Mouse Anti-Cortisol Monoclonal antibody, clone P5930

BackgroundPredatory attacks on horses can become a problem in some parts of the world, particularly when considering the recovering gray wolf populations. The issue studied was whether horses transformed by humans and placed in stable-pasture environments had retained their natural abilities to respond to predation risk. The objective of the study was to determine the changes in cardiac activity, cortisol concentrations, and behavior of horses in response to the vocalizations of two predators: the gray wolf (Canis lupus), which the horses of the breed studied had coevolved with but not been exposed to recently, and Arabian leopard (Panthera pardus nimr), from which the horses had been mostly isolated. In addition, we hypothesized that a higher proportion of Thoroughbred (TB) horse ancestry in the pedigree would result in higher emotional excitability in response to predator vocalizations. Nineteen horses were divided into groups of 75%, 50% and 25% TB ancestry. The auditory test conducted in a paddock comprised a 10-min prestimulus period, a 5-min stimulus period when one of the predators was heard, and a 10-min poststimulus period without any experimental stimuli.ResultsThe increase in heart rate and saliva cortisol concentration in response to predator vocalizations indicated some level of stress in the horses. The lowered beat-to-beat intervals revealed a decrease in parasympathetic nervous system activity. The behavioral responses were less distinct than the physiological changes. The responses were more pronounced with leopard vocalizations than wolf vocalizations.ConclusionsThe horses responded with weak signs of anxiety when exposed to predator vocalizations. A tendency towards a stronger internal reaction to predators in horses with a higher proportion of TB genes suggested that the response intensity was partly innate. The more pronounced response to leopard than wolf may indicate that horses are more frightened of a threatening sound from an unknown predator than one known by their ancestors. The differing response can be also due to differences in the characteristic of the predators' vocalizations. Our findings suggested that the present-day horses' abilities to coexist with predators are weak. Hence, humans should protect horses against predation, especially when introducing them into seminatural locations.

Objectives Alexithymia, which is the inability to recognise and describe one's own emotions, is a transdiagnostic feature across eating disorders (EDs) and it has been associated with prolonged stress exposure. Therefore, we evaluated whether alexithymia was associated with hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis functioning, the main endogenous stress response system, in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN). Methods 26 women with AN and 26 with BN participated in the study. Alexithymia was evaluated by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and eating-related psychopathology was measured by the Eating Disorder Inventory-2. The activity of the HPA axis was assessed by measuring the salivary cortisol awakening response (CAR). Results The prevalence of alexithymia did not differ significantly between the two diagnostic groups. Alexithymia was associated with more severe eating-related psychopathology in AN women but not in BN women. A significant reduction in the magnitude of CAR occurred in alexithymic patients with BN compared to non-alexithymic patients, but not in alexithymic women with AN. Conclusions These results confirm the presence of a more severe specific psychopathology in alexithymic individuals with AN and show, for the first time, an association between alexithymia and a dampened basal activity of the HPA axis in BN.