Quantifying hormones in exhaled breath for physiological assessment of large whales at sea

Scientific Reports
Elizabeth A BurgessRosalind M Rolland

Abstract

Exhaled breath analysis is a non-invasive assessment tool that has shown promise in human diagnostics, and could greatly benefit research, management, and conservation of large whales. However, hormone assessment of whale respiratory vapor (blow) has been challenged by variable water content and unknown total volume of collected samples. To advance this technique, we investigated urea (a compound present in narrow range in circulation) as a normalizing factor to correct for blow sample concentration. Normalized progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol concentrations of 100 blow samples from 46 photo-identified North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) were more biologically relevant compared to absolute estimates, varying by sex, age class, or individual. Progesterone was elevated in adult females compared with other cohorts and highest in one independently confirmed pregnant female. For both sexes, testosterone was two-fold higher in reproductively mature whales but studied adult females showed the widest variation. Cortisol was present in relatively low concentrations in blow and demonstrated variation between individual whales, suggesting potential for studies of individual differences in adrenal activity. Incorporat...Continue Reading

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Citations

Sep 10, 2020·Conservation Physiology·Laura Pujade BusquetaJane I Khudyakov
Nov 17, 2019·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Kelly J RobinsonVincent M Janik
Dec 12, 2020·Conservation Physiology·Leila S LemosLeigh G Torres
Apr 6, 2019·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Kathleen E HuntRosalind M Rolland
Mar 12, 2021·Critical Reviews in Analytical Chemistry·Maryam KhoubnasabjafariAbolghasem Jouyban
Apr 4, 2021·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Anja ReckendorfUrsula Siebert
Jun 1, 2021·General and Comparative Endocrinology·Alejandro Fernández AjóC Loren Buck

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
biopsy
urine volume

Software Mentioned

AIC
SPSS
SPSS®

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