Hair cortisol determination in sows in two consecutive reproductive cycles

Bacci, Maria Laura; Nannoni, Eleonora; Govoni, Nadia; Scorrano, Fabrizio; Zannoni, Augusta; Forni, Monica; Martelli, Giovanna; Sardi, Luca

doi:10.1016/j.repbio.2014.06.001

Cited by 48 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…dairy cattle Tallo-Parra et al, 2015). To the knowledge of the authors, only a limited number of studies have focussed on hair cortisol in pigs: Casal et al (2014) in growing pigs, Martelli et al (2014) in transgenic pigs and their relatives, and Bacci et al (2014) in sows. Cortisol levels found in the present study ( Figure 2) when the animals were aged 16 weeks were slightly lower to those reported at the age of 17 weeks in a previous experiment using growing pigs subjected to a weekly remixing procedure (Casal et al, 2014) and, similar concentrations were also reported in sows by Bacci et al (2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of environmental enrichment and herbal compound supplementation on physiological stress indicators (chromogranin A, cortisol and tumour necrosis factor-α) in growing pigs

Casal

Manteca

Escribano

et al. 2017

Animal

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Stress response induces physiological, behavioural, immunological and biochemical changes that directly affect health and well-being. Provision of environmental enrichment and herbal compounds may reduce stress in current commercial pig husbandry systems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of providing different environmental enrichment materials (EE) and a herbal compound (HC) on physiological indicators of acute and chronic stress in growing pigs (salivary cortisol and chromogranin A (CgA), hair cortisol and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)). Salivary cortisol and CgA have been reported as biomarkers basically of acute stress, whereas hair cortisol and TNF-α have been more related to chronic stress. For this purpose, eight groups of seven pigs each (14 pigs/treatment, 56 pigs in total) were used: (a) two EE groups, (b) two groups supplemented with HC, (c) two groups provided both with EE and HC and (d) two control groups. Samples of hair, saliva and blood were taken to measure cortisol (in hair and saliva), CgA (in saliva) and TNF-α (in blood) at three different times: before starting the experiment (T0), and after 1 (T1) or 2 months (T2) of providing the materials and herbal compound. No differences were found at T0 in salivary or hair cortisol, CgA or TNF-α, whilst at T2, the control group showed significant increased concentrations of CgA and hair cortisol, when compared with the rest of the treatments (P<0.001). These differences were significant at T1 only for CgA (P<0.001). Furthermore, an overall correlation was reported between hair cortisol and salivary CgA (r=0.48, P<0.001). These results support that providing enrichment material or an herbal compound may reduce stress in growing pigs. Furthermore, the results support that hair cortisol and CgA may be proper non-invasive tools to detect stress, specially associated with factors of chronic exposure.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of environmental enrichment and herbal compound supplementation on physiological stress indicators (chromogranin A, cortisol and tumour necrosis factor-α) in growing pigs

Casal

Manteca

Escribano

et al. 2017

Animal

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“…The hair samples were handled and analyzed as previously described [27]. Briefly, hair samples (250 mg) were washed with water and isopropanol in order to remove any organic residue from the surface.…”

Section: Samples Preparation and Extractionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

Ventrella

Elmi

Bertocchi

et al. 2020

Animals

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The red deer (Cervus elaphus L., 1758) is one of the largest deer species in the world. Females are seasonal polyestrous, with negative photoperiod: the increase of the night peak of melatonin determines the secretion of GnRH and, therefore, LH and FSH. To date there is little information regarding the hormonal control during pregnancy for this species; this could be due to the difficulty of sampling wild subjects, while farmed animals’ hormonal concentrations may not reflect the physiology of the animal in a natural state. In this study we evaluated the concentration of cortisol and progesterone, extracted from blood and hair, on 10 wild and pregnant red deer females. Belonging to the population of the Bolognese Apennines (Italy), the hinds were sampled in the January–March 2018 period, according to the regional selective hunting plan. Plasma progesterone (P4) ranged from a minimum of 1.9 to a maximum of 7.48 ng/mL; while hair P4 concentrations varied from 41.68 to 153.57 pg/mg. The plasma and hair cortisol ranges are respectively 0.4–2.97 ng/mL and 0.03–0.55 pg/mg; the only significant correlation was found between hair concentration of P4 and the date of death. The results of this preliminary study represent a small step towards a better knowledge of this species’ physiology during pregnancy.

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“…A direct and positive relationship between faecal glucocorticoid metabolites, blood cortisol, and adrenal activity was demonstrated by Morrow et al (2002). A minimally invasive method to assess stress levels over time through cortisol determination in bristles of growing pigs and sows has been recently proposed by Martelli et al (2014) and by Bacci et al (2014). It would be interesting to test the feasibility and reliability of this technique in ruminant species as well.…”

Section: Importance and Assessment Of Animal Welfarementioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainable ruminant production to help feed the planet

Pulina

Francesconi

Stefanon

et al. 2016

Italian Journal of Animal Science

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Ruminant production has been an essential part of human activities worldwide since ancient times. The expected increase in world population and per capita income, with an increase in the amount and prevalence of animal products in human diet, urbanisation, with a concentration of population in urban areas and an increase in losses in the supply chain, and the growing concern over the environmental impact of animal farming require a long-term global strategy for a more intensive and sustainable ruminant production. Therefore, solutions to increase the supply of high-quality products of ruminant origin, without harming human health, animal welfare, and environment, should consider the following interconnected issues discussed in this review: (a) effects of meat, milk and dairy products consumption on human health, focussing on the imbalance caused by their insufficient consumption, and the alleged increased incidence of certain diseases due to their consumption; (b) importance of the sustainable intensification of ruminant production systems (e.g. better feed conversion and higher production output per unit of input introduced into the farming system); (c) environmental impact of ruminant production; (d) improvement of animal performance by improving animal welfare; (e) adaptation of ruminants to climate change; (f) sustainable ruminant feeding (e.g. precision feeding techniques, optimisation of grazing systems, and use of unconventional feeds); (g) challenges posed by production intensification to animal breeding and conservation of animal biodiversity; and (h) strategies to increase ruminant production in developing countries, thus achieving food security in vast areas of the planet affected by fast growth of human population

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Hair cortisol determination in sows in two consecutive reproductive cycles

Cited by 48 publications

References 29 publications

Effect of environmental enrichment and herbal compound supplementation on physiological stress indicators (chromogranin A, cortisol and tumour necrosis factor-α) in growing pigs

Effect of environmental enrichment and herbal compound supplementation on physiological stress indicators (chromogranin A, cortisol and tumour necrosis factor-α) in growing pigs

Progesterone and Cortisol Levels in Blood and Hair of Wild Pregnant Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus) Hinds

Sustainable ruminant production to help feed the planet

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