Effect of a tranquilizer on stress control in birds under restraint

概要

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Birds are easily disabled by stress, which often has adverse effects on their health, thus birds should be handled as little as possible to minimize stress. In the present study, the effects of the tranquilizer Diazepam against restraint stress were evaluated using the Japanese Quail Coturnix japonica. When restraint stress was applied to the birds by squeezing their cage, the plasma corticosterone (hormone which increases under stress) levels increased markedly, while no difference was observed in the birds that had only undergone blood sampling. Thus, the squeezed cage is a suitable instrument for examining restraint stress. Intramuscular injection of diazepam before restraint stress resulted in no significant increase in the corticosterone level. In contrast, the corticosterone level increased markedly when saline was administrered as a placebo. These findings demonstrate that the use of a tranquilizer is very effective in reducing stress, and that tranquilizers will be useful in the study of stress reduction or in the investigation of the mechanisms of stress in birds.
野生生物保護学会の論文