumaa, 75101, Estonia
| | - Susana V Gonzalez
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Tomasz Maciej Ciesielski
- Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Bjørn Munro Jenssen
- Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway; Department of Arctic Technology, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), P.O. Box 156, 9171, Longyearbyen, Norway; Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, P.O. Box 358, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark
| | - Alexandros G Asimakopoulos
- Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway.
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