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Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand

The aim of this study was to examine relationships among serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin in pregnant and normal cycling Asian elephants living in tourist camps in northern Thailand. Samples were collected twice a month for 22 months from nine elephants. Of those, four were pregnant (24.3...

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Autores principales: Towiboon, Patcharapa, Saenphet, Kanokporn, Tayapiwattana, Chatchai, Tangyuenyong, Siriwan, Watanabe, Gen, Mahasawangkul, Sittidet, Brown, Janine L., Thitaram, Chatchote
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9144649/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35622772
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9050244
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author Towiboon, Patcharapa
Saenphet, Kanokporn
Tayapiwattana, Chatchai
Tangyuenyong, Siriwan
Watanabe, Gen
Mahasawangkul, Sittidet
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
author_facet Towiboon, Patcharapa
Saenphet, Kanokporn
Tayapiwattana, Chatchai
Tangyuenyong, Siriwan
Watanabe, Gen
Mahasawangkul, Sittidet
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
author_sort Towiboon, Patcharapa
collection PubMed
description The aim of this study was to examine relationships among serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin in pregnant and normal cycling Asian elephants living in tourist camps in northern Thailand. Samples were collected twice a month for 22 months from nine elephants. Of those, four were pregnant (24.3 ± 2.9 years of age; range 21–28 years) and five (20.2 ± 9.6 years; range 8–34 years) exhibited normal ovarian cycles based on serum progestagen analyses. Gestation was divided into three periods: 1st (week 1–31), 2nd (week 32–62), and 3rd (week 63 to parturition), while the estrous cycle was divided into the follicular and luteal phases. Serum progestagens were higher during the luteal phase of the cycle (p < 0.003), whereas cortisol and prolactin were similar. In pregnant elephants, there were no differences in serum progestagens or cortisol concentrations across the three gestational periods, whereas prolactin concentrations increased significantly during the 2nd and 3rd periods (p < 0.0001). By contrast, prolactin concentrations in nonpregnant elephants were consistently low throughout the ovarian cycle. In one cycling female, prolactin concentrations were similar to pregnant elephants, perhaps because she was an allomother to two calves. Another cycling female exhibited consistently elevated cortisol concentrations, 5 to 10 times higher than the other elephants. There were no correlations between serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin throughout gestation; however, serum progestagens and cortisol were positively related in cycling elephants (r = 0.386, p < 0.001). From our results, there were a number of individual differences in reproductive hormonal patterns, so it is important to develop personalized monitoring programs for each elephant to enhance breeding success and create sustaining captive populations of elephants in Asia.
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spelling pubmed-91446492022-05-29 Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand Towiboon, Patcharapa Saenphet, Kanokporn Tayapiwattana, Chatchai Tangyuenyong, Siriwan Watanabe, Gen Mahasawangkul, Sittidet Brown, Janine L. Thitaram, Chatchote Vet Sci Article The aim of this study was to examine relationships among serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin in pregnant and normal cycling Asian elephants living in tourist camps in northern Thailand. Samples were collected twice a month for 22 months from nine elephants. Of those, four were pregnant (24.3 ± 2.9 years of age; range 21–28 years) and five (20.2 ± 9.6 years; range 8–34 years) exhibited normal ovarian cycles based on serum progestagen analyses. Gestation was divided into three periods: 1st (week 1–31), 2nd (week 32–62), and 3rd (week 63 to parturition), while the estrous cycle was divided into the follicular and luteal phases. Serum progestagens were higher during the luteal phase of the cycle (p < 0.003), whereas cortisol and prolactin were similar. In pregnant elephants, there were no differences in serum progestagens or cortisol concentrations across the three gestational periods, whereas prolactin concentrations increased significantly during the 2nd and 3rd periods (p < 0.0001). By contrast, prolactin concentrations in nonpregnant elephants were consistently low throughout the ovarian cycle. In one cycling female, prolactin concentrations were similar to pregnant elephants, perhaps because she was an allomother to two calves. Another cycling female exhibited consistently elevated cortisol concentrations, 5 to 10 times higher than the other elephants. There were no correlations between serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin throughout gestation; however, serum progestagens and cortisol were positively related in cycling elephants (r = 0.386, p < 0.001). From our results, there were a number of individual differences in reproductive hormonal patterns, so it is important to develop personalized monitoring programs for each elephant to enhance breeding success and create sustaining captive populations of elephants in Asia. MDPI 2022-05-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9144649/ /pubmed/35622772 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9050244 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Towiboon, Patcharapa
Saenphet, Kanokporn
Tayapiwattana, Chatchai
Tangyuenyong, Siriwan
Watanabe, Gen
Mahasawangkul, Sittidet
Brown, Janine L.
Thitaram, Chatchote
Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title_full Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title_fullStr Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title_full_unstemmed Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title_short Relationship among Serum Progestagens, Cortisol, and Prolactin in Pregnant and Cycling Asian Elephants in Thailand
title_sort relationship among serum progestagens, cortisol, and prolactin in pregnant and cycling asian elephants in thailand
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9144649/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35622772
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/vetsci9050244
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