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Girard-Buttoz, C, Higham, JP, Heistermann, M, Wedegärtner, S, Maestripieri, D and Engelhardt, A (2011) Urinary C-peptide measurement as a marker of nutritional status in macaques. PLoS One, 6 (3). pp. 1-9. ISSN 1932-6203
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Abstract
Studies of the nutritional status of wild animals are important in a wide range of research areas such as ecology, behavioural ecology and reproductive biology. However, they have so far been strongly limited by the indirect nature of the available non-invasive tools for the measurement of individual energetic status. The measurement of urinary C-peptide (UCP), which in humans and great apes shows a close link to individual nutritional status, may be a more direct, non-invasive tool for such studies in other primates as well and possibly even in non-primate mammals. Here, we test the suitability of UCPs as markers of nutritional status in non-hominid primates, investigating relationships between UCPs and body-mass-index (BMI), skinfold fatness, and plasma C-peptide levels in captive and free-ranging macaques. We also conducted a food reduction experiment, with daily monitoring of body weight and UCP levels. UCP levels showed significant positive correlations with BMI and skinfold fatness in both captive and free-ranging animals and with plasma C-peptide levels in captive ones. In the feeding experiment, UCP levels were positively correlated with changes in body mass and were significantly lower during food reduction than during re-feeding and the pre-experimental control condition. We conclude that UCPs may be used as reliable biomarkers of body condition and nutritional status in studies of free-ranging catarrhines. Our results open exciting opportunities for energetic studies on free-ranging primates and possibly also other mammals.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | MD Multidisciplinary |
| Subjects: | Q Science > QB Astronomy |
| Divisions: | Natural Sciences & Psychology (closed 31 Aug 19) |
| Publisher: | Public Library of Science |
| Related URLs: | |
| Date Deposited: | 07 Jan 2016 13:24 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Sep 2021 13:42 |
| DOI or ID number: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0018042 |
| URI: | https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/2532 |
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