Mota-Rojas Daniel, Pereira Alfredo M F, Wang Dehua, Martínez-Burnes Julio, Ghezzi Marcelo, Hernández-Avalos Ismael, Lendez Pamela, Mora-Medina Patricia, Casas Alejandro, Olmos-Hernández Adriana, Domínguez Adriana, Bertoni Aldo, Geraldo Ana de Mira
Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, DPAA, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Unidad Xochimilco, Mexico City 04960, Mexico.
Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED), Institute for Advanced Studies and Research, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Jul 30;11(8):2247. doi: 10.3390/ani11082247.
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-ionizing, non-invasive technique that permits evaluating the comfort levels of animals, a topic of concern due to the growing interest in determining the state of health and welfare of production animals. The operating principle of IRT is detecting the heat irradiated in anatomical regions characterized by a high density of near-surface blood vessels that can regulate temperature gain or loss from/to the environment by modifying blood flow. This is essential for understanding the various vascular thermoregulation mechanisms of different species, such as rodents and ruminants' tails. The usefulness of ocular, nasal, and vulvar thermal windows in the orbital (), nasal (), and urogenital (r) regions, respectively, has been demonstrated in cattle. However, recent evidence for the river buffalo has detected discrepancies in the data gathered from distinct thermal regions in these large ruminants, suggesting a limited sensitivity and specificity when used with this species due to various factors: the presence of hair, ambient temperature, and anatomical features, such as skin thickness and variations in blood supplies to different regions. In this review, a literature search was conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed, using keyword combinations that included "infrared thermography", "water buffalo", "river buffalo" "thermoregulation", "microvascular changes", "lacrimal caruncle", "udder", "mastitis", and "nostril". We discuss recent findings on four thermal windows-the orbital and nasal regions, mammary gland in the udder region (), and vulvar in the urogenital region ()-to elucidate the factors that modulate and intervene in validating thermal windows and interpreting the information they provide, as it relates to the clinical usefulness of IRT for cattle () and the river buffalo ().
红外热成像（IRT）是一种非电离、非侵入性技术，可用于评估动物的舒适程度，鉴于人们越来越关注确定生产动物的健康和福利状况，这一话题备受关注。IRT的工作原理是检测在以近体表血管高密度为特征的解剖区域所辐射出的热量，这些血管可通过改变血流来调节与环境之间的热量得失。这对于理解不同物种（如啮齿动物和反刍动物尾巴）的各种血管体温调节机制至关重要。在牛身上已证实，眼眶（）、鼻腔（）和泌尿生殖区域（r）的眼、鼻和外阴热窗分别具有一定作用。然而，最近针对河水牛的证据发现，在这些大型反刍动物不同热区收集的数据存在差异，这表明由于多种因素，如毛发的存在、环境温度以及解剖特征（如皮肤厚度和不同区域血液供应的变化），该技术用于这一物种时敏感性和特异性有限。在本综述中，我们在Scopus、科学网、ScienceDirect和PubMed数据库中进行了文献检索，使用了包括“红外热成像”“水牛”“河水牛”“体温调节”“微血管变化”“泪阜”“乳房”“乳腺炎”和“鼻孔”等关键词组合。我们讨论了关于四个热窗（眼眶和鼻腔区域、乳房区域的乳腺（）以及泌尿生殖区域的外阴（））的最新研究结果，以阐明在验证热窗和解释它们所提供信息时调节和干预的因素，因为这与IRT对牛（）和河水牛（）的临床实用性相关。
