Hair cortisol detection in dairy cattle by using EIA: protocol validation and correlation with faecal cortisol metabolites

Abstract

Hair may be a useful matrix to detect cumulative cortisol concentrations in studies of animal welfare and chronic stress. The aim of this study was to validate a protocol for cortisol detection in hair from dairy cattle by enzyme immunoassay (EIA). Seventeen adult Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were used during the milking period. Hair cortisol concentration was assessed in 25-day-old hair samples taken from the frontal region of the head, analysing black and white coloured hair separately. Concentrations of cortisol metabolites were determined in faeces collected twice a week during the same period of time. There was a high correlation between cortisol values in faeces and cortisol in white colour hair samples but such correlation was not significant with the black colour hair samples. The intra-and inter-assay coefficients of variation were 4.9% and 10.6%, respectively. The linearity showed R 2 = 0.98 and mean percentage error of −10.8 ± 1.55%. The extraction efficiency was 89.0 ± 23.52% and the parallelism test showed similar slopes. Cortisol detection in hair by using EIA seems to be a valid method to represent long-term circulating cortisol levels in dairy cattle.Keywords: animal welfare, cortisol, dairy cattle, EIA, hair ImplicationsThe main implication of this study is the validation of a methodology for hair cortisol detection by enzyme immunoassay in dairy cattle. Hair cortisol detection is a promising methodology able to give information on long-term retrospective cortisol levels, which cannot be provided by any other established matrix. This study opens the possibility to use this methodology in chronic stress studies in dairy cattle welfare research, which is nowadays a hot topic.

Temporary Relocation during Rest Periods: Relocation Stress and Other Factors Influence Hair Cortisol Concentrations in Horses

“…In the same way, hair color had no significant influence on HCCs in bears and wolves [44,45]. However, some authors reported contradictory results regarding this issue in cows [10,25].…”

“…Steroid extraction was performed following a methanol-based protocol previously validated for hair samples [25]. Briefly, 250 ± 3 mg of hair from each sample were weighed with a precision scale and placed in 15 mL conical tubes.…”

Cortisol detection in fish scales by enzyme immunoassay: Biochemical and methodological validation

“…External sources of cortisol, presumably coming from the fish skin mucus (Bertotto et al, 2010), should be removed in order to study a more tightly bound fraction incorporated in the interior of the scale matrix. While isopropanol has been the wash solvent of choice to remove external contaminations of GC in mammal hair (Davenport, Tiefenbacher, Lutz, Novak, & Meyer, 2006;Tallo-Parra, Manteca, Sabes-Alsina, Carbajal, & Lopez-Bejar, 2015), in fish, only ultrapure water has been employed (Aerts et al, 2015). Hence, the first experiment explored the appropriateness of water and isopropanol as solvents to decontaminate the scale without influencing the hormone contents inside the scale.…”

Corrélation des taux de cortisol dans le sérum, les poils et les fèces chez le dromadaire (Camelus dromedarius)

“…Chez d'autres ruminants comme les cervidés ou le chamois, on note généralement un plus fort taux de cortisol (dans les fèces) en hiver (Saltz et White, 1991 ;Huber et al, 2003 ;Dalmau et al, 2007), bien que certaines études (Bubenik et al, 1983) Chez les bovins aussi les concentrations du cortisol pilaire sont positivement corrélées aux concentrations fécales et pourraient constituer un biomarqueur fiable pour évaluer indirectement les niveaux rétrospectifs du cortisol circulant et, par conséquent, l'activité de l'axe hypothalamo-hypophyso-surrénalien à long terme (Tallo-Parra et al, 2015). Des corrélations positives ont été rapportées entre les concentrations du cortisol sanguin et salivaire chez la brebis (Yates et al, 2010), et du cortisol dans les poils et les fèces chez le chat et le chien (Accorsi et al, 2008), et entre le cortisol urinaire et fécal chez l'homme (Sauvé et al, 2007).…”