Abstract
Simple SummaryMinerals play an important role in animals’ health and nutritional status and are associated with cortisol, a hormone involved in several physiological processes and with a fundamental role in allostasis, the process of achieving homeostasis. The aim of the present study is to perform a preliminary investigation on the concentration of 19 minerals and cortisol in the hair of red deer coming from two different areas of the Stelvio National Park. Results showed a close association between hair minerals and cortisol concentrations and an effect of deer origin. Hair minerals and cortisol assessment is an easy, rapid, and low cost screening method and it is useful in wildlife management programs, in order to investigate wild animals’ health status, to perform environmental studies, to assess the presence of contaminants in wild species and to determine risks for humans. In addition, it could be helpful in public health programs to estimate contamination risks linked to wild animal meat consumption or to assess the presence of contaminants in food-producing animals.The aim of the study was to perform an investigation on the concentration of 19 minerals and cortisol in red deer (Cervus elaphus) hair, a matrix that is easy to collect with non-invasive and painless sampling, able to represent an integrative values of long-term substance concentrations, and able to give useful information, also when performed on dead animals, given its extreme stability over time. In the study thirty-five animals were included, coming from two different sides of a valley in the Stelvio National Park, where official water analysis had pointed out elevated concentrations of As in one of the two orographic sides. Hair cortisol concentrations were measured using a RIA(Radio Immuno Assay), while minerals were detected using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry). Results showed a negative relationship between cortisol and some mineral concentrations (Li, Co, As, Cd, Cr and Tl) and significant differences in some mineral concentrations between park areas (Al, Co, Cu, Cd and Ni). As, Cr and cortisol differences approached statistical significance. This preliminary study represents a step forward in the study of wildlife allostatic load and a valid method for applications in wildlife management programs, in environmental studies and in public health programs.
Highlights
Minerals play an important role in animals’ health and nutritional status
Given the importance of the study of minerals and cortisol as an important mechanism linking ecological change with impaired wildlife population health, and given the potential of hair analysis for obtaining useful information from free-ranging wild animals, the aim of the present study was to perform a preliminary investigation about the concentration of 19 minerals (Li, B, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, Tl and Pb) and cortisol in the hair of red deer coming from two different sides of an alpine valley in the Stelvio National Park, where official water analysis had pointed out elevated concentrations of As in the left orographic side [65]
PCA highlighted a clear trend of the NW samples to cluster on the left side of PC1 (Figure 3A), which is characterized by lower loadings of all minerals and a higher cortisol concentration (Figure 3B)
Summary
Minerals play an important role in animals’ health and nutritional status. Some of them (such as selenium, zinc and copper) may positively preserve animal immune functions [1], fertility [2] and weight gain [3,4]. Zinc is involved in the synthesis and degradation of carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids and it is involved in a large number of enzymes implicated in gene transcription [5,6,7,8]. Mineral concentration has been found to be closely associated with stress conditions, health status, resistance of animals [21], and cortisol levels [22,23,24]. Cortisol is a steroid hormone involved in several physiological processes, such as the stress response, the regulation of blood sugar through gluconeogenesis, the suppression of the immune system, and the metabolism of fat, proteins and carbohydrates [27]. Cortisol plays a fundamental role in allostasis, the active process of maintaining and/or reestablishing homeostasis that helps an animal to adapt to a new situation and/or challenge [28]
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