Clinical and Correlated Responses among Steroid Hormones and Oxidant/Antioxidant Biomarkers in Pregnant, Non-Pregnant and Lactating CIDR-Pre-Synchronized Dromedaries (Camelus dromedarius)

Abstract

Overproduction of free radicals is controlled by antioxidant defense mechanisms. These defense mechanisms are achieved by antioxidant enzymes such as catalase (CAT). The current study aimed to assess the changes in steroid hormones, oxidant/antioxidants biomarkers, lipid profiles/liver functions indices, renal function biomarkers and minerals metabolism in non-pregnant, lactating or pregnant one-humped she-camels (Camelus dromedarius) pre-synchronized with controlled internal drug releasing. The study also focused on the correlational relationships between steroid hormones and the oxidant/antioxidant biomarkers, lipid profiles and liver functions indices, renal functions and mineral metabolism in these she-camels. The study was conducted on apparently healthy dromedary she-camels (n = 60) during breeding season. A sexually active camel-bull was introduced to she-camels pre-synchronized with CIDR. Fifty to sixty days after natural mating, she-camels were examined for pregnancy. She-camels were divided into three main groups according to both pregnancy and lactation as following: pregnant (PREG, n = 38) which was kept as control one, non-pregnant and lactating (LACT, n = 8), and non-pregnant and non-lactating she-camels (NPREG, n= 14). Steroid hormones, i.e., progesterone (P4), estradiol (E2) and cortisol, oxidant indictors, i.e., malondialdehyde (MDA), antioxidant biomarkers, i.e., superoxide dismutase (SOD), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), CAT and reduced glutathione (GSH), lipid profiles indices, renal functions and related minerals were assessed. The present study confirmed the efficacy of using CIDR for synchronization in she-camels. Significant elevations in serum steroids hormones in PREG compare with LACT and NPREG. The highest concentrations of MDA as lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress indictors and lowest levels of antioxidant biomarkers except for SOD, i.e., TAC, CAT and GSH, were reported in PREG compared with LACT and NPREG. PREG showed the highest liver enzymes activities and lowest total protein values. Remarkable increases in serum concentrations of renal function parameters and phosphorous (P) were observed in PREG when compared with the other two groups. The investigated she-camels revealed significant correlation between steroid hormones and the oxidant biomarkers, antioxidant biomarkers, liver functions, renal functions and minerals metabolism parameters. P4 showed positive correlations with antioxidant biomarkers, i.e., TAC, CAT and GSH, and serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, whereas negative correlations were reported between P4 and renal functions biomarkers, i.e., blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine (Cr) and creatinine kinase (CK), and minerals metabolism parameters, i.e., P and magnesium (Mg), in CIDR pre-synchronized she-camels. In contrast, E2 and cortisol showed negative correlations with antioxidant biomarkers, i.e., TAC, CAT and GSH, lipid profiles/liver functions indices, i.e., AST, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT), CK and Mg, however, positive correlations were demonstrated between E2 and cortisol, and MDA, Cr and P in investigated she-camels. In conclusion, the present study confirmed the efficacy of using CIDR for synchronization in she-camels. The highest MDA levels as indictors for oxidative stress and the lowest antioxidant levels, i.e., TAC, CAT and GSH, except for SOD in pregnant she-camels, were attributable to physiological oxidative stress as excellent compensatory responses observed in the PREG group to face such a physiologic stage. Moreover, lower P levels in non-pregnant she-camels would be contributed to failure of conception or early embryonic death. The investigated she-camels revealed significant correlations between steroid hormones and the oxidant indicators, antioxidant biomarkers, lipid profile indices and renal functions biomarkers that provided better understanding for physiological stress during pregnancy in camels.

Measures of Oxidative Status Markers in Relation to Age, Sex, and Season in Sick and Healthy Captive Asian Elephants in Thailand

“…Again, captive environments in elephant camps (i.e., providing adequate housing and abundant diets) could mitigate oxidative stress impacts, as has been observed in a comparison between free-ranging and captive equids [12]. There was a positive association between catalase activity and the stress marker, fGCMs, which agrees with studies that showed increased catalase responses during physiological stress events [94,148], but it is not always consistent [149,150]. Few studies have been conducted on the association between blood parameters and oxidative stress markers.…”

Association between maternal dystocia and both the oxidant/antioxidant biomarkers and blood lactate in parturient Egyptian buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

“…This notion is supported by our present findings showed that lower TAC levels indicate consumption and exhaustion of the antioxidant defenses mechanism earlier than the highly significant increase in the MDA (Singh et al, 2013) especially with prolonged dystocia. Absence of significant difference in MDA level between NP and UT reported in the current study would be because of naturally high MDA levels around calving due to physiologically increase in lipid peroxidation as a result of parturitionassociated oxidative stress (Mohamed et al, 2021;Walsh, 1994). The present results indicated no significant difference of MDA levels throughout the 4-days posttreatment period of UT.…”

Correlation between circulating cortisol and indicators of stress and oxidant stress during the preslaughter operations in camels

“…Compared to the reference values reported by Saeb et al (2010), the higher cortisol concentrations mentioned in the present study in camels having been exposed to the different pre-slaughter operations for a long time, prove that the latter are more stressful. MDA, which is the last product of lipid peroxidation and enzymatic antioxidants like SOD and CAT have been widely used to estimate oxidative stress in camels (Marai et al, 2009;Gaughan, 2011;El khasmi et al, 2015;Abd-El-Rahman et al, 2017;Lemrhamed et al, 2018;Mohamed et al, 2021). In the present study, the higher MDA and COR concentrations and urination frequency, the low enzyme activities of CAT and SOD, and the correlations between these parameters and the duration of the pre-slaughter operations, justify an alteration of the welfare in the most stressed group of camels.…”

“…High circulating levels of cortisol (COR), the most used indicator of stress, have been reported in camels exposed to different stressful situations (Saeb et al, 2010;El khasmi et al, 2010El khasmi et al, , 2015Lemrhamed et al, 2018Lemrhamed et al, , 2019Tabite et al, 2019, Mohamed et al, 2021. In addition, oxidative stress sets in when the body becomes unable to fight against the overproduction of free radicals or reactive oxygen species (Agarwal et al, 2005), following a deficiency in enzymatic (catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase) and non-enzymatic antioxidants (Lykkesfeldt & Svendsen, 2007).…”