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Journal ArticleDOI

Cortisol release and heart rate variability in horses during road transport

01 Feb 2010-Hormones and Behavior (Horm Behav)-Vol. 57, Iss: 2, pp 209-215
TL;DR: Transport of horses over short and medium distances leads to increased cortisol release and changes in heart rate and HRV indicative of stress, and the degree of these changes is related to the duration of transport.
About: This article is published in Hormones and Behavior.The article was published on 2010-02-01. It has received 193 citations till now.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Initial training is a stressor for horses, and the most pronounced reaction occurred in response to mounting by a rider, a situation resembling a potentially lethal threat under natural conditions.

133 citations


Cites background or methods from "Cortisol release and heart rate var..."

  • ...Peak cortisol concentrations in response to transport were 3- to 4-fold higher (Schmidt et al., 2010a; Schmidt et al., 2010b) than in response to equestrian training in the current study....

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  • ...Samples were collected as described (Schmidt et al. 2010a) with cotton swabs (Salivette, Sarstedt, Nümbrecht-Rommelsdorf, Germany) grasped by use of arterial forceps and placed loosely onto the tongue of the horse for at least 1 min until the swab was well soaked with saliva....

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  • ...While in most studies, cortisol concentrations were determined in plasma, recently techniques to analyse cortisol in equine saliva have been established, avoiding the need of repeated venipuncture (Schmidt et al., 2010a, Schmidt et al., 2010b)....

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  • ...…2000), equestrian competitions (Dybdal et al., 1980; Lange et al., 1997; Cayado et al., 2006), transport (Baucus et al., 1990; Clark et al., 1993; Schmidt et al., 2010a; Schmidt et al., 2010b), veterinary examinations (Berghold et al., 2007) and exposure to a new group (Alexander and Irvine,…...

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  • ...Because cortisol concentrations decline rapidly after any transient cortisol release and initial increase (Schmidt et al. 2010a), the sampling regime does not allow us to link cortisol release with specific steps of individual training units such as mounting the horse....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The reliability of both RIAs and regression found between serum and salivary cortisol concentrations permits the validation of saliva-sampling as a noninvasive technique for cortisol level assessment in horses.
Abstract: Summary Reasons for performing study: In horses, serum cortisol concentration is considered to provide an indirect measurement of stress. However, it includes both free and bound fractions. The sampling method is also invasive and often stressful. This is not the case for salivary cortisol, which is collected using a more welfare-friendly method and represents a part of the free cortisol fraction, which is the biologically active form. Objectives: To compare salivary and serum cortisol assays in horses, in a wide range of concentrations, using an adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation test, in order to validate salivary cortisol for stress assessment in horse. Methods: In 5 horses, blood samples were drawn using an i.v. catheter. Saliva samples were taken using swabs. Cortisol was assayed by radioimmunoassay. All data were treated with a regression method, which pools and analyses data from multiple subjects for linear analysis. Results: Mean ± s.d. cortisol concentrations measured at rest were 188.81 ± 51.46 nmol/l in serum and 1.19 ± 0.54 nmol/l in saliva. They started increasing immediately after ACTH injection and peaks were reached after 96 ± 16.7 min in serum (356.98 ± 55.29 nmol/l) and after 124 ± 8.9 min in saliva (21.79 ± 7.74 nmol/l, P<0.05). Discharge percentages were also different (225% in serum and 2150% in saliva, P<0.05). Correlation between serum and salivary cortisol concentrations showed an adjusted r2= 0.80 (P<0.001). The strong link between serum and salivary cortisol concentrations was also estimated by a regression analysis. Conclusions: The reliability of both RIAs and regression found between serum and salivary cortisol concentrations permits the validation of saliva-sampling as a noninvasive technique for cortisol level assessment in horses.

120 citations


Cites background from "Cortisol release and heart rate var..."

  • ...In horses, stress has already been assessed by salivary cortisol concentration during isolation (Harewood and McGowan 2005), weaning (Moons et al. 2005), transport (Schmidt et al. 2010a,b) or during new manipulations (Jongman et al. 2005)....

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  • ...This means that catheter placement should not involve as high a stress to horses as transport (Fazio et al. 2008; Schmidt et al. 2010b) or competition (Cayado et al. 2006)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed a scale of behavioural indicators of stress for the purpose of welfare assessment in stabled domestic horses. But their development has focused on behavioural reactions to stressful events (often induced), and little use of physiological measures has been made to underpin and validate the behavioural measures.

119 citations


Cites methods from "Cortisol release and heart rate var..."

  • ...Schmidt et al. (2010) recently 410 also established use of HR and salivary cortisol together as sensitive parameters to 411 detect stress in ‘routine’ transport procedures for horses....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A transport-induced stress response in horses decreased with repeated transport, indicating that animals habituated to the situation, but an increased cortisol secretion remained detectable.

110 citations


Cites background or methods or result from "Cortisol release and heart rate var..."

  • ...As cortisone is present in large mounts in the saliva of horses [5,6], the values meaured have to be interpreted as cortisol immunoreactivty (IR)....

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  • ...As expected, results confirm that transport elicits a tress response in horses [3,5,6,9,24,25]....

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  • ...ransport was performed as described [6]....

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  • ...Cortisol concentrations in saliva reflect cute changes in cortisol release [6,19], whereas cortisol etabolites in feces owing to intestinal passage time [20] ncrease only 24 h after an increase in the blood and ainly reflect prolonged stressful situations [21]....

