Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition
The blubber steroid hormone profiles of 52 female humpback whales migrating along the east coast of Australia were investigated for seasonal endocrine changes associated with reproduction. Individuals were randomly sampled during two stages of the annual migration: before reaching the breeding groun...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7031522 2023-05-15T17:10:50+02:00 Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition Dalle Luche, Greta Boggs, Ashley S. P. Kucklick, John R. Groß, Jasmin Hawker, Darryl W. Bengtson Nash, Susan 2020-02-19 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7031522/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075989 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 en eng Nature Publishing Group UK http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7031522/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075989 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. CC-BY Article Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 2020-03-01T01:31:52Z The blubber steroid hormone profiles of 52 female humpback whales migrating along the east coast of Australia were investigated for seasonal endocrine changes associated with reproduction. Individuals were randomly sampled during two stages of the annual migration: before reaching the breeding grounds (northward migration; June/July), and after departing from the breeding grounds (southward migration; September/October). Assignment of reproductive status of the sampled individuals was based on season, single-hormone ranks and multi-variate analysis of the hormonal profiles. High concentrations of progesterone (>19 ng/g, wet weight), recognised as an indicator of pregnancy in this species, were only detected in one sample. However, the androgens, testosterone and androstenedione were measured in unusually high concentrations (1.6–12 and 7.8–40 ng/g wet weight, respectively) in 36% of the females approaching the breeding grounds. The absence of a strong accompanying progesterone signal in these animals raises the possibility of progesterone withdrawal prior to parturition. As seen with other cetacean species, testosterone and androstenedione could be markers of near-term pregnancy in humpback whales. Confirmation of these androgens as alternate biomarkers of near-term pregnancy would carry implications for improved monitoring of the annual fecundity of humpback whales via non-lethal and minimally invasive methods. Text Megaptera novaeangliae PubMed Central (PMC) Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Article Dalle Luche, Greta Boggs, Ashley S. P. Kucklick, John R. Groß, Jasmin Hawker, Darryl W. Bengtson Nash, Susan Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
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The blubber steroid hormone profiles of 52 female humpback whales migrating along the east coast of Australia were investigated for seasonal endocrine changes associated with reproduction. Individuals were randomly sampled during two stages of the annual migration: before reaching the breeding grounds (northward migration; June/July), and after departing from the breeding grounds (southward migration; September/October). Assignment of reproductive status of the sampled individuals was based on season, single-hormone ranks and multi-variate analysis of the hormonal profiles. High concentrations of progesterone (>19 ng/g, wet weight), recognised as an indicator of pregnancy in this species, were only detected in one sample. However, the androgens, testosterone and androstenedione were measured in unusually high concentrations (1.6–12 and 7.8–40 ng/g wet weight, respectively) in 36% of the females approaching the breeding grounds. The absence of a strong accompanying progesterone signal in these animals raises the possibility of progesterone withdrawal prior to parturition. As seen with other cetacean species, testosterone and androstenedione could be markers of near-term pregnancy in humpback whales. Confirmation of these androgens as alternate biomarkers of near-term pregnancy would carry implications for improved monitoring of the annual fecundity of humpback whales via non-lethal and minimally invasive methods. |
format |
Text |
author |
Dalle Luche, Greta Boggs, Ashley S. P. Kucklick, John R. Groß, Jasmin Hawker, Darryl W. Bengtson Nash, Susan |
author_facet |
Dalle Luche, Greta Boggs, Ashley S. P. Kucklick, John R. Groß, Jasmin Hawker, Darryl W. Bengtson Nash, Susan |
author_sort |
Dalle Luche, Greta |
title |
Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
title_short |
Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
title_full |
Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
title_fullStr |
Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
title_full_unstemmed |
Androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
title_sort |
androstenedione and testosterone but not progesterone are potential biomarkers of pregnancy in humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) approaching parturition |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group UK |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7031522/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075989 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 |
genre |
Megaptera novaeangliae |
genre_facet |
Megaptera novaeangliae |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7031522/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32075989 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-58933-4 |
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