DOI: 10.5061/dryad.b8gtht7kt
title: Early prenatal but not postnatal glucocorticoid exposure is associated with enhanced HPA axis activity into adulthood in a wild primate

description: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis plays a dual role in the
 biology of developmental plasticity in mammals including humans — HPA axis
 activity not only provides the input for, but is also a target of,
 offspring developmental plasticity. To investigate the understudied
 effects of exposure timing, this study quantified maternal HPA axis
 activity during each half of gestation as well as during early lactation
 and assessed its effect on offspring HPA axis activity in a
 cross-sectional sample of infant, juvenile, and adult Assamese macaques
 (Macaca assamensis). To add ecological validity to experimental studies
 under lab conditions, macaques were studied in the wild. Increased
 maternal fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels experienced early in
 gestation, but not postnatal exposure during lactation were associated
 with increased offspring HPA axis activity from infancy into adulthood.
 Building on prior findings, this study indicates that significant timing
 effects not only influence the presence, magnitude, and direction, but
 also the consistency of maternal glucocorticoid effects on offspring HPA
 axis function.
description: The data deposited here are concentrations of glucocorticoid
 hormone metabolites measured in fecal samples. Mean concentrations across
 several samples are reported for three different phases of the female
 reproductive cycle: the first and second half of gestation (early preGC
 and late preGC respectively) and the first six months of lactation (Post
 GC). In statistical analyses, these are related to concetrations measured
 in the offspring that resulted from these reproductuve events. 
description: # Early prenatal but not postnatal glucocorticoid exposure is associated
 with enhanced HPA axis activity into adulthood in a wild primate
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b8gtht7kt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.b8gtht7kt) The data deposited has been used for analyses for the journal article with the same title published in Proceeding of the Royal Society London B. Study species: *Macaca assamensis* Study site: Phu Khieo Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand ## Description of the data and file structure One comma-delimited csv file contains all data that have been used for the analyses in the manuscript. Columns and contents are a follows: individual - identifier of the individual monkey the data relate to sex - binary variable (male or female) age.cat - nominal data on age category at time of sampling the variable offspringGC. Infant from birth to 12mo of age, juvenile from at least 12mo until the onset of the breeding season a female first gave birth or the onset of the breeding season a male reached adult male body length and displayed fully developed testes. age.continuous - age in days from birth to the day of collection of the fecal samples that was extracted to quantify offspringGC earlyPreGC - the mean of maternal fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels measured from several fecal samples across the first half of the gestation period (z-transformed) (z-transformed) latePreGC - the mean of maternal fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels measured from several fecal samples across the second half of the gestation period postGC - the mean of maternal fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels measured from several fecal samples across the first 6 month of lactation date_Coll - date of collection of the fecal samples from which OffspringGC was quantified time_Coll - time of day of collection of the fecal samples from which OffspringGC was quantified offspringGC - fecal glucocorticoid metabolite level of Individual on Date-Coll date.rad - radiant transformed date time.rad - radiant transformed time empty cells represent a case where data on the time of day of sample collection was not recorded in the field ## Code/Software all procedures are described in the journal article.