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  • ...In agreement with results from previous stud- t es [5,6], this response was delayed for approximately 4 h, reflecting intestinal passage time in the horse [20]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The study has shown that the presence of spectators caused more pronounced changes in cardiac activity in the riders than it did in their horses.
Abstract: Although some information exists on the stress response of horses in equestrian sports, the horse-rider team is much less well understood. In this study, salivary cortisol concentrations, heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), SDRR (standard deviation of beat-to-beat interval) and RMSSD (root mean square of successive beat-to-beat intervals) were analysed in horses and their riders (n=6 each) at a public performance and an identical rehearsal that was not open to the public. Cortisol concentrations increased in both horses and riders (P<0.001) but did not differ between performance and rehearsal. HR in horses and riders increased during the rehearsal and the public performance (P<0.001) but the increase in HR was more pronounced (P<0.01) in riders than in their horses during the public performance (from 91 ± 10 to 150 ± 15 beats/min) compared to the rehearsal (from 94 ± 10 to 118 ± 12 beats/min). The SDRR decreased significantly during the equestrian tasks in riders (P<0.001), but not in their horses. The RMSSD decreased in horses and riders (P<0.001) during rehearsal and performance, indicating a decrease in parasympathetic tone. The decrease in RMSSD in the riders was more pronounced (P<0.05) during the performance (from 32.6 ± 6.6 to 3.8 ± 0.3 ms) than during the rehearsal (from 27.5 ± 4.2 to 6.6 ± 0.6 ms). The study has shown that the presence of spectators caused more pronounced changes in cardiac activity in the riders than it did in their horses.

100 citations


Cites background or methods from "Cortisol release and heart rate var..."

  • ...This response decreases with repeated exposure to the same challenge (Schmidt et al., 2010a,b,c)....

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  • ...HR in the horses during the performance and rehearsal reached approximately 100 beats/min, which is similar to horses in equestrian competitions (Becker-Birck et al., in press-a) but less than in young horses mounted for the first time by a rider (Schmidt et al., 2010a)....

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  • ...In the horses, saliva was collected as described by Schmidt et al. (2010c) with cotton rolls (Salivette, Sarstedt) placed loosely onto the tongue of the horse for 1 min with the help of a surgical arterial clamp until the swab was well soaked....

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  • ...Whereas information exists on the cardiovascular and endocrine response of horses to equestrian training (Dybdal et al., 1980; Cayado et al., 2006; Schmidt et al., 2010a; Becker-Birck et al., in press-a, in press-b), less is known about the response of the rider (Westerling, 1983; Trowbridge et…...

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  • ...Horses respond with an increase in heart rate to novel stimuli (Christensen et al., 2006) or situations such as transport (Schmidt et al., 2010b,c), or when mounted for the first time by a rider (Schmidt et al., 2010a)....

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References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recently, enzyme immunoassays (EIA) have been developed and successfully tested, to enable the measurement of groups of cortisol metabolites in animal feces, which are a practical method to monitor glucocorticoid production.

1,023 citations


"Cortisol release and heart rate var..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In addition, plasma cortisol is mainly bound to carrier proteins, while salivary cortisol mirrors unbound, i.e. free cortisol (Riad-Fahmy et al., 1983; Kirschbaum, 2000; Möstl and Palme, 2002)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An advanced, simple to use, detrending method to be used before heart rate variability analysis (HRV) is presented and operates like a time-varying finite-impulse response high-pass filter.
Abstract: An advanced, simple to use, detrending method to be used before heart rate variability analysis (HRV) is presented. The method is based on smoothness priors approach and operates like a time-varying finite-impulse response high-pass filter. The effect of the detrending on time- and frequency-domain analysis of HRV is studied.

989 citations


"Cortisol release and heart rate var..." refers methods in this paper

  • ...The Kubios HRV programme uses a detrending procedure based on smoothness priors approach (Tarvainen et al., 2002; Tarvainen and Niskanen, 2008)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Data from earlier research demonstrate that HRV is a promising approach for evaluating stress and emotional states in animals, and has the potential to contribute much to the understanding and assessment of the underlying neurophysiological processes of stress responses and different welfare states in farm animals.

766 citations


"Cortisol release and heart rate var..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Geometric analysis of heart rate changes also showed significant changes for SD2 (standard deviation 2), representing long-term changes in HRV that are predominantly caused by changes in sympathetic regulation (Von Borell et al., 2007)....

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  • ...Ideally, HRV recordings are made with the animal quietly standing (Rietmann et al. 2004, Von Borell et al., 2007)....

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  • ...…in the values of the HRV variables standarddeviation of beat-to-beat (RR) interval (SDRR) and rootmean square of successive RR differences (RMSSD) reflect a shift towards more sympathetic dominance, while increased values indicate a shift towards parasympathetic dominance (Von Borell et al., 2007)....

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  • ...In general, decreases in the values of the HRV variables standarddeviation of beat-to-beat (RR) interval (SDRR) and rootmean square of successive RR differences (RMSSD) reflect a shift towards more sympathetic dominance, while increased values indicate a shift towards parasympathetic dominance (Von Borell et al., 2007)....

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  • ...An increase in heart rate indicates increased sympathetic activity, decreased parasympathetic (vagal) activity or a combination of both (Von Borell et al., 2007)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This chapter will review the methodology ofHRV measurement, the physiological basis of HRV and the factors influencing HRV.
Abstract: Reduced heart rate variability carries an adverse prognosis in patients who have survived an acute myocardial infarction This article reviews the physiology, technical problems of assessment, and clinical relevance of heart rate variability The sympathovagal influence and the clinical assessment of heart rate variability are discussed Methods measuring heart rate variability are classified into four groups, and the advantages and disadvantages of each group are described Concentration is on risk stratification of postmyocardial infarction patients The evidence suggests that heart rate variability is the single most important predictor of those patients who are at high risk of sudden death or serious ventricular arrhythmias

668 citations

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