Babington Sarah, Ding Luoyang, Tilbrook Alan J, Maloney Shane K, Kho Elise A, Fernandes Jill N, Blache Dominique
School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia.
Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 17;15(1):13288. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97993-2.
The welfare of an animal is largely determined by the transient state within them that relates to what they experience. We evaluated candidate biomarkers of mental state and experience from human biomedicine as possible welfare biomarkers for sheep using a metabolic energy discrepancy model. The metabolic status of female Merino sheep was altered over three periods to induce changes in their experience and coping capacity. The first group was fed at maintenance for all periods (n = 11); the second group was fed above maintenance in period 1, at maintenance in period 2, and below maintenance in period 3 (n = 12); and the third group was fed below maintenance in period 1, at maintenance in period 2, and above maintenance in period 3 (n = 11). An isolation box test was used at the start and end of each feed period to assess the coping capacity of each sheep. Our results indicated that two of the five candidate biomarkers, insulin-like growth factor 1 and thiol oxidation, were associated with positive and negative experiences in the sheep, respectively. Future research should validate these biomarkers in sheep with other testing paradigms and in other ruminant species.
动物的福利很大程度上取决于其体内与自身经历相关的瞬时状态。我们使用代谢能量差异模型，评估了来自人类生物医学的精神状态和经历的候选生物标志物，将其作为绵羊可能的福利生物标志物。在三个时间段内改变了雌性美利奴绵羊的代谢状态，以诱导其经历和应对能力的变化。第一组在所有时间段都按维持量饲养（n = 11）；第二组在第1阶段高于维持量饲养，第2阶段按维持量饲养，第3阶段低于维持量饲养（n = 12）；第三组在第1阶段低于维持量饲养，第2阶段按维持量饲养，第3阶段高于维持量饲养（n = 11）。在每个饲养阶段开始和结束时，使用隔离箱试验来评估每只绵羊的应对能力。我们的结果表明，五个候选生物标志物中的两个，即胰岛素样生长因子1和硫醇氧化，分别与绵羊的积极和消极经历相关。未来的研究应该用其他测试范式在绵羊以及其他反刍动物物种中验证这些生物标志物。
