ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses several issues as they pertain to the behavioral management of well-being in captive macaques: (1) what is stress, and how do we measure it? (2) what constitutes an inherently abnormal condition that requires therapeutic intervention? and (3) what is the relationship between stress and various abnormal conditions? Stress exposure is an important component of reduced well-being. Accurate assessment of Nonhuman Primates (HPA) axis activity requires consideration of two additional features of the system. First, the secretion of corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH), adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and cortisol is governed by circadian rhythm. The second key feature of the HPA axis is that blood-borne cortisol acts on glucocorticoid receptors in the pituitary gland and the brain to exert a negative feedback action on subsequent CRH and ACTH release. One of the challenges in measuring cortisol concentrations in monkeys is to determine what the levels actually represent.
