Non-invasive endocrine monitoring using fecal steroid analysis: opportunities and challenges

• Main Author: Schwarzenberger,Franz
• Publication Date: 2007
• Format: Article
• Language: eng
• Source: Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia (Online)
• Download full: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-35982007001000010
• topic: adrenal steroid hormones; assay validation; faecal steroid analysis; non-invasive; reproductive steroid hormones; steroid metabolism

During the past two decades, techniques for the non-invasive analysis of fecal steroid metabolites (estrogen, androgen, progestagen and glucocorticoid metabolites) have been developed. These techniques have been used for research with mammals, birds, reptiles, and to a lesser extent in fish; species studied included domestic and laboratory animals, as well as captive and free-ranging wildlife. The techniques now are widely accepted, and in many studies in which either blood sampling on a regular basis was difficult or not possible, i.e. in research on wildlife, very stress prone species or animals of small size, it has become a substitute for analyzing steroid hormones in serum/plasma.