Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state?
The authors would also like to thank DRG International Inc. for their financial support that enabled the attendance of The European Cetacean Society Conference in 2012 where part of this work was presented. This work was partly supported by the National Capability Funding from the Natural Environmen...
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/8402 2023-07-02T03:32:30+02:00 Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? Kershaw, Joanna L. Hall, Ailsa J. NERC University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute 2016-03-11T13:00:09Z 9 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8402 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 eng eng Scientific Reports Kershaw , J L & Hall , A J 2016 , ' Seasonal variation in harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 6 , 21889 . https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 2045-2322 PURE: 241557344 PURE UUID: 7871f26b-3f54-419d-b995-776a021b2a36 Bibtex: urn:2dfc22b7343fc41a3d694fda61c98366 Scopus: 84959237006 ORCID: /0000-0002-7562-1771/work/47136306 WOS: 000370684000001 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8402 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 Agreement R8-H12-86 Copyright 2016 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. Ecophysiology Fat metabolism QH301 Biology QH301 Journal article 2016 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 2023-06-13T18:30:39Z The authors would also like to thank DRG International Inc. for their financial support that enabled the attendance of The European Cetacean Society Conference in 2012 where part of this work was presented. This work was partly supported by the National Capability Funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and by a School of Biology Class Grant. Cortisol is one of the main glucocorticoid hormones involved in both the mammalian stress response, and in fat metabolism and energy regulation, making it of increasing interest as a biomarker for stress, health and overall physiological state. However, transient stress responses to animal handling and sampling may be important sources of measurement artefact when investigating circulating concentrations of this hormone in wildlife. Here, cortisol concentrations were measured in the plasma and, for the first time, in the blubber of live captured adult harbour seals (Phoca vitulina). Plasma cortisol concentrations were positively correlated with capture time, suggesting that they were largely driven by a stress response to the capture event. In contrast, blubber cortisol concentrations were shown not to be significantly affected by capture time and varied significantly by sex and by season, with higher concentrations during natural fasting periods of their life cycle, particularly during the moult. These results suggest that cortisol may play a key role in increased fat metabolism during highly energetically demanding periods, and that blubber concentrations have the potential to be used as physiological state indicators in phocid seals. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper harbour seal Phoca vitulina University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Scientific Reports 6 1 |
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Open Polar |
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University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
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ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
Ecophysiology Fat metabolism QH301 Biology QH301 |
spellingShingle |
Ecophysiology Fat metabolism QH301 Biology QH301 Kershaw, Joanna L. Hall, Ailsa J. Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
topic_facet |
Ecophysiology Fat metabolism QH301 Biology QH301 |
description |
The authors would also like to thank DRG International Inc. for their financial support that enabled the attendance of The European Cetacean Society Conference in 2012 where part of this work was presented. This work was partly supported by the National Capability Funding from the Natural Environment Research Council and by a School of Biology Class Grant. Cortisol is one of the main glucocorticoid hormones involved in both the mammalian stress response, and in fat metabolism and energy regulation, making it of increasing interest as a biomarker for stress, health and overall physiological state. However, transient stress responses to animal handling and sampling may be important sources of measurement artefact when investigating circulating concentrations of this hormone in wildlife. Here, cortisol concentrations were measured in the plasma and, for the first time, in the blubber of live captured adult harbour seals (Phoca vitulina). Plasma cortisol concentrations were positively correlated with capture time, suggesting that they were largely driven by a stress response to the capture event. In contrast, blubber cortisol concentrations were shown not to be significantly affected by capture time and varied significantly by sex and by season, with higher concentrations during natural fasting periods of their life cycle, particularly during the moult. These results suggest that cortisol may play a key role in increased fat metabolism during highly energetically demanding periods, and that blubber concentrations have the potential to be used as physiological state indicators in phocid seals. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed |
author2 |
NERC University of St Andrews. School of Biology University of St Andrews. Sea Mammal Research Unit University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kershaw, Joanna L. Hall, Ailsa J. |
author_facet |
Kershaw, Joanna L. Hall, Ailsa J. |
author_sort |
Kershaw, Joanna L. |
title |
Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
title_short |
Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
title_full |
Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal variation in harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? |
title_sort |
seasonal variation in harbour seal (phoca vitulina) blubber cortisol - a novel indicator of physiological state? |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8402 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 |
genre |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
genre_facet |
harbour seal Phoca vitulina |
op_relation |
Scientific Reports Kershaw , J L & Hall , A J 2016 , ' Seasonal variation in harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina ) blubber cortisol - A novel indicator of physiological state? ' , Scientific Reports , vol. 6 , 21889 . https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 2045-2322 PURE: 241557344 PURE UUID: 7871f26b-3f54-419d-b995-776a021b2a36 Bibtex: urn:2dfc22b7343fc41a3d694fda61c98366 Scopus: 84959237006 ORCID: /0000-0002-7562-1771/work/47136306 WOS: 000370684000001 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/8402 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 Agreement R8-H12-86 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2016 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep21889 |
container_title |
Scientific Reports |
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6 |
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1 |
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1770272092167602176 |