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General and Comparative Endocrinology 155 (2008) 398402

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Cortisol determination in hair and faeces from domestic cats and dogs
Pier A. Accorsi a,*, Elena Carloni b, Paola Valsecchi b, Roberta Viggiani a,
Matteo Gamberoni a, Carlo Tamanini a, Eraldo Seren a
a

Dipartimento di Morfosiologia Veterinaria e Produzioni Animali (DIMORFIPA), Universita` degli Studi di Bologna, Via Tolara di Sopra 50,
40064 Ozzano Emilia (BO), Italy
b
Dipartimento di Biologia Evolutiva e Funzionale, Universita` degli Studi di Parma, via G. Usberti 11/A, 43100 Parma, Italy
Received 20 April 2007; revised 3 July 2007; accepted 13 July 2007
Available online 26 July 2007

Abstract
The present study explored the feasibility of a hair cortisol assay in domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus) and dogs (Canis familiaris) as a
valid and reliable alternative to existing non-invasive techniques for monitoring the hypothalamicpituitaryadrenal (HPA) axis activity.
To this aim, 56 new hair growth samples and 870 faecal samples from 27 domestic cats and 29 domestic dogs were collected and cortisol
content was assessed. A signicant positive association was observed in both species between the concentrations of cortisol determined in
hair and faeces. This nding is discussed in the light of the existing knowledge of hair physiology and in the perspective of its application
to studies on chronic stress.
2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Non-invasive cortisol assessment; Cats; Dogs; Hair; Faeces

1. Introduction
In the last decade increasing attention to animal welfare
has stimulated research on the eects of the shelter environment, thereby promoting studies aimed at the validation of
alternative, non-invasive techniques for monitoring adrenal
function. The decision to use non-invasive techniques to
assess control of the HPA axis activity in animals may be
essential (ethical reasons), imperative (logistic reasons) and
further grounded on experimental considerations. Restraint
and handling required for blood sampling may be stressors
by themselves, thus causing sharp increases in peripheral glucocorticoid concentrations within minutes (Beerda et al.,
1996; Carlstead et al., 1992, 1993; Willemse et al., 1993).
Currently applied methodologies include measurement
of faecal, urinary or salivary corticoids (Cook et al.,
2000). Recently, several authors (Koren et al., 2002; Davenport et al., 2006) reported on a novel method for deter-

Corresponding author. Fax: +39 051 2097899.

E-mail address: pierattilio.accorsi@unibo.it (P.A. Accorsi).

0016-6480/$ - see front matter 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ygcen.2007.07.002

mining endogenous levels of steroidal hormones in the

hair. Koren et al. (2002) showed that male rank is associated with testosterone but not cortisol levels measured in
the hair of the rock hyrax. Davenport et al. (2006) validated a simple procedure for measuring cortisol concentrations in the hair of rhesus macaques. The analysis of hair
steroidal hormones could be useful in studies of chronic
stress and welfare that require monitoring of adrenal function for extended periods.
Hair assays are used for a variety of purposes: for tracing pollutants, drugs, anabolic steroids and other
compounds, and for determining sex steroids and glucocorticoids (Koren et al., 2002; Yang et al., 1998). Hair sampling is relatively easy, its collection does not entail
serious health hazards, hair is very easily preserved, is
not aected by variations in water content, nor does it contain material that may bias extraction. The main characteristic that makes hair assay particularly appealing is that it
provides a long-term endocrine prole, a measure of hormonal activity averaged over the chosen period. The measure is insensitive to the impact of acute stress including
that caused by handling during sampling procedures. A

