T. Shimamoto, T. Taki, A. Kumaki, A. Motohashi, H. Tamatani, G. Oshima, J. Tanaka, T. Yamamoto
{"title":"Reproductive health from hair: Validation and utility of hair progesterone analysis in the Asian black bear, Ursus thibetanus","authors":"T. Shimamoto, T. Taki, A. Kumaki, A. Motohashi, H. Tamatani, G. Oshima, J. Tanaka, T. Yamamoto","doi":"10.1111/jzo.13213","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Hair hormone analysis has received increasing attention in the fields of wildlife management and conservation over the last decade. However, few studies focused on sex steroid hormones, even though hair sex steroid hormone analysis has the potential to provide information on an individual's reproductive health, leading to a better understanding of animal reproductive biology and the assessment of individual and population health. Here, we tested the assay validation and examined whether hair progesterone concentration (HPC) differs between different sexes and age classes in the Asian black bear, <jats:italic>Ursus thibetanus</jats:italic>. We also investigated the effects of reproductive condition, age, and body condition index (BCI) on HPC to determine the utility of hair progesterone analysis in bears. The assay validation was reported in our study. We found a significantly higher HPC in adult females than in juvenile females and juvenile and adult males. In addition, we found no effects of age and BCI on HPC but a significant positive effect of reproductive condition, as the HPC in breeding adult females was significantly higher than in nonbreeding adult females. These results suggest that hair progesterone analysis has the potential to evaluate the reproductive condition of Asian black bears.","PeriodicalId":17600,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Zoology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Zoology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1111/jzo.13213","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ZOOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Hair hormone analysis has received increasing attention in the fields of wildlife management and conservation over the last decade. However, few studies focused on sex steroid hormones, even though hair sex steroid hormone analysis has the potential to provide information on an individual's reproductive health, leading to a better understanding of animal reproductive biology and the assessment of individual and population health. Here, we tested the assay validation and examined whether hair progesterone concentration (HPC) differs between different sexes and age classes in the Asian black bear, Ursus thibetanus. We also investigated the effects of reproductive condition, age, and body condition index (BCI) on HPC to determine the utility of hair progesterone analysis in bears. The assay validation was reported in our study. We found a significantly higher HPC in adult females than in juvenile females and juvenile and adult males. In addition, we found no effects of age and BCI on HPC but a significant positive effect of reproductive condition, as the HPC in breeding adult females was significantly higher than in nonbreeding adult females. These results suggest that hair progesterone analysis has the potential to evaluate the reproductive condition of Asian black bears.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Zoology publishes high-quality research papers that are original and are of broad interest. The Editors seek studies that are hypothesis-driven and interdisciplinary in nature. Papers on animal behaviour, ecology, physiology, anatomy, developmental biology, evolution, systematics, genetics and genomics will be considered; research that explores the interface between these disciplines is strongly encouraged. Studies dealing with geographically and/or taxonomically restricted topics should test general hypotheses, describe novel findings or have broad implications.
The Journal of Zoology aims to maintain an effective but fair peer-review process that recognises research quality as a combination of the relevance, approach and execution of a research study.