Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>)
Responses to stress are unavoidable, adaptive mechanisms in humans and non-human animals. However, in humans, chronic stress has been linked to poor health outcomes and early mortality. Allostatic load, the physiologic dysregulation that occurs when an organism is exposed to chronic stressors, has b...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-10-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3074 |
| _version_ | 1797410876307800064 |
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| author | Kathryn E. Seeley Kathryn L. Proudfoot Barbara Wolfe Douglas E. Crews |
| author_facet | Kathryn E. Seeley Kathryn L. Proudfoot Barbara Wolfe Douglas E. Crews |
| author_sort | Kathryn E. Seeley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Responses to stress are unavoidable, adaptive mechanisms in humans and non-human animals. However, in humans, chronic stress has been linked to poor health outcomes and early mortality. Allostatic load, the physiologic dysregulation that occurs when an organism is exposed to chronic stressors, has been used to assess stress in humans; less work has been done using non-human primates. Our aim was to determine the relationship between allostatic load in ring-tailed lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) under human care and potentially stressful individual, social, medical and husbandry factors, as well a sex and age. An allostatic load index (ALI) was calculated for 38 lemurs using six biomarkers measured in serum (albumin, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, DNA damage, glucose and prostaglandin E2). Potentially stressful factors were recorded over the lifetime of each lemur using medical and husbandry records. Animals with a higher percentage of time spent indoors, those kept in smaller average group sizes, and those with fewer minor group composition changes had, or tended to have, higher ALI. There was no relationship between ALI and sex or age. Some social and husbandry factors were associated with allostatic load in lemurs, indicating that this index may be a useful tool in assessing and determining factors contributing to stress of lemurs and other animals under human care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:36:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1f651143df2b4bea864206802ef75b61 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T04:36:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021-10-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-1f651143df2b4bea864206802ef75b612023-12-03T13:27:12ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-10-011111307410.3390/ani11113074Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>)Kathryn E. Seeley0Kathryn L. Proudfoot1Barbara Wolfe2Douglas E. Crews3The Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Powell, OH 43065, USAHealth Management, Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, PE C1A 4P3, CanadaClinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USADepartment of Anthropology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USAResponses to stress are unavoidable, adaptive mechanisms in humans and non-human animals. However, in humans, chronic stress has been linked to poor health outcomes and early mortality. Allostatic load, the physiologic dysregulation that occurs when an organism is exposed to chronic stressors, has been used to assess stress in humans; less work has been done using non-human primates. Our aim was to determine the relationship between allostatic load in ring-tailed lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) under human care and potentially stressful individual, social, medical and husbandry factors, as well a sex and age. An allostatic load index (ALI) was calculated for 38 lemurs using six biomarkers measured in serum (albumin, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate, DNA damage, glucose and prostaglandin E2). Potentially stressful factors were recorded over the lifetime of each lemur using medical and husbandry records. Animals with a higher percentage of time spent indoors, those kept in smaller average group sizes, and those with fewer minor group composition changes had, or tended to have, higher ALI. There was no relationship between ALI and sex or age. Some social and husbandry factors were associated with allostatic load in lemurs, indicating that this index may be a useful tool in assessing and determining factors contributing to stress of lemurs and other animals under human care.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3074allostatic load indexchronic stressstressorsnon-human primates<i>Lemur catta</i> |
| spellingShingle | Kathryn E. Seeley Kathryn L. Proudfoot Barbara Wolfe Douglas E. Crews Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) Animals allostatic load index chronic stress stressors non-human primates <i>Lemur catta</i> |
| title | Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) |
| title_full | Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) |
| title_fullStr | Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) |
| title_short | Assessing Allostatic Load in Ring-Tailed Lemurs (<i>Lemur catta</i>) |
| title_sort | assessing allostatic load in ring tailed lemurs i lemur catta i |
| topic | allostatic load index chronic stress stressors non-human primates <i>Lemur catta</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3074 |
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