Infrared thermography is an effective, noninvasive measure of HPA activation

Ouyang, Jenny Q.; Macaballug, Paul; Chen, Hao; Hodach, Kristiana; Tang, Shelly; Francis, Jacob S.

doi:10.1080/10253890.2020.1868431

Cited by 15 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Interestingly, despite directional similarity between thermal and hormonal responses, we did not find a significant relationship between TEYE SR and CORT BL. This finding is concordant with results of the recent experimental study on the House Sparrow Passer domesticus showing that changes in skin temperature recorded by infrared thermography reflects the reactivity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis controlling the stress response but is not a good proxy for natural variation in circulating glucocorticoid levels [ 71 ]. As mentioned before, we controlled some other factors affecting the CORT level by performing the study in the short period of time and accounting for sex and weather conditions in the analyses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Eye Region Surface Temperature and Corticosterone Response to Acute Stress in a High-Arctic Seabird, the Little Auk

Jakubas

Wojczulanis‐Jakubas

Grissot

et al. 2022

Animals

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Measuring changes in surface body temperature (specifically in eye-region) in vertebrates using infrared thermography is increasingly applied for detection of the stress reaction. Here we investigated the relationship between the eye-region temperature (TEYE; measured with infrared thermography), the corticosterone level in blood (CORT; stress indicator in birds), and some covariates (ambient temperature, humidity, and sex/body size) in a High-Arctic seabird, the Little Auk Alle alle. The birds responded to the capture-restrain protocol (blood sampling at the moment of capturing, and after 30 min of restrain) by a significant TEYE and CORT increase. However, the strength of the TEYE and CORT response to acute stress were not correlated. It confirms the results of a recent study on other species and all together indicates that infrared thermography is a useful, non-invasive measure of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis reactivity under acute activation, but it might not be a suitable proxy for natural variation of circulating glucocorticoid levels.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Eye Region Surface Temperature and Corticosterone Response to Acute Stress in a High-Arctic Seabird, the Little Auk

Jakubas

Wojczulanis‐Jakubas

Grissot

et al. 2022

Animals

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“…In birds, temperature fluctuations at the richly vascularized region surrounding the eye (e.g., the periorbital region, henceforth, the "eye region") have been proposed as useful metrics of physiological stress-responsiveness (Edgar et al, 2013;Herborn et al, 2015;Jerem et al, 2015;Robertson et al, 2020b), with ANSmediation of local vascular flow (i.e., via constriction of the ophthalmic artery and rete ophthalmicum bypass arterioles) being described in some species (Cuthbertson et al, 1997;Midtgård, 1985). Intriguingly, several studies have reported correlations between circulating concentrations of corticosterone-a steroid hormone known to modulate stress-induced ANS responsiveness (Sapolsky et al, 2000)-and eye region temperature in both captive and free-living bird species (Jerem et al, 2018(Jerem et al, , 2019Herborn et al, 2015;Ouyang et al, 2021; suggestive evidence in Herborn et al, 2018; but see Jerem, 2019). Such findings provide reasonable support for the first criteria of ANS control over stress-induced changes in temperature at the eye region.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In Domestic Hens, the magnitudes of stress-induced changes in wattle and comb temperature have been shown to vary according to stressor intensity, with stressors that contributed to higher levels of glucocorticoid secretion resulting in larger reductions in comb and wattle temperature than those that contributed to lower levels of glucocorticoid secretion (Herborn et al, 2015). Similarly, in House Sparrows, skin temperature was negatively correlated with the magnitude of glucocorticoid secretion following pharmacological stimulation of the HPA axis (Ouyang et al, 2021). Together, these findings strongly suggest that regional thermal responses to stress exposure may reveal useful information about individual variation in HPA axis, or ANS sensitivity.…”

