Asencio Camila J, Palme Rupert, Ferrari Héctor R, Lattanzi Mariano L, Eguizábal Gabina V, Busso Juan M
Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas (IIBYT), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)-Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (FCEFyN), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC), Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba X5016GCA, Argentina.
Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de los Alimentos, FCEFyN-UNC Av. Vélez Sarsfield 1611, Córdoba X5016GCA, Argentina.
Animals (Basel). 2024 Sep 18;14(18):2700. doi: 10.3390/ani14182700.
Pig homeostasis is challenged by stressful production practices, like road transportation. Glucocorticoids (GCs) are mediators of reactive homeostasis, and their concentrations are frequently used as a stress indicator. The adrenocortical activity of fattening female and castrated male pigs was monitored over a 5-day longitudinal study. A bi-factorial experimental design was applied on day 2; 18 pigs in pen 1 were transported for 3 h (T; 1.2 m/pig), and 18 pigs were kept in pen 2 (NT). Ten pigs from each pen were treated with dexamethasone (T-D or NT-D), and eight with saline solution (T-SS or NT-SS). Adrenocortical activity was assessed by measuring the levels of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs) and hair cortisol and cortisone. In T-SS pigs, the level of FGMs was higher after transportation than in NT-SS pigs. The level of FGMs of T-D pigs initially increased but then reached similar levels to those of NT-SS sooner than T-SS. In contrast, hair cortisol and cortisone did not respond to the treatments. Nevertheless, the hair cortisone/cortisol ratio increased due to transport and decreased after dexamethasone administration. Daily faecal sampling proved still more reliable than 60-day hair sampling for assessing adrenocortical activity. Transported pigs recovered their adrenocortical baseline levels within 24 h. Dexamethasone attenuated the response to transport.
猪的内稳态会受到诸如公路运输等应激性生产实践的挑战。糖皮质激素（GCs）是反应性内稳态的介质，其浓度常被用作应激指标。在一项为期5天的纵向研究中，对育肥母猪和去势公猪的肾上腺皮质活动进行了监测。在第2天采用双因素实验设计；1号栏中的18头猪被运输3小时（T组；每头猪1.2平方米空间），18头猪被饲养在2号栏（非运输组，NT组）。每个栏中的10头猪用 dexamethasone 处理（T-D组或NT-D组），8头猪用盐溶液处理（T-SS组或NT-SS组）。通过测量粪便糖皮质激素代谢物（FGMs）水平以及毛发中的皮质醇和可的松来评估肾上腺皮质活动。在T-SS组猪中，运输后FGMs水平高于NT-SS组猪。T-D组猪的FGMs水平最初升高，但随后比T-SS组更快达到与NT-SS组相似的水平。相比之下，毛发中的皮质醇和可的松对处理没有反应。然而，毛发中可的松/皮质醇的比值因运输而增加，在给予dexamethasone后降低。每日粪便采样在评估肾上腺皮质活动方面仍比60天毛发采样更可靠。运输后的猪在24小时内恢复了肾上腺皮质基线水平。Dexamethasone减弱了对运输的反应。
