Department of Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of America.
Department of Molecular Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Nov 30;16(11):e0254409. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254409. eCollection 2021.
This study assessed the efficacy of meloxicam, flunixin, and ketoprofen in piglets undergoing routine castration and tail-docking. Six-day-old male piglets (8/group) received one of five randomized treatments: intramuscular saline (SAL PROC), meloxicam (MEL; 0.4 mg/kg), flunixin (FLU; 2.2 mg/kg), ketoprofen (KETO; 3.0 mg/kg) or sham (SAL SHAM; saline injection, no processing). Two hours post-dose, piglets were castrated and tail-docked. Plasma cortisol, interstitial fluid (ISF) prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and activity levels via Actical® monitoring were used to estimate pain. SAL SHAM and FLU exhibited lower cortisol concentrations than SAL PROC at the time of processing (p = 0.003 and p = 0.049, respectively), and all NSAIDs exhibited lower PGE2 than SAL PROC at 3.69 hours (MEL p = 0.050; FLU p = 0.043 and KETO p = 0.031). While not statistically significant, PGE2 was higher in SAL PROC piglets vs. other treatment groups at most time points. There was also a high degree of variability between piglets, especially for SAL PROC. Activity levels were significantly decreased at multiple time points in SAL PROC and MEL piglets following processing. However, FLU and KETO piglets had increased activity levels closer to that of the SAL SHAM group, suggesting that these NSAIDs are more effective than MEL in providing analgesia. These results demonstrate that management strategies including administration of intramuscular flunixin or ketoprofen to reduce pain associated with processing will likely improve piglet health and welfare in the United States.
本研究评估了美洛昔康、氟尼辛和酮洛芬在常规去势和断尾仔猪中的疗效。6 日龄雄性仔猪（每组 8 头）接受五种随机处理之一：肌肉注射生理盐水（SAL PROC）、美洛昔康（MEL；0.4mg/kg）、氟尼辛（FLU；2.2mg/kg）、酮洛芬（KETO；3.0mg/kg）或假处理（SAL SHAM；生理盐水注射，无处理）。给药后 2 小时，仔猪进行去势和断尾。通过 Actical®监测评估血浆皮质醇、间质液（ISF）前列腺素 E2（PGE2）和活性水平，以估计疼痛。SAL SHAM 和 FLU 在处理时的皮质醇浓度低于 SAL PROC（p=0.003 和 p=0.049），所有 NSAIDs 在 3.69 小时时的 PGE2 浓度均低于 SAL PROC（MEL p=0.050；FLU p=0.043 和 KETO p=0.031）。虽然没有统计学意义，但在大多数时间点，SAL PROC 仔猪的 PGE2 高于其他治疗组。仔猪之间也存在高度的变异性，尤其是 SAL PROC。处理后，SAL PROC 和 MEL 仔猪的多个时间点的活动水平显著降低。然而，FLU 和 KETO 仔猪的活动水平升高，更接近 SAL SHAM 组，表明这些 NSAIDs 在提供镇痛方面比 MEL 更有效。这些结果表明，在美国，管理策略包括肌肉注射氟尼辛或酮洛芬以减轻与处理相关的疼痛，可能会改善仔猪的健康和福利。
