title: Do cortisol and corticosterone play the same role in coping with stressors? Measuring glucocorticoid serum in free-ranging guanacos (Lama guanicoe).
abstract: Habitat can constrain and shape successful ecological and physiological strategies, thus providing the context for the evolution of life-history traits. However, unpredictable challenges, such as storms, natural disasters, and human activities can also have great effects on stress. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are adrenal steroid hormones that play an important role in how vertebrates cope with these predictable and unpredictable environmental challenges. Although assessing GCs levels can have many applications in the study of wildlife and/or captive animals, with or without capturing individuals, it requires a species-specific complete validation (analytical and biological) before its use. In this work, our aim was to: (a) validate a radioimmunoassay (RIA) for measuring GCs levels in L. guanicoe serum; (b) assess cortisol and corticosterone levels (if present) in serum of wild L. guanicoe individuals; and (c) compare the response to acute stressors (handling, shearing, and release). Our results successfully: (a) validated RIA for asses GCs levels in wild ungulates; (b) confirmed the presence for cortisol and corticosterone and showed that both GCs are differently affected by environmental stimuli in L. guanicoe; and (c) showed that GCs exhibit different patterns in the field and in response to acute stressors, making these camelids an interesting endocrinological model when seeking the adaptive functions of a given variation and further emphasizing the complexity of GC physiology in wild mammals.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de investigaciones de la Biodiversidad (GIB) IADIZA-CCT-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina; Grupo de Investigación de Eco-fisiología de Fauna Silvestre (GIEFAS), Asentamiento Universitario de San Martín de los Andes (AUSMA), Universidad Nacional del Comahue, San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina; CONICET-INIBIOMA-AUSMA-UNCo, San Martín de los Andes, Neuquén, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ramiro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ovejero
authors.forename: Agustina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Novillo
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soto-Gamboa
authors.forename: Maria E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mosca-Torres
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cuello
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gregório
authors.forename: Graciela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jahn
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carmanchahi
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D002161:Camelids, New World / Q000097:blood; D003345:Corticosterone / Q000097:blood*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000097:blood*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone; D003345:Corticosterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone