title: Spectral pattern of urinary water as a biomarker of estrus in the giant panda.
abstract: Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has been successfully used for non-invasive diagnosis of diseases and abnormalities where water spectral patterns are found to play an important role. The present study investigates water absorbance patterns indicative of estrus in the female giant panda. NIR spectra of urine samples were acquired from the same animal on a daily basis over three consecutive putative estrus periods. Characteristic water absorbance patterns based on 12 specific water absorbance bands were discovered, which displayed high urine spectral variation, suggesting that hydrogen-bonded water structures increase with estrus. Regression analysis of urine spectra and spectra of estrone-3-glucuronide standard concentrations at these water bands showed high correlation with estrogen levels. Cluster analysis of urine spectra grouped together estrus samples from different years. These results open a new avenue for using water structure as a molecular mirror for fast estrus detection.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University, Kobe 657-8501, Japan.
authors.forename: Kodzue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Miyazaki
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vassileva
authors.forename: Chunxiang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Desheng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kusunoki
authors.forename: Roumiana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsenkova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000836:Animals, Zoo / Q000652:urine; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000652:urine*; D004970:Estrone / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000652:urine; D004971:Estrus / Q000502:physiology / Q000652:urine*; D005260:Female; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D019265:Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared / Q000379:methods; D001503:Ursidae / Q000652:urine*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014867:Water; C015856:estrone-3-glucuronide; D004970:Estrone