Non-Invasive Monitoring of Adrenocortical Activity in a Fossorial Amphisbaenian

We validated a technique to quantify GC levels of the North West African checkboard amphisbaenian Trogonophis wiegmanni. The main purpose was to optimize and validate the suitability of an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for non-invasively monitoring adrenocortical activity, through measuring fecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM). We first made a controlled experimental stimulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis via a corticosterone supplementation and examined whether challenged individuals increased FCM levels more than control ones. Then, we used the validated assay for a preliminary exploration of seasonal, sex and size related differences in FCM levels in the field in an island population of this amphisbaenian.本研究验证了一种可定量西北非棋盘状双足蚓蜥（Trogonophis wiegmanni）糖皮质激素（Glucocorticoids，GC）水平的技术。本研究的核心目标为优化并验证酶免疫测定（enzyme immunoassay，EIA）用于无创监测肾上腺皮质活性的适用性，具体通过检测粪便皮质酮代谢物（fecal corticosterone metabolites，FCM）实现。我们首先通过皮质酮补充干预对下丘脑-垂体-肾上腺（hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal，HPA）轴开展可控实验刺激，并检验受刺激个体的FCM水平是否较对照组个体提升更为显著。随后，我们利用已验证的检测方法，针对该蚓蜥的岛屿种群展开野外初步探索，以分析FCM水平在季节、性别及体型维度上的相关差异。