Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter

Rates of equilibration and subsequent wash-out of tritium were measured in parallel samples of blood, rumen fluid and faeces collected from two adult female Norwegian reindeer in summer and in winter. The tritium-concentration was the same in all three body water compartments after no more than 9 h...

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Main Authors: Geir Gotaas, Nicholas J.C. Tyler
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 1995-01-01
Series:Rangifer
Subjects:
Online Access:https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1168
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author Geir Gotaas
Nicholas J.C. Tyler
author_facet Geir Gotaas
Nicholas J.C. Tyler
author_sort Geir Gotaas
collection DOAJ
description Rates of equilibration and subsequent wash-out of tritium were measured in parallel samples of blood, rumen fluid and faeces collected from two adult female Norwegian reindeer in summer and in winter. The tritium-concentration was the same in all three body water compartments after no more than 9 h following both intravenous and intra-ruminal injection of isotope in summer and following intravenous injection of isotope in winter. The biological half-life of the tritium increased from approximately 3 days in summer to approximately 10 days in winter, probably as a consequence of a decrease in water intake. There were no significant differences in disappearance rates of tritium from blood, rumen fluid and faeces within any of the six experiments. Fresh faeces is therefore a reliable source of body water that can be used in place of blood in studies of body water kinetics in reindeer, thus making it potentially possible to conduct such studies on truly free-living and undisturbed animals.
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spelling doaj.art-954273ea9a374ee59faa7e0de7d5c2a62022-12-21T19:03:48ZengSeptentrio Academic PublishingRangifer1890-67291995-01-0115210.7557/2.15.2.11681101Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winterGeir Gotaas0Nicholas J.C. Tyler1Department of Arctic Biology and Institute of Medical Biology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, NorwayPresent address: Department of Ecology/Zoology, Institute of Biology and Geology, University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, NorwayRates of equilibration and subsequent wash-out of tritium were measured in parallel samples of blood, rumen fluid and faeces collected from two adult female Norwegian reindeer in summer and in winter. The tritium-concentration was the same in all three body water compartments after no more than 9 h following both intravenous and intra-ruminal injection of isotope in summer and following intravenous injection of isotope in winter. The biological half-life of the tritium increased from approximately 3 days in summer to approximately 10 days in winter, probably as a consequence of a decrease in water intake. There were no significant differences in disappearance rates of tritium from blood, rumen fluid and faeces within any of the six experiments. Fresh faeces is therefore a reliable source of body water that can be used in place of blood in studies of body water kinetics in reindeer, thus making it potentially possible to conduct such studies on truly free-living and undisturbed animals.https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1168reindeertritiumplasmarumen fluidisotope markerswater turnover
spellingShingle Geir Gotaas
Nicholas J.C. Tyler
Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
Rangifer
reindeer
tritium
plasma
rumen fluid
isotope markers
water turnover
title Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
title_full Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
title_fullStr Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
title_full_unstemmed Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
title_short Faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
title_sort faeces is a reliable source of body water for measuring tritium in reindeer in summer and in winter
topic reindeer
tritium
plasma
rumen fluid
isotope markers
water turnover
url https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/1168
work_keys_str_mv AT geirgotaas faecesisareliablesourceofbodywaterformeasuringtritiuminreindeerinsummerandinwinter
AT nicholasjctyler faecesisareliablesourceofbodywaterformeasuringtritiuminreindeerinsummerandinwinter