The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of. Master of Arts. Florida Atlantic University.
RAPID ANALYSIS OF FECAL GLUCOCORTICOID METABOLITES: TESTING AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR MEASURING STRESS MARKERS IN CHIMPANZEES by Benni Litman
A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts
Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL July 2016
Copyright Benni Litman 2016
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RAPID ANALYSIS OF FECAL GLUCOCORTICOID METABOLITES: TESTING AN ALTERNATIVE METHOD FOR MEASURING STRESS MARKERS IN CHIMPNAZEES by Benni Litman This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate’s co thesis advisors, Dr. Douglas Broadfield and Dr. Michael Harris, Department of Anthropology, and has been approved by the members of her supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.
SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: _________________________________ Douglas Broadfield Thesis Co-Advisor, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Michael Harris Thesis Co-Advisor, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Emil Ciurczak, Ph.D. ___________________________________ Michael Harris, Ph.D. Chair, Department of Anthropology ___________________________________ Heather Coltman, DMA Dean, The Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters ___________________________________ Deborah L. Floyd, Ed.D. Dean, Graduate College
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Douglas Broadfield, Dr. Michael Harris, and Dr. Emil Ciurczak for their patience and guidance in my pursuit of this research. My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. Rui Tao, Dr. Yoshimi Shibata, Dr. John Coates, as well as Dr. Jocelyn Bezner and the staff at Save the Chimps, who not only provided access to their research laboratories and facilities, but also graciously donated their time and shared their expertise. Finally, I would like to thank Gary Richie for his constant support and help with the development of this project.
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ABSTRACT Author:
Benni Litman
Title:
Rapid Analysis of Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites: Testing an Alternative Method for Analyzing Stress Markers in Chimpanzees
Institution:
Florida Atlantic University
Thesis Advisors:
Dr. Douglas Broadfield and Dr. Michael Harris
Degree:
Master of Arts
Year:
2016
This study explores the application of two methods of spectroscopy; Near Infrared spectroscopy (NIR) and Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR) as alternative approaches for measuring glucocorticoid metabolites in chimpanzee feces. The goals of this study were twofold: The first was to determine if cortisol can be identified within the NIR and/or FTIR spectra of chimpanzee fecal hormone extract in ethanol solution. The second objective was to determine the capability of NIR and FTIR to predict FGM concentrations obtained using standard laboratory methods. Fecal glucocorticoid concentrations measured by Enzyme Immunoassay were used as the reference data of partial least square (PLS) regression of fecal extract NIR spectra and FTIR spectra. Low accuracies (NIR: R2 = 0.152; FTIR: R2 = 0.199) were obtained from regression models using data from both methods. Though this study did not successfully demonstrate the feasibility of using NIR and FTIR to qualify and quantify FGMs, it is likely not a reflection of the capabilities of the technology, but rather of appropriate sample types and preparation methods.
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