title: The development of a simple fecal immunoreactive progestin assay to monitor reproductive function in swine.
abstract: The objectives of the study were to (a) develop a simple fecal progestin extraction and radioimmunoassay method to measure immunoreactive progestin in porcine feces and (b) to characterize fecal progestin profiles during the estrous cycle and postpartum. A simple extraction method was developed in trial 1 and the mean (+/- SD) progestin recovery of the method was 84.3 +/- 3.5%. Progesterone levels measured at five different spiked concentrations (50, 100, 200, 400, and 500 ng/0.5 g feces) showed no systematic error. The sensitivity of the assay was 0.16 nmol/L of the extract. Trial 2 involved collecting fecal samples from six cycling sows every second or third day, beginning on the day of estrus (day 0) and continuing until day 22. The mean (+/- SD) fecal progestin concentrations of these sows determined by the above assay during days 0-5, days 6-10, days 11-15, and days 16-21 were 87.1 +/- 17.5, 262.6 +/- 102.1, 1188.2 +/- 454.1, and 897.3 +/- 274.1 x 10(-3) nmol/g feces, respectively. In trial 3, fecal samples from six postpartum sows were collected at weekly intervals beginning from day 7 after farrowing until day 50. The mean (+/- SD) fecal progestin concentrations were 111.0 +/- 61.1, 74.1 +/- 21.3, 66.5 +/- 26.1, 122.7 +/- 58.8 and 533.5 +/- 244.2 x 10(-3) nmol/g feces, during days 7-10, days 11-20, days 21-30, days 31-40, and days 41-50 postpartum, respectively. The results indicate that simple fecal progestin extraction and assay are feasible alternatives to the standard blood progesterone assays for monitoring reproductive function in swine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sanders
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rajamahendran
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004971:Estrus / Q000378:metabolism*; D005243:Feces / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000378:metabolism*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011372:Progestins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012098:Reproduction; D013552:Swine / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011372:Progestins