Behaviour of golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) - Vetsuisse ...

ResultsMales had generally higher values of the measured hormones (Tab. 1). None of thetreatment effects (cage size or depth of bedding) influenced the concentration ofglucocorticoids although significant differences in behaviour and relative weights oforgans were detected (Fischer et al., in preparation, Hauzenberger et al., inpreparation).Tab. 1 Hormonal measurements of male and female golden hamsters. The means are given with thestandard deviations in parentheses.hormone males N = 44 females N = 57corticosterone [ng/ml] 32.228 (±18.129) 7.338 (±4.583)cortisol [ng/ml] 18.340 (±28.141) 8.329 (±6.544)cortisol/corticosterone 0.511 (±0.515) 1.531 (±1.698)ACTH [pg/ml] 39.512 (±36.514) 12.714 (±13.520)HormonesCorticosteroneIn males, which were held in three different depths of bedding, corticosterone levelsdiffered significantly between series (Kruskal Wallis: χ 2 = 9.411, P = 0.009). Nine outof 45 values were above a level of 50 ng/ml. All but one high value derived fromseries 1. Corticosterone was significantly correlated with the duration of catching (r s =0.314, P = 0.040), duration of anaesthesia (r s = 0.367, P = 0.016) and total durationuntil blood samples were taken (r s = 0.382, P = 0.012). In a stepwise regression log-38