The non-invasive measurement of faecal immunoglobulin in African equids

Tombak, Kaia J.; Budischak, Sarah A.; Hauck, Stephanie; Martinez, Lindsay; Rubenstein, Daniel I.

doi:10.1016/j.ijppaw.2020.05.005

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Given the absence of a clear fIgA response to strongyle nematode clearance, it could be argued that this morphotype may affect the secretion of IgA from the intestinal mucosa only a little. However, strongyle nematode egg count was positively correlated to IgA levels in plasma and feces of Soay sheep ( Ovis aries ) and donkeys (Pernthaner et al, 2006; Tombak et al, 2020; Watt et al, 2016), but this interrelationship did not appear in zebras (Tombak et al, 2020). At least Trichuris spp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on studies reporting significant correlations between parasitic burden/infection intensity and fIgA concentrations (e.g., Gesquiere et al, 2020;Pernthaner et al, 2006;Tombak et al, 2020), we expected fIgA levels to change significantly following an anthelmintic treatment that successfully removed the most abundant parasite (strongyle nematodes, prevalence = 98% pretreatment) in our study species. However, the temporal pattern in fIgA excretion during the six months study period was similar in treated and nontreated monkeys, and was also not different during the period of treatment and reinfection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, in mice, fIgA levels were negatively associated with parasite infections ( Heligmosomoides polygyrus and Eimeria spp. burden; Clerc et al, 2018), whereas in goats and donkeys, fecal parasite egg count, a crude indicator of worm burden (Gassó et al, 2015; Nielsen et al, 2010), was positively correlated with IgA concentrations (de la Chevrotière et al, 2012; Tombak et al, 2020). In sheep, increased IgA levels were related to resistance to gastrointestinal nematode infection (Pernthaner et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding wildlife, the measurement of fecal IgA (fIgA) could help to assess mucosal immunity in relation to parasite infections, providing a complementary physiological marker to those reflecting systemic immunity. IgA levels can be measured in minimally or noninvasively collected samples, including saliva, urine, and feces of many species, such as rodents (Bundgaard et al, 2012; Eriksson et al, 2004; Pihl & Hau, 2003; Taira et al, 2015), domestic animals (Carlsson et al, 2007; Heinrichs et al, 2013; Tress et al, 2006), equids (Krueger et al, 2019; Tombak et al, 2020), Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus : Edwards et al, 2019; Kosaruk et al, 2020), roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus : Escribano‐Avila et al, 2013), Nonhuman primates ( Papio spp . : Gesquiere et al, 2020; P. troglodytes : Lantz et al, 2018; M. fascicularis : Paramastri et al, 2007) and humans (Kang et al, 2018; Scholtens et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Responsiveness of fecal immunoglobulin A to HPA‐axis activation limits its use for mucosal immunity assessment

Behringer

Müller‐Klein

Strübe

et al. 2021

American J Primatol

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The assessment of mucosal immunity as a component of animal health is an important aspect for the understanding of variation in host immunity, and its tradeoff against other life‐history traits. We investigated immunoglobulin A (IgA), the major type of antibody associated with mucosal immunity, in relation to changes in parasitic burden following anthelminthic treatment in noninvasively collected fecal samples in a semi‐free ranging group of Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). We measured IgA in 340 fecal samples of fourteen females and nine males. As IgA has been found to be responsive to stressors, we also related fecal IgA (fIgA) levels to fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM) measured in the same samples as part of a previous study. We found a high variability within and between individual fIgA levels over time. Running generalized additive mixed models, we found that fIgA levels were higher in males than in females, but did not change in response to the anthelmintic treatment and the resulting reduction in worm burden. Instead, fIgA level changes were significantly correlated to changes in fGCM levels. Our findings indicate that due to the strong responsiveness of fIgA to HPA‐axis activity, the measurement of fIgA may have certain limitations with respect to reflecting gastrointestinal parasitic burden. Moreover, the responsiveness of fIgA to stressors interferes with the interpretation of IgA levels in fecal samples as a measure of mucosal immunity, at least in our study population of the Barbary macaques.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Responsiveness of fecal immunoglobulin A to HPA‐axis activation limits its use for mucosal immunity assessment

Behringer

Müller‐Klein

Strübe

et al. 2021

American J Primatol

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“…This has allowed us to address new questions in previously inaccessible study systems (Behringer & Deschner, 2017 ; Narayan, 2013 ). But while non‐invasive methods are commonly applied to study animal energetics (Emery Thompson, 2017 ), endocrinology (McCormick & Romero, 2017 ) and, more recently, immune function (Behringer et al, 2017 ; Tombak et al, 2020 ), non‐invasive studies of oxidative stress physiology in the wild are rare (Thompson González et al, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methodological confounds of measuring urinary oxidative stress in wild animals

Melvin

Dhirani

Mitchell

et al. 2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Biomarkers of oxidative stress (OS) are useful in addressing a wide range of research questions, but thus far, they have had limited application to wild mammal populations due to a reliance on blood or tissue sampling. A shift toward non‐invasive measurement of OS would allow field ecologists and conservationists to apply this method more readily. However, the impact of methodological confounds on urinary OS measurement under field conditions has never been explicitly investigated. We combined a cross‐sectional analysis with a field experiment to assess the impact of four potential methodological confounds on OS measurements: (1) time of sampling, (2) environmental contamination from foliage; (3) delay between sample collection and flash‐freezing in liquid nitrogen; and (4) sample storage of up to 15 months below −80°C. We measured DNA oxidative damage (8‐hydroxy‐2′‐deoxyguanosine, 8‐OHdG), lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde, MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and uric acid (UA) in 167 urine samples collected from wild Zanzibar red colobus ( Piliocolobus kirkii ). We found that MDA was higher in samples collected in the morning than in the afternoon but there were no diurnal patterns in any of the other markers. Contamination of samples from foliage and length of time frozen at −80°C for up to 15 months did not affect OS marker concentrations. Freezing delay did not affect OS levels cross‐sectionally, but OS values from individual samples showed only moderate‐to‐good consistency and substantial rank‐order reversals when exposed to different freezing delays. We recommend that diurnal patterns of OS markers and the impact of storage time before and after freezing on OS marker concentrations be considered when designing sampling protocols. However, given the high stability we observed for four OS markers subject to a variety of putative methodological confounds, we suggest that urinary OS markers provide a valuable addition to the toolkit of field ecologists and conservationists within reasonable methodological constraints.

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