Monitoring of physiological and blood parameters during perinatal and neonatal period in calves

Abstract

Rectal temperature, heart and respiratory rates, and the course of some blood parameters were monitored in calves during perinatal and neonatal periods. The study was carried out on eight Limousine calves. From all subjects, rectal temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate were measured. Blood samples were taken at the same hour (9am) from the external jugular vein, and then centrifuged and stored until analyses. By means of an UV spectrophotometer, the following blood parameters were assessed for each subject: total protein, total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), urea, creatinine, cholinesterase, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), hydroxybutirate, glutamate pyruvate transaminases (GPT), glutamate oxalacetate transaminases (GOT), direct and total bilirubin, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, chloride and sodium. The results showed a significant effect of days of life (P<0.05) only on total cholesterol, creatinine and GOT during the first week of life and a significant effect of days of life on rectal temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate, total cholesterol, NEFA, creatinina, and GOT during the first month of life. A correlation among individual values for postnatal age (days of life) and heart rate in calves during the first month of life was observed. In conclusion, modifications of studied parameters could be attributed to functional development of calves in neonatal period and contribute to the knowledge of adaptation processes in calf during the first week and the first month of life resulting useful for the diagnosis and treatment of any neonatal diseases. Keywords

Age-related changes in the concentrations of serum proteins in calves

“…Young calves must adapt to various environmental factors, including nutrition which changes from a primarily carbohydrate-based energy supply during the fetal period to a high fat and relatively low carbohydrate nutritional energy supply in colostrum and milk, and then from milk to solid diet (Odle 1997). This transition from one stage to another requires profound physiological, digestive, and metabolic adaptations which may cause changes in blood biochemical and hematological profiles (Zabielski et al 2008;Piccione et al 2010). In the present study, we evaluated the changes in the serum protein electrophoretic pattern in calves at different ages (from 2 weeks till 6 months), which included the abovementioned three different types of feeding regimes of calves -milk, transient (milk and solid), and solid feed.…”

Dinâmica pré e pós-colostral de parâmetros bioquímicos em cordeiros

“…As concentrações séricas de creatinina dos cordeiros no momento pré-colostro foram aproximadamente quatro vezes maiores (P<0,001) que as concentrações pós-colostrais. Da mesma maneira, as concentrações de creatinina em bezerros neonatos sofrem queda brusca do nascimento ao fim da primeira semana de vida, em resposta à adaptação às alterações fisiológicas para manutenção da homeostase 1,2,44 . Esse resultado poderia estar relacionado aos relatados por Lupke et al 45 , que sugeriram que concentrações mais elevadas, em bezerros, ao nascimento seriam resultantes de acúmulo de creatinina ingerida do fluido alantóico durante a gestação.…”

Physiological differences between twin and single-born lambs and kids during the first month of life

“…Physiological immaturity is considered the major determinant of mortality and morbidity in newborn resulting in economic losses in livestock production (Dwyer et al, 2005;Stafford et al, 2007;Piccione et al, 2008Piccione et al, , 2009Piccione et al, , 2010. A substantial proportion of postnatal diseases or death could be prevented by good management and by early intervention and by diagnosis and treatment of situations that involve a high-risk newborn.…”