P.A. Accorsi et al. / General and Comparative Endocrinology 155 (2008) 398402

two-point sampling (shave and resample) is hence sucient

to determine the endocrine background of behavioural
trends, but even shed hair may still provide precious indication of the individuals hormonal prole. On the contrary, due to its slow growth hair does not provide ne
monitoring over short periods of time since it does not
reect daily or hourly uctuations in circulating hormones
(Koren et al., 2002). The main limits of this method reside
in the incomplete information on hair physiology, and the
lack of laboratory validation to date. In summary, this
method could be best suited for studies of chronic stress
and to assess the hormonal substrate of social trends, but
awaits validation and calls for deeper understanding of
the way in which steroids are incorporated into and metabolised in hair. We decided to verify whether this method is
applicable to domestic cats and dogs. To this purpose, we
collected cats and dogs faecal samples ad libitum throughout the study period to get an overall estimate of individual
endocrine patterns to be compared with the hormonal content determined in newly grown hair.
In contrast to the methods employed by Davenport
et al. (2006) who sampled saliva, we chose to compare
the concentration of cortisol in hair and faeces. The decision was made on the ground of several considerations: collection of faecal samples is less stressful than saliva
collection for non-trained animals. Faecal cortisol concentrations accurately reect adrenocortical responses to
stressors in canids (Sands and Creel, 2004) and felids
(Brown et al., 1994; Schatz and Palme, 2001; Wasser
et al., 2000) and this stress assessment technique has predictive and explanatory value (Mostl and Palme, 2002; Schatz
and Palme, 2001; Wasser et al., 2000). However, if longterm average measures are needed, faecal assay may not
be the best solution.
In the present study we expected that a signicantly
positive association between the two measures would operationally validate the hair assay method in both cats and
dogs.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Animals
Cats. Twenty-seven neutered domestic cats, 19 females and 8 males,
aged 210 years, were randomly selected from a shelter colony. All cats
were group living and kept in similar conditions. Shelter facilities comprised an open-air grassy compound and indoor accommodations.
Dogs. Twenty-nine domestic dogs, 8 females and 21 males, aged
17 years, were selected from two dierent contexts: a rescue shelter and
a utility and defence class. Dogs (females: n = 5; males: n = 9) from
the rescue shelter were mixed breeds and only females were neutered. Dogs
from the utility/defence class were intact German shepherds (females:
n = 3; males: n = 12).

2.2. Hair and faecal sampling

Cats. Hair from the ischiatic region was manually shaved to the level of
the skin 12 days before commencement of the study to eliminate oldgrowth hair. The same patch of skin was resampled at the end of the sam-

399

pling period: once again hair was manually clipped to collect new hair
growth. Hair samples were identied, labelled and stored at room temperature until analysis. Faeces were collected opportunistically upon evacuation throughout the study period, whenever defecation was detected,
between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Faecal samples were collected avoiding
debris and cross-contamination, immediately identied, labelled and
stored in PPL bags at 20 C until assay.
Hence, each cat contributed one sample (n = 27) of new hair growth,
with hair growth span corresponding to faecal sampling period. However,
number of faecal samples and duration of sampling period varied across
cats. On the whole, the 27 cats contributed on average 5.89 0.72
(mean SEM) faecal samples over a mean period of 94.96 9.36 days
(22 cats supplied 5.36 0.67 faeces over 72.45 1.73 days, whereas 5 individuals provided 8.20 2.50 faeces over 194 days). Dierences in the
duration of sampling periods were caused by adoption or relocation of
part of the cats.
Dogs. Hair samples were collected and processed as detailed for cats.
Faecal samples were collected approximately every 3 days, and then processed as described for cats. Each sheltered dog provided one sample of
new hair growth (n = 14) and on average 14.5 0.91 faecal samples collected along 78 days. Dogs from the utility/defence class supplied one sample of new hair growth (n = 15) and 33.86 4.86 faecal samples over a
period of 87.93 2.15 days.
The study started in March 2004 and nished in December of the same
year.

2.3. Cortisol determination

A total of 56 hair (27 feline and 29 canine) and 870 faecal (159 feline
and 711 canine) samples were processed for steroid assay. Cortisol
(17-a-hydroxycorticosterone) concentrations were determined by RIA
based on binding of 3H-steroid by competitive adsorption (Fenske and
Schonheiter, 1991). All concentrations were expressed in pg/mg of hair
shaft and faecal matter.

