Common myths of glucocorticoid function in ecology and conservation
Common myths of glucocorticoid function in ecology and conservation
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关于糖皮质激素在生态和保护中的功能的常见误解
DOI：
10.1002/jez.2459
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发表时间：
2022
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Beattie, Ursula K.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Romero, L. Michael;Beattie, Ursula K.
糖皮质激素是生物医学和生态学研究压力时常用的激素。许多用于解释糖皮质激素结果的假设来自人类或实验室啮齿动物的生物医学数据，但这些假设在野外条件下对野生动物往往无效。我们讨论了五个常见的假设，通常在生态和保护研究，一般不支持的文献糖皮质激素。(1)糖皮质激素的高急性升高表明动物处于困境中。事实上：因为糖皮质激素是在压力下生存所必需的，浓度升高往往反映了足够的应对能力。(2)糖皮质激素浓度低表明动物健康。其实：由于糖皮质激素在应对压力方面很重要，糖皮质激素浓度低可能表明缺乏适当的应对措施。(3)糖皮质激素持续升高表明动物长期处于应激状态。事实上：糖皮质激素浓度本身在诊断慢性压力方面没有预测价值。(4)糖皮质激素调动能量以应对短期压力，如捕食者攻击。事实上：糖皮质激素对能量调节的主要影响是从细胞表面清除葡萄糖转运蛋白。这一过程不仅太慢，无法提供短期能量，而且糖皮质激素诱导的葡萄糖增加反映了葡萄糖利用率的降低，而不是增加。(5)非血液组织中的糖皮质激素测量（例如，粪便、毛发、羽毛等）相当于血液浓度。事实上：这些替代组织呈现出对血液浓度的不完全反映，并且正是血液浓度与受体相互作用以引起生物变化。总之，适当考虑这些共同的假设将大大有助于解释糖皮质激素的数据，从生态和保护研究。
Glucocorticoids are popular hormones to measure in both biomedical and ecological studies of stress. Many assumptions used to interpret glucocorticoid results are derived from biomedical data on humans or laboratory rodents, but these assumptions often fail for wild animals under field conditions. We discuss five common assumptions often made about glucocorticoids in ecological and conservation research that are not generally supported by the literature. (1) High acute elevations of glucocorticoids indicate an animal in distress. In fact: because glucocorticoids are needed to survive stressors, elevated concentrations often reflect adequate coping. (2) Low glucocorticoid concentrations indicate a healthy animal. In fact: because glucocorticoids are important in responding to stressors, low glucocorticoid concentrations might indicate the lack of adequate coping. (3) Sustained elevated glucocorticoids indicate chronically stressed animals. In fact: glucocorticoid concentrations by themselves have no predictive value in diagnosing chronic stress. (4) Glucocorticoids mobilize energy to survive short‐term stressors such as predator attacks. In fact: glucocorticoids' primary impact on energy regulation is to remove glucose transporters from cell surfaces. Not only is this process too slow to provide short‐term energy, but glucocorticoid‐induced increases in glucose reflect decreased, not increased, glucose utilization. (5) Glucocorticoid measurements in non‐blood tissues (e.g., feces, hair, feathers, etc.) are equivalent to blood concentrations. In fact: these alternative tissues present imperfect reflections of blood concentrations, and it is blood concentrations that interact with receptors to evoke biological change. In summary, proper consideration of these common assumptions will greatly aid in interpreting glucocorticoid data from ecological and conservation studies.