Comparison of Methanol and Isopropanol as Wash Solvents for Determination of Hair Cortisol Concentration in Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears

January 2017 in “ MethodsX ”

Thomas Kroshko, Luciene Kapronczai, Marc Cattet, Bryan Macbeth, Gordon Stenhouse, Martyn E. Obbard, David M. Janz

hair cortisol concentration methanol isopropanol ELISA kits

TLDR Methanol is better than isopropanol for washing grizzly bear hair to measure cortisol.

The study compared methanol and isopropanol as wash solvents for determining hair cortisol concentration (HCC) in grizzly and polar bears. It found that methanol effectively removed surface cortisol from grizzly bear hair after one wash, while isopropanol did not fully remove it even after eight washes. For polar bears, there were no significant differences in HCC regardless of the solvent used. However, grizzly bear HCC was higher when washed with isopropanol compared to methanol. Additionally, the study noted significant differences in HCC results when using different commercial ELISA kits.

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Comparison of Methanol and Isopropanol as Wash Solvents for Determination of Hair Cortisol Concentration in Grizzly Bears and Polar Bears

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