2.4. Extraction from hair

Extraction methodology was modied from Koren et al. (2002). Hair
was rst minced into 13 mm length fragments and 60 mg of trimmed hair
were put in a glass vial. Five millilitre methanol (Carlo Erba, Rodano, MI,
Italy) were added, and vials were incubated at +50 C with gentle shaking
for 18 h. The vial content was then ltered to separate the liquid phase
which was evaporated to dryness under an air-stream suction hood at
37 C. Dry residue was then dissolved into 0.6 ml of phosphate-buered
saline (PBS) 0.05 M, pH 7.5. A recovery test on ve replicates was performed by adding 125, 250, 500 or 1000 pg of 3H-cortisol (PerkinElmer
Life Sciences Inc., Boston, MA, USA) to 60 mg of trimmed hair and incubating for 18 h at room temperature. The extraction was performed as
described above. The mean percentage of recovery was 90.61 2.48.

2.5. Extraction from faeces

Extraction methodology was modied from Schatz and Palme (2001).
Five millilitre of a methanol:water (v/v 4:1) solution were added to 500 mg
(wet weight) of faeces in capped glass tube vials. Vials were then vortexed
for 30 min using a multitube pulsing vortexer. Following centrifugation
(1500g for 15 min), 5 ml ethyl ether (BDH Italia, MI, Italy) and 0.2 ml
NaHCO3 (5%) (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO, USA) were added
to 1 ml supernatant. This preparation was vortexed for 1 min on multitube
pulsing vortexer and centrifuged for 5 min (1500g). The ether portion was
then separated by sucking it with a pipet, and evaporated under an airstream suction hood at 37 C. Dry residue was nally redissolved into
0.5 ml PBS 0.05 M, pH 7.5. A recovery test on ve replicates was performed by adding 125, 250, 500 or 1000 pg of 3H-cortisol to 500 mg of faeces and incubating for 30 min at room temperature. The extraction was
performed as described above yielding a mean percentage recovery of
89.74 2.64.

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P.A. Accorsi et al. / General and Comparative Endocrinology 155 (2008) 398402

2.6. Cortisol assay

a 100

Assay in both hair and faeces was carried out according to Tamanini
et al. (1983). Analysis was performed in duplicate: 100 ll of 3H-cortisol (specic activity 100 Ci/mmol, amount 30 pg/tube vial, 12,771 dpm/100 ll)
and 100 ll of an anti-cortisol antibody (dilution 1:20,000) were added to
100 ll of the solution obtained from glucocorticoid extraction. After
incubation at +4 C for 18 h, free steroid was separated from bound by
the addition of 1 ml of a solution of charcoal 1% (Sigma Chemical
Co.) + 0.025% dextran (Sigma Chemical Co.), and incubation at +4 C
for 15 min followed by centrifugation (4000g) for 4 min at +4 C. The supernatant containing the hormone bound to its antibody was then decanted into
scintillation vials and measured in a liquid scintillation b counter (Perkin
Elmer Life Science Inc.). Validation parameters of the analysis were: sensitivity 0.26 pg/mg, intra-assay variability 6.8%, inter-assay variability 9.3%,
specicity (%): cortisol 100; corticosterone 9.5; 11a-hydroxyprogesterone
8.3; cortisone 5.3; 11a-desoxycortisol 5.0; progesterone 0.6; desoxycorticosterone 0.5; 20a-dihydrocortisone 0.4; testosterone 0.3; aldosterone 0.1; dehydroepiandrosterone, 5a-pregnenolone, 17b-estradiol, cholesterol: <0.0001.
In order to determine the parallelism between cortisol standards
(Sigma Chemical Co.) and endogenous cortisol in cats and dogs, hair
and faecal samples from three dierent animals, containing high concentrations of endogenous cortisol (100 ll), were serially diluted with PBS
0.05 M, pH 7.5 to obtain volumes of 50, 25, 10 and 5 ll. Parallelism
was assessed between these serial dilutions and cortisol standards (ranging
from 7.81 to 1000 pg/100 ll tube vial, prepared in buer).

B/B0 %

80

60

40

20

0
1

10

1000

b 100

B/B0%

80

60

40

2.7. Determination of concentration

20

Radioactivity was determined using a liquid scintillation b counter and

using a linear standard curve (ad hoc designed software program: Motta
and Degli Esposti, 1981) the concentration of cortisol in the unknown
samples was determined.

