Molecular Endocrinology, Functional Genomics & Systems Biology Laboratory, Animal Biochemistry Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India.
Reprod Domest Anim. 2024 Apr;59(4):e14560. doi: 10.1111/rda.14560.
Estrus identification is one of the common issues in buffaloes because of their short estrus duration and silent estrus problem. Hence, specific biomarkers facilitating in identifying the estrus stage would be helpful to buffalo farmers and researchers. In our previous studies, taurine, a non-protein amino acid that helps in the secretion of reproductive hormones such as GnRH, was found to be associated with postpartum anestrus in buffaloes. Therefore, the present study was conducted to explore the level of taurine in serum during different stages of the oestrous cycle in healthy cyclic buffaloes. Blood samples were collected from healthy cyclic buffaloes (n = 4), and taurine was estimated at the estrus (0th day), proestrus (-2nd day), metestrus (3rd day) and diestrus (+10th day) stages using TLC method. The days of the oestrous cycle were determined by ultrasonography and observation of behavioural signs by trained professionals. The results revealed that taurine was consistently present in the serum. However, the highest concentration of taurine was observed at the proestrus (0.20 ± 0.03 mg/mL) stage, which was greater (p < .05) than metestrus (0.10 ± 0.05 mg/mL) and diestrus (0.13 ± 0.03 mg/mL) stages, but comparable with the estrus stage. These results were also validated in the simulated population datasets of population size 6 to 10,000. Further, ROC curve analysis for the large simulated population indicated the efficiency of taurine to distinguish proestrus from metestrus and diestrus stages at a lower cutoff value of <0.1643 mg/mL with 60% sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, the present study concludes that serum taurine concentration could help in detecting proestrus stage of buffalo estrous cycle.
发情鉴定是水牛中常见的问题之一，因为它们的发情期很短，且存在发情静默问题。因此，有助于识别发情阶段的特定生物标志物将对水牛养殖者和研究人员有所帮助。在我们之前的研究中，牛磺酸是一种非蛋白氨基酸，有助于生殖激素如 GnRH 的分泌，与水牛产后乏情有关。因此，本研究旨在探讨健康发情周期水牛在不同发情周期阶段血清中牛磺酸的水平。采集了 4 头健康发情周期水牛的血液样本，采用 TLC 法在发情期（第 0 天）、发情前期（第-2 天）、发情中期（第 3 天）和发情后期（第+10 天）阶段测定牛磺酸水平。发情周期的天数通过超声检查和经过培训的专业人员对行为迹象的观察来确定。结果表明，牛磺酸始终存在于血清中。然而，在发情前期（0.20±0.03mg/mL）阶段牛磺酸浓度最高，显著高于发情中期（0.10±0.05mg/mL）和发情后期（0.13±0.03mg/mL）阶段（p<.05），但与发情期阶段相当。在大小为 6 到 10000 的模拟人群数据集上也验证了这些结果。此外，对于大的模拟人群，ROC 曲线分析表明，在较低的截断值<0.1643mg/mL 下，牛磺酸具有从发情中期和发情后期区分发情前期的效率，具有 60%的灵敏度和特异性。因此，本研究得出结论，血清牛磺酸浓度有助于检测水牛发情周期的发情前期阶段。
