Effects of social status after mixing on immune, metabolic, and endocrine responses in pigs

Tuchscherer, Margret; Puppe, Birger; Tuchscherer, Armin; Kanitz, Ellen

doi:10.1016/s0031-9384(98)00084-5

Cited by 123 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Acute and chronic social stress are known to change the distribution of immune cells and to alter the immune status in pigs (Tuchscherer et al, 1998;de Groot et al, 2001;Niekamp et al, 2007) and in other mammal species (for review see Bohus et al, 1991;Bartolomucci, 2007). Typically, the lymphocytes/granulocytes ratio and the lymphocyte abilities to proliferate in the presence of mitogens decrease after acute or chronic stress.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An agonistic interaction was defined as an overt fight or a displacement event with physical contact for more than 3 s. If an agonistic sequence lasted longer than 8 s, the next fight was classified as a new interaction. Agonistic interactions comprised 'bitings', 'head-to-head knocks', 'headto-body knocks' or 'parallel/inverse pressing' (Puppe, 1998;Tuchscherer et al, 1998). A sow won the agonistic interaction when the other (defeated) sow first stopped fighting, turned away from an attack or tried to flee.…”

Section: Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Behavioural, endocrine and immune responses to repeated social stress in pregnant gilts

Couret

Otten

Puppe

et al. 2009

Animal

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Pregnant sows are exposed to various stressors in intensive pig husbandry that may have negative consequences on their health, reproductive performances and welfare. Social stress is one of these challenges, because gestating sows have to be housed in groups according to EU guidelines (2001/88/CE). The purpose of this study was to determine the consequences of repeated social stress in pregnant female pigs on their behavioural, endocrine and immunological responses and on pregnancy outcome. Pregnant gilts were submitted to a repeated social stress procedure induced by housing unfamiliar gilts in pairs changed twice a week between days 77 and 105 of gestation (S group, n 5 18). Control gilts were housed in stable pairs during the same period (C group, n 5 18). Agonistic behaviour was observed during the first 3 h after each grouping. Skin lesions were numbered 2 h after each grouping. Salivary cortisol was measured before and repeatedly during the 4 weeks of grouping. Gilts were immunized against keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) on days 81 and 95 of gestation. Immunoglobulins G against KLH, proliferative responses to concanavalin A, lipopolysaccharide, pokeweed mitogen and KLH and peripheral blood leukocyte numbers were evaluated 1 week before the first grouping and 3 days after the last one. Agonistic interactions and skin lesions were observed in S gilts at each grouping, although there was a decline between the first and the last grouping ( P , 0.05). The repeated social stress induced a sustained endocrine response as shown by elevated salivary cortisol levels from 1 to 48 h after grouping in S gilts compared to C gilts. The cellular as well as the humoral immunity and the leukocyte numbers were not influenced by social stress. Gestation length tended to be shorter in S gilts ( P 5 0.09), but litter size, piglet weight or mortality at birth were not affected. Variability of the response of S gilts to groupings was partly explained by their average success value determined according to the outcome (defeat or win) of all the groupings. In conclusion, our study demonstrates that the application of repeated social stress to pregnant gilts during the last third of their gestation repeatedly activates their hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis but does not impair their immune function and pregnancy outcome.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural, endocrine and immune responses to repeated social stress in pregnant gilts

Couret

Otten

Puppe

et al. 2009

Animal

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“…It is known that stress due to rough handling can have an impact on the gastrointestinal tract, which also can create disturbances in the gastrointestinal microbe ecology. Furthermore, the risk for a Salmonella and/or E. coli infection would be increased (Tuchscherer et al, 1998).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects on growth performance, faecal microflora and plasma cholesterol after supplementation of spray-dried metabolite to postweaning rats

