Hair cortisol varies with season and lifestyle and relates to human interactions in German shepherd dogs
Hair cortisol varies with season and lifestyle and relates to human interactions in German shepherd dogs
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DOI：
10.1038/srep19631
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发表时间：
2016-01-21
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Jensen, Per
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Roth, Lina S. V.;Faresjo, Ashild;Jensen, Per
测量动物的长期内分泌应激反应具有挑战性。我们调查了从狗毛中提取的皮质醇是否反映了长期（数周和数月）的活动和压力水平。对总共 59 只德国牧羊犬的毛发样本进行了分析。在三个场合收集了测量皮质醇浓度的样本，我们用犬行为评估和研究问卷（C-BARQ）的个体分数补充了数据。广义线性混合模型（GLMM）结果显示，毛发皮质醇随季节和生活方式的不同而变化：竞赛犬的皮质醇水平高于伴侣犬和专业工作犬，且一月份的水平高于五月和九月。此外，皮质醇水平与针对陌生人的攻击行为的 C-BARQ 评分之间存在正相关关系（r = 0.31，P = 0.036）。有趣的是，“经常与狗玩耍”（r = -0.34，P = 0.019）和“当狗行为正确时奖励零食/玩具”（r = -0.37，P = 0.010）因素与皮质醇水平呈负相关，这表明积极的人类互动可以减轻压力。总之，毛发皮质醇是一种很有前途的方法，可以揭示 HPA 轴在较长时间内的活动，而人类的相互作用会影响狗的皮质醇水平。
It is challenging to measure long-term endocrine stress responses in animals. We investigated whether cortisol extracted from dog hair reflected the levels of activity and stress long-term, during weeks and months. Hair samples from in total 59 German shepherds were analysed. Samples for measuring cortisol concentrations were collected at three occasions and we complemented the data with individual scores from the Canine Behavioural Assessment and Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ). Generalised linear mixed model (GLMM) results showed that hair cortisol varied with season and lifestyle: competition dogs had higher levels than companion, and professional working dogs, and levels were higher in January than in May and September. In addition, a positive correlation was found between the cortisol levels and the C-BARQ score for stranger-directed aggression (r = 0.31, P = 0.036). Interestingly, the factor "playing often with the dog" (r = -0.34, P = 0.019) and "reward with a treat/toy when the dog behaves correctly" (r = -0.37, P = 0.010) correlated negatively with cortisol levels, suggesting that positive human interactions reduce stress. In conclusion, hair cortisol is a promising method for revealing the activity of the HPA-axis over a longer period of time, and human interactions influence the cortisol level in dogs.