0
1

10

100

1000

Log pg / tube-vial

2.8. Statistical analysis

Individual cortisol contents determined in the hair were tested against
mean individual faecal cortisol levels over the period of hair growth.
Spearman Rank Correlation Test was used to assess the strength of the
association. A non-linear regression test was used to assess parallelism
between standard and endogenous hormones.
For all statistical tests alpha value was set at 0.05 (statistical package
Statistica 6.0).

100

Log pg / tube-vial

Fig. 1. Parallelism between cortisol standards (circles; range7.811000 pg/

100 ll tube vial) and serially diluted samples. Each data-point (squares) is
the average of three hair (a) and faecal (b) samples, containing high
endogenous cortisol diluted to obtain volumes of 100, 50, 25, 10 and 5 ll.

8.0
7.0

A high degree of parallelism (P < 0.01) was observed

between the standard and the diluted samples cortisol
curves, with a parallel drop in percent binding as sample
volumes and cortisol standard concentrations increased
(Fig. 1).
Cats. Mean cortisol content in 27 hair samples was
3.32 0.27 pg/mg whereas mean cortisol content determined in 159 faecal samples was 0.83 0.08 pg/mg.
Hair and faecal values were signicantly positively correlated (rs = 0.902, P < 0.001; Fig. 2).
Dogs. Correlation between hair and faecal cortisol levels
was checked for each dogs group. Since signicant associations were detected for the two subsets of animals, statistical analysis is detailed only for pooled data.
Mean cortisol content in 29 hair samples was
2.10 0.22 pg/mg whereas mean cortisol content determined in the 711 faecal samples from 29 dogs was

hair cortisol (pg/mg)

3. Results

6.0
5.0
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

mean faecal cortisol (pg/mg)

Fig. 2. Mean individual faecal cortisol values plotted against individual hair
cortisol content for the feline sample (N = 27). Values are expressed in pg/
mg. The condence interval 95% around the best-t slope is shown.

1.16 0.23 pg/mg. The Spearman Correlation Test

revealed a signicant positive correlation between hair
and faecal cortisol levels (rs = 0.67, P < 0.001; Fig. 3).

P.A. Accorsi et al. / General and Comparative Endocrinology 155 (2008) 398402
5.0
4.5

hair cortisol (pg/mg)

4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

mean faecal cortisol (pg/mg)

Fig. 3. Mean individual faecal cortisol values plotted against individual
hair cortisol content for the canine sample (N = 29). Values are expressed
in pg/mg. The condence interval 95% around the best-t slope is
shown.

4. Discussion
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the reliability and practicality/utility of a method for measuring hair
cortisol as an index of HPA axis activity in domestic cats
and dogs. To achieve this goal we veried whether cortisol
content in hair reects its level in faeces by collecting samples in eld conditions. Our ndings show that, in both species, a signicant positive association exists between the
concentrations of cortisol determined in hair and in faeces.
This correlation seems to support the hypothesis that both
faecal and hair cortisol measurements reect at least in part
the same adrenal activity.
Our results are in agreement with those by Davenport
et al. (2006) on rhesus macaques obtained under controlled
laboratory conditions. In that species hair cortisol content
was found to positively correlate with salivary cortisol and
to increase as a result of prolonged stressful conditions.
The fact that hair cortisol content correlates with faecal
or salivary cortisol across a variety of subjects and living
conditions encourages the employment of this non-invasive
technique to monitor stress responses over protracted periods. Nevertheless, a major question remains. To what
extent is the cutaneous HPA axis function related to the
systemic HPA axis stress response, i.e. to which extent is
it directly modulated by the systemic levels determined by
the adrenergic response.
It is well-known that glucocorticoids and androgens as
well as local stimuli induce various processes at the hair
germ level (papilla, sebaceous glands, follicular epithelium,
etc.) (Stenn and Paus, 2001). The hair follicle is denitely a
target of various hormones, but the actual location (both
intra- and extra-cellular) and scope (function, origin, rate
of uptake and deposition) of hormones measured in hair
shafts and possibly in the adhering organic debris are
unknown. A number of studies have reported the presence
of either steroid hormones or their precursors (Botchkarev,

401

2003), their receptors (Ahsan et al., 1998; Homann, 2003;