Loh¹,

Chong²,

Foo³

et al. 2009

CZECH J ANIM SCI

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ABSTRACT:A study was conducted to study the effects of feeding a spray-dried metabolite (SDM) produced by Lb. plantarum I-UL4 in the diets of postweaning rats on growth performance, faecal pH, Enterobacteriaceae bacterial and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts in the faeces and on plasma cholesterol concentrations. A total of 15 female 4-weeks-old Sprague dawley rats were randomly assigned to 3 groups of diets: basal diet (control), 0.25% SDM and 0.5% SDM diets. Daily feed intake, daily growth rate, blood plasma for total cholesterol concentration and faecal Enterobacteriaceae and LAB were measured. The growth rate, total feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and pH were not significantly different (P > 0.05) among all the treatment groups. The faecal Enterobacteriaceae counts in the 0.25% and 0.5% groups were significantly (P < 0.05) lower than in the control group. However, there was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the LAB counts among all the treatment groups. The plasma cholesterol concentration was significantly reduced (P < 0.05) following the feeding of the metabolite. The control had the highest concentration of cholesterol. However, the 0.5% SDM group had the lowest plasma cholesterol concentration, followed by the 0.25% SDM group.

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“…This may be related to social defeat, known to result in high levels of social stress (Ruis et al, 2001b). It seems likely that the adversity of social defeat is primarily related to the unpredictability and uncontrollability of the stress (Tuchscherer et al, 1998). Social rank also caused differences in the longer term.…”

Section: Dominance Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such a multifaceted approach was chosen for a better assessment of welfare status. Because it is known that mixing may differentially affect dominant and subordinate pigs (Tuchscherer et al, 1998), dominance relationships within the pairs were also studied.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of coping characteristics and social status for welfare and production of paired growing gilts

Ruis

Brake²,

Engel³

et al. 2002

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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This paper considers the question whether knowledge on individual coping characteristics of growing pigs may be used to improve welfare and production after mixing. Gilts with either reactive or proactive coping characteristics were identified according to behavioural resistance in a backtest, respectively, being low (LR) and high resistant (HR) in this test. At 7 weeks of age, several pairs of unfamiliar gilts were formed, and pairs and dominance relationships were studied over a 3-week period. The following pairs (combinations) were established: two LR gilts (LR/LR; n ¼ 12), two HR gilts (HR/HR; n ¼ 12), one LR and one HR gilt (LR gilt dominant: LR(d)/HR; n ¼ 11), and one LR and one HR gilt (HR gilt dominant: LR/HR(d); n ¼ 12). Results showed that on the day of mixing, aggression subsided less quickly and increases in body temperature were higher in LR/ HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Also, during the first week post-mixing, feed efficiency was lower and skin damage was higher in LR/HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Mixing of two HR gilts caused highest levels of stress, indicated by greater catecholamine concentrations in urine following the day of mixing, and higher baseline levels of plasma ACTH at 1 week post-mixing. The lower tendency of gilts within HR/HR pairs to contact a novel object may present higher fearfulness. In contrast to those of LR/HR(d) pairs, responses of LR(d)/HR pairs revealed much lower levels of stress, which emphasised the importance of dominance relationships, being independent of coping characteristics of individual gilts. We speculate that in LR/HR pairs, dominant LR gilts were able to suppress aggressiveness of HR subordinates. HR or proactive gilts, however, may become aggressive when being dominant. General effects of social status, independent of combination, were also found. Compared to dominants, subordinates showed higher acute cortisol, body temperature and vocal responses to mixing. In the longer term, they showed a higher vocal and parasympathetic responsitivity towards the novel object, and their body growth was impaired. Measures not influenced by combination and social status included those of leucocyte subsets, prolactin, and average heart rates during novelty tests. To conclude, aggressive conditions in newly formed groups, and consequently welfare and production, may largely depend on coping characteristics of individual pigs, but also on dominance relationships. Accordingly, the practical value of the backtest is being discussed. #

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Effects of social status after mixing on immune, metabolic, and endocrine responses in pigs

Cited by 123 publications

References 59 publications

Behavioural, endocrine and immune responses to repeated social stress in pregnant gilts

Behavioural, endocrine and immune responses to repeated social stress in pregnant gilts

Effects on growth performance, faecal microflora and plasma cholesterol after supplementation of spray-dried metabolite to postweaning rats

Implications of coping characteristics and social status for welfare and production of paired growing gilts

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