Table 1.
Individual ID, rank, sex and date of birth of all subjects used in the ACTH challenge tests I and II as treated individuals or as water-injected controls (water).
F = female, M = male, ACTH I: April 2012, ACTH 2: May 2013.
Table 2.
Fecal glucocorticoid concentrations in response to ACTH administration in individual meerkats measured using a 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone, a corticosterone (CCST), and a 11β-oxo-etiocholanolone assay.
Fig 1.
Representative profiles of immunoreactive 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone (black circles) and CCST (white triangles) in two female (top) and male (bottom) meerkats after administration of ACTH at time 0.
Data points before time 0 represent median ± SE concentrations (μg/g) of pre-treatment samples collected 5–8 days before ACTH injection.
Fig 2.
Percentage of response in immunoreactive fecal 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone and CCST levels to ACTH administration in meerkats.
Data points represent mean ± SE values calculated for 8-12-h intervals across the 14 individuals that responded to the ACTH challenge. Percentages were calculated in relation to pre-treatment baseline values (pre = 100%).
Fig 3.
HPLC profiles of immunoreactivity detected with the CCST (top) and 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone EIA (bottom) for a male and a female meerkat.
Samples tested were those that showed peak GC metabolite concentrations after the ACTH challenge. Arrows and numbers show the elution positions of associate reference standards: 1) cortisol (fractions 14–15), 2) corticosterone (22), 3) 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone (25), 4) 11-oxoetiocholanolone (30), 5) 5β-androstane-3,11,17-trione (36), 6) testosterone (43), 7) androstendione, dehydroepiandrosterone (55–56), 8) epiandrosterone, 5β-DHT, 5b-androstane-3β-ol-17-one (72), 9) 5β-androstane- 3α-ol-17-one (82).
Fig 4.
Representative FGCM (11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone) profiles of a female (top) and male (bottom) meerkat after administration of ACTH in samples uncorrected for soil contamination (with soil) and those corrected for soil content (without soil).
Data points before time 0 indicate median ± SE concentrations of pre-treatment samples collected 5–8 days before ACTH injection. Profiles for CCST showed a similar degree of correspondence between the two conditions (see text).
Fig 5.
Magnitude of 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone and CCST elevation to ACTH (peak to baseline ratio; graphs on the left) and variability in 11β-hydroxyetiocholanolone and CCST (pre-treatment) baseline values (coefficients of variation (CV) of baseline variability; graphs on the right) in samples uncorrected for soil contamination (with soil) and those corrected for soil content (without soil) in 10 meerkats.