Animal Hormones

This book is a graduate level guide to the intersection between animal social behaviour and behavioural endocrinology. The fascinating connections between steroids, peptides and social behaviour are explored through an integrative and comparative approach combining various methods.

Animal Hormones: A Comparative Survey, Part I—Kinetic and Metabolic Hormones provides a comprehensive coverage of the properties of kinetic and metabolic hormones of both vertebrates and invertebrates; the title particularly covers the sources, actions, and secretion of the said hormones. The text first details the general concerns with the hormones, such as the history, chemical activators, mechanical activation, types, and identification. The next chapter covers the sources of kinetic and metabolic hormones. Chapters 3 and 4 tackle kinetic hormones, while Chapter 5 discusses metabolic hormones. The book will be of great interest to students, researchers, and practitioners of zoology and biochemistry.

This book describes the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control farm animal growth, includingdevelopment and body composition. The emphasis is on circulating hormones, local growth factors andgene transcription factors which regulate growth and differentiation of skeletal muscle, bone andadipose tissue. Overall, this book will be an important resource for students that have a limitedbackground in cell, molecular and developmental biology and the effect of endocrine and growthfactors on the growth process.

This unique and definitive reference on hormone abuse in food producing animals is for scientists, regulators and consumers. It contains the results of a meeting held in November 2006 to discuss the progress made by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) supported programme on steroid abuse detection. When the "hormone ban" first arose in the EU, there were only 15 Member States. There are now 27 and some newer members lack the background knowledge of this issue. This book sets out to summarise the history and show the significant progress that has been, and continues to be, made in this area. It is the only comprehensive review of this subject available and contains input from leading researchers from around the world. The initial chapters provide valuable background information. For example, the chapter on toxicology and risk covers the controversies arising from the interpretation of the effects of artificial hormones in meat-producing animals. The book then goes on to deal with how the issue has been managed via national and international detection programmes. It finishes by covering the resulting cutting edge analytical science including current research using "omics"/ profiling for "natural hormones" and novel detection techniques such as IRMS. This book offers readers an insight into the risk management of an important food related issue and how current analytical analyses can assist evidence-based risk assessments. There is comprehensive coverage of all past and current issues relating to growth promoting hormone abuse in animals.

Research into the lives of animals in their natural environments has revealed a rich tapestry of complex social relationships and previously unsuspected social and mating systems. The evolution of this behavior is increasingly well understood. At the same time, laboratory scientists have made significant discoveries about how steroid and peptide hormones act on the nervous system to shape behavior. An exciting and rapidly progressing hybrid zone has developed in which these two fields are integrated, providing a fuller understanding of social behavior and the adaptive functions of hormones. This book is a guide to these fascinating connections between animal social behavior and steroid and peptide hormones--a synthesis designed to make it easier for graduate students and researchers to appreciate the excitement, engage in such integrative thinking, and understand the primary literature. Throughout, Elizabeth Adkins-Regan emphasizes concepts and principles, hypothesis testing, and critical thinking. She raises unanswered questions, providing an unparalleled source of ideas for future research. The chapter sequence is by levels of biological organization, beginning with the behavior and hormones of individuals, proceeding to social relationships and systems, and from there to development, behavioral evolution over relatively short time scales, life histories and their evolution, and finally evolution over longer time scales. The book features studies of a wide variety of wild and domestic vertebrates along with some of the most important invertebrate discoveries.

This book explains the role of hormones in improving and monitoring the production, performance, reproduction, behaviour and health of livestock animals, focusing on cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, poultry and fish. Beginning with the principles of endocrinology and the methods to study endocrine systems, it then covers the different endocrine systems that affect different aspects of animal production and describes how these systems can be manipulated or monitored to advantage. The mechanism of action is covered, and common mechanisms and themes highlighted in order to understand potential methods for altering these systems, and stimulate ideas for the development of new methods. An invaluable text for students of animal science and veterinary medicine, this book also provides a useful resource for those in academia and industry interested in applications of endocrinology in animal production systems.