Oh and Smart, 1996; Sawaya and Price, 1997) or enzymes
involved in their metabolism (Homann, 2003; Sawaya and
Penneys, 1992; Sawaya and Price, 1997; Stenn and Paus,
2001) in several structures or epidermal compartments of
the hair organ, even in the hair matrix cells (Bratka-Robia
et al., 2002). It is known that there is a direct connection
between the nervous system and the skin (Slominski and
Wortsman, 2000), and particularly between the nervous
system and the hair follicle, that is a target of the stress
response via circulating and local mediators. Furthermore,
the pilosebaceous unit itself is a source of hormones
(including ACTH and cortisol). Therefore, the skin is considered to operate as a local equivalent of the hypothalamicpituitaryadrenal axis by performing (in vitro)
cortisol synthesis and secretion and negative feedback regulation on CRH expression (Botchkarev, 2003; Slominski
et al., 2007). Furthermore, Ito and colleagues (2005) have
conclusively demonstrated that the human hair follicle
itself (in vitro) is eective at producing cortisol following
CRH stimulation and thus is indeed a functional equivalent of the HPA axis. All these studies have demonstrated
that the hair follicle has a local stress response system of
endocrine, paracrine, juxtacrine and nervous nature.
Hence, for all these reasons hair seems to be an ideal candidate for stress-assessment, but the pilosebaceous unit is a
functionally complex system. This makes the presence of
cortisol in the hair shaft dicult to interpret. Thus, at present we cannot ascertain whether cortisol determined in hair
shaft is either of systemic or local origin or both.
This uncertainty about the origin of cortisol does not
invalidate the meaning and the scope of our ndings, but
merely suggests caution in its application to studies on
chronic stress and stimulates further investigations to clarify this topic. In fact, all published studies point towards a
protable application of this methodology to the evaluation of the stress response. Yamada and collaborators
(2007) found that hospitalized infants had higher levels of
hair cortisol than healthy term infants and that hair cortisol levels were sensitive to exposure to a potential stressor.
Similar results were obtainedas previously reportedby
Davenport and colleagues (2006) in rhesus. Accordingly,
we are exploring in depth the connections between hair cortisol levels and stress-related behaviours in cats and dogs
conned in animal shelters.
Finally, the concentrations of faecal and hair cortisol we
determined in cats and dogs deserve some considerations.
As far as hair is concerned we have no references to other
works in these species. Therefore, our ndings represent a
starting point for future investigations that could, among
other aspects, clarify the relationship between environmental conditions and hair cortisol content. On the other side,
there are few published works examining the faecal concentrations of cortisol in cats and dogs, at least to our knowledge. Thus, we can hardly compare our results to others.
The faecal levels we determined in our dogs were lower
than those reported by other authors (Schatz and Palme,

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P.A. Accorsi et al. / General and Comparative Endocrinology 155 (2008) 398402

2001; De Palma et al., 2005). Similarly, our cats mean values were lower than those determined in other studies
(Schatz and Palme, 2001; Young et al., 2004). Most probably these dierences are to be ascribed to the dierent living conditions of the subjects and, possibly, to the dierent
methodologies applied (RIA versus EIA). All these aspects
deserve further investigation.
In conclusion, we established a positive correlation
between individual hair and faecal cortisol concentrations
in cats and dogs. On the basis of these ndings and in consideration of the practicability of both the laboratory
method and the sampling, we believe that the use of hair
is promising and deserves further investigations both in
the laboratory and in the eld.
Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Valentina Beretta, Jenny Bertozzi,
Eva Leroy, Matteo Mestieri, Manuela Stru, Sara Zannoni
and Cristian Linguerri for their assiduous collection and
help in the analysis of biological samples. Special thanks
to the sta and to the volunteers of the Canile Municipale
di Cella (RE, Italy) and of Villanova (FC, Italy) cat shelter
Amici dei cani di Bagnolo, and to the owners of the dogs
trained in the defence/utility class. Also, we are indebted
with two anonymous reviewers, whose comments, corrections and discussions have greatly improved the manuscript. The study was supported by Universita` di Bologna
(FIL 2004) and MIUR (PRIN 2004) grants to Pier Attilio
Accorsi, and by Universita` di Parma (FIL 2003) and MIUR
(PRIN 2004) grants to Paola Valsecchi.
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