Measurement of testosterone and cortisol metabolites and luteinising hormone in captive southern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons) urine

This study reports the validation and use of enzyme immunoassays (EIA) to measure changes in plasma and urinary luteinizing hormone, testosterone metabolites (UTM) and cortisol metabolites (UCM) in captive southern hairy-nosed wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons). GnRH agonist and ACTH agonist challenges were conducted to validate urinary testosterone (male wombat only) and cortisol (male and female wombats) EIAs. Following intra-muscular injection of 8-12μg buserelin (n=4 males), there was a significant increase in both plasma (P<0.001) and urinary testosterone concentrations (P<0.001) 60min and 21h after administration, respectively. Plasma LH levels were elevated (p<0.05) at 20min but there was no significant increase found in urinary LH concentrations after injection. Intra-muscular injection of Synacthen® Depot (250μg) (n=3 males, 3 females) resulted in a significant increase (p<0.05) in plasma cortisol secretion 15min and in urinary cortisol concentrations 3h post injection, respectively. Sex-related differences in cortisol secretion were also reported in this study. These findings indicate that (1) urinary LH might not be an appropriate index for describing the reproductive status in captive male L. latifrons, and (2) the UTM and UCM assays appear to be suitable for the assessment of the testicular steroidogenic capacity and the adrenocortical activity in captive southern hairy-nosed wombats, respectively.

Neurotrophin gene expression in rat brain under the action of Semax, an analogue of ACTH4–10

The heptapeptide Semax, an analogue of the N-terminal adrenocorticotropic hormone fragment (4-10) (ACTH(4-10)), has been shown to exert a number of neuroprotective effects. There are some investigations that connected these effects with the increase of neurotrophin gene expression under the peptide drug application in neuron cell cultures [M.I. Shadrina, O.V. Dolotov, I.A. Grivennikov, P.A. Slominsky, L.A. Andreeva, L.S. Inozemtseva, S.A. Limborska, N.F. Myasoedov, Rapid induction of neurotrophin mRNAs in rat glial cell cultures by Semax, an adrenocorticotropic hormone analogue, Neurosci. Lett. 308 (2001) (2) 115-118]. In this work, we examined the action of Semax on rapid changes of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression in vivo. Male Wistar rats were treated for 1h with Semax (50 microg/kg, single intranasal application) and neurotrophin gene expression in rat brain was analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). It was revealed that an intranasal application of Semax increased the expression of both neurotrophin genes in rat hippocampus. Bdnf gene expression also increased in the brainstem and cerebellum. Ngf gene expression decreased in rat frontal cortex. Thus, Semax induces rapid, gene- and region-specific changes in neurotrophin gene expression in normal rat brain.