Salivary IgA as a Useful Non-Invasive Marker for Restraint Stress in Pigs

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In this study, we investigated the expression of immunoglobulin A (IgA) in porcine salivary gland and its relationship with restraint stress in pigs. IgA was expressed in plasma cells in pig salivary gland, as confirmed by immunohistochemical staining. IgA was also detected in pig saliva itself by ELISA, and salivary IgA levels were increased by a restraint stress. Moreover, there was a circadian rhythm of IgA over the course of a day. These results are the first evidence of IgA expression related to stress in the pig saliva and may make IgA useful as a non-invasive biological marker to evaluate acute stress condition in the pigs.KEY WORDS: IgA, non-invasive biomarker, restraint stress, saliva, salivary glands.

Nasal IgA secretion in a murine model of acute stress. The possible role of catecholamines.

“…1A). This is consistent with studies on other organs such as salivary glands (Bosch et al, 2001;Takatsuji et al, 2008;Lester et al, 2010;Muneta et al, 2010;Trueba et al, 2012), lacrimal glands of hens (Florence et al, 1995) and rat intestine. Those reports mention that the increase in intestinal IgA levels caused by repeated restraint stress is likely due to the effects of catecholamines on the transport of pIgA across the intestinal epithelium (Reyna-Garfias et al, 2010).…”

Response to lipopolysaccharide in salivary components and the submandibular gland of pigs

“…Muneta et al (2010) reported that the IgA concentration in porcine saliva was greater during 1 h of acute immobilization stress. In another study, during a period of intense resistance training in male weightlifters, salivary IgA were greater than that in the recovery stage (Tsai et al, 2012).…”

Causes, consequences and biomarkers of stress in swine: an update

“…CgA is not affected by age, gender or circadian rhythms [81]. This could be considered as an advantage compared with other stress biomarkers such as cortisol [82, 83], or Ig A [84] which are both influenced by these factors.…”