Seasonal variations of the serum proteins in sheep and goats (Short Communication)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the seasonal trend of the serum protein content of sheep and goats. The tested animals were six female goats (Maltese breed) and six female sheep (Valle del Belice breed). All animals were clinically healthy and not pregnant or lactating before or during the study. On blood samples, collected through an external jugular venipuncture every 30 days for 12 months, electrophoresis was performed using a semiautomated AGE system and then electrophoretic curves with the relative protein concentrations were analyzed. One way for repeated measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to determine the effect of time and by means of cosinor rythmometry, mesor (mean level), amplitude (half the range of oscillation) and acrophase (Φ, time of peak) were determined. The results showed a seasonal rhythm on