Corticosterone

Corticosterone assays for assessment in animal models

Corticosterone is a main glucocorticoid in many animal species involved with the regulation of energy, immune reactions and response to stress. It is the primary corticosteroid in laboratory rodents and its’ measurement used as an indicator of stress in such animals.

Corticosterone is secreted from the adrenal cortex in response to environmental factors and found in circulation bound to corticosterone binding protein.

It is well known that stress caused by factors such as noise, temperature change or other stimuli, increases the activity of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis which in turn increases secretion of corticosteroids. As a result, assessments of corticosterone are often used as an indicator of stress in animal models¹, particularly rodents.

References

1. Gong S, Miao YL, Jiao GZ, Sun MJ, Li H, Lin J, Luo MJ, Tan JH. Dynamics and correlation of serum cortisol and corticosterone under different physiological or stressful conditions in mice. PLoS One. 2015 Feb 20;10(2):e0117503.