A competitive protein-binding assay (CPB) has been developed and evaluated for corticoids in the peripheral plasma of the immature chicken to measure their response to stressors. The basal corticoid level in 39 day old White Leghorn chicks was 6.77 ng./ml. The application of various stressors resulted in a 2.0 to 3.5 fold increase in plasma corticoid levels while ACTH injections resulted in over a 12 fold increase. Sex had no effect on plasma corticoid levels. The assay was evaluated with respect to: (1) specificity, column chromatography of 6 plasma samples indicated that 77.0 ± 11.1% of the corticoids estimated by the CPB was corticosterone; (2) accuracy, the recovery of corticosterone added to plasma was 99.4%; (3) precision, the calculated value was Sχ̄ = ∓ 0.40 ng. (n = 31; range, 0.5 – 10.0 ng.); and (4) sensitivity, the smallest amount distinguishable from zero was 0.20 ng. (P = 0.01).
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Buckland et al. (1974) studied this question.