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confidence: 99%

Infrared thermography as a technique to measure physiological stress in birds: Body region and image angle matter

et al. 2021

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In vertebrates, changes in surface temperature following exposure to an acute stressor are thought to be promising indicators of the physiological stress response that may be captured noninvasively by infrared thermography. However, the efficacy of using stress‐induced changes in surface temperature as indicators of physiological stress‐responsiveness requires: (1) an understanding of how such responses vary across the body, (2) a magnitude of local, stress‐induced thermal responses that is large enough to discriminate and quantify differences among individuals with conventional technologies, and (3) knowledge of how susceptible measurements across different body regions are to systematic error. In birds, temperature of the bare tissues surrounding the eye (the periorbital, or “eye,” region) and covering the bill have each been speculated as possible predictors of stress physiological state. Using the domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica; n = 9), we show that stress‐induced changes in surface temperature are most pronounced at the bill and that thermal responses at only the bill have sufficient resolution to detect and quantify differences in responsiveness among individuals. More importantly, we show that surface temperature estimates at the eye region experience greater error due to changes in bird orientation than those at the bill. Such error concealed detection of stress‐induced thermal responses at the eye region. Our results highlight that: (1) in some species, bill temperature may serve as a more robust indicator of autonomic stress‐responsiveness than eye region temperature, and (2) future studies should account for spatial orientation of study individuals if inference is to be drawn from infrared thermographic images.

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“…Stress-induced hyperthermia, or emotional fever, is an acute stress response mediated by the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) in combination with sympathetic-adrenal medullary (SAM). This causes a release of stress hormones, such as cortisol, corticosterone, and temperature changes (49, 50).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding Chicks’ Emotions: Are Eye Blinks & Facial Temperatures Reliable Indicators?

Pijpers

Heuvel

Duncan

et al. 2022

Preprint

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For objective evaluation, monitoring and management of poultry welfare, novel non-invasive indicators, proxies, and iceberg indicators of stress is required. Using thermal imaging and video imaging, we explored animal-based indicators such as eye blinks and facial temperatures of chicks as measures of stress. Routinely collected video data from poultry commercial farms has the potential to be digitized by Artificial Intelligence and the combination of indicators of stress be analyzed in the development of welfare assessment protocols. Monitoring facial temperature variations via infrared imaging and blinking frequency of chickens could be a sensitive metric that may offer insights on the stressful environments. The identification of relevant poultry welfare indicators to improve welfare assessment such as the iceberg indicators are essential to monitor welfare at both small scale and large-scale industrial poultry production facilities. In commercial farming systems, chicks are reared without a mother. This absence of maternal influence can cause welfare problems when the chicks become older. Chicks imprint on their mothers they are young, and this mediates their stress and fear response. It is important to recognise problems early in the development of chicks to avoid welfare issues when they are older. One way to assess welfare is by measuring affective states. Research has shown chickens can display empathy, both towards their offspring and towards conspecifics. Measures of negative and positive affective states, either behavioural or physiological, could be good welfare indicators. This study employed non-invasive methods to measure affective states in laying hen chicks. Using video and thermal imaging, it analysed temperature changes in the peripheral areas and head region as well as changes in blinking behaviour before and after exposure to a stressor. The prediction was that the temperature would decrease in the eye and peripheral regions in response to a stressor and that the blinking rate would decrease. These changes would be indicative of a negative affective state. The results showed that the eye temperature as well as the blinking rate both decreased, whereas the temperature in the head region and the beak area increased. These results could be indicative of a negative affective state.

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Infrared thermography is an effective, noninvasive measure of HPA activation

Cited by 15 publications

References 25 publications

Eye Region Surface Temperature and Corticosterone Response to Acute Stress in a High-Arctic Seabird, the Little Auk

Eye Region Surface Temperature and Corticosterone Response to Acute Stress in a High-Arctic Seabird, the Little Auk

Infrared thermography as a technique to measure physiological stress in birds: Body region and image angle matter

Understanding Chicks’ Emotions: Are Eye Blinks & Facial Temperatures Reliable Indicators?

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