Laboratory of Applied Veterinary Morphology, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Laboratory of Applied Veterinary Morphology, Department of Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical, Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Vet J. 2019 Oct;252:105357. doi: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2019.105357. Epub 2019 Aug 17.
Hair cortisol might better represent chronic stress than salivary cortisol in piglets. To test this hypothesis, 24 female, 7-day old piglets were allocated to two groups and artificially reared. The piglets in the stressed group were exposed to overcrowding (0.10m/piglet) and frequent mixing with unfamiliar piglets until the age of 28 days. The control group remained in an unchanging group at a density of 0.29m/piglet. After 3 weeks, stressed animals had gained significantly less weight (median, here and throughout, 7.58kg) than the control animals (6.43kg; P=0.021). Additionally, hair from the stressed group contained significantly higher cortisol concentrations (87.29 vs. 75.60pg/mg hair; P=0.005), whereas salivary cortisol concentrations did not significantly differ between groups (0.30 vs. 0.25 μg/dL saliva; P=0.447). Weight gain and hair cortisol concentrations were significantly correlated (P=0.036, r=-0.430), but neither of these parameters were correlated with salivary cortisol concentrations (P=0.929, r=0.019 and P=0.904, r=0.026, respectively).
毛发皮质醇可能比唾液皮质醇更能反映仔猪的慢性应激。为了验证这一假设，将 24 只 7 日龄雌性仔猪分为两组并进行人工饲养。应激组仔猪暴露于过度拥挤（0.10m/头仔猪）和频繁与不熟悉的仔猪混合，直到 28 日龄。对照组仔猪的密度保持不变，为 0.29m/头仔猪。3 周后，应激组动物的体重增长明显低于对照组（中位数，此处及以下均为 7.58kg）（6.43kg；P=0.021）。此外，应激组的毛发皮质醇浓度明显更高（87.29 比 75.60pg/mg 毛发；P=0.005），而两组间唾液皮质醇浓度无显著差异（0.30 比 0.25μg/dL 唾液；P=0.447）。体重增加与毛发皮质醇浓度呈显著相关（P=0.036，r=-0.430），但这两个参数均与唾液皮质醇浓度无显著相关（P=0.929，r=0.019 和 P=0.904，r=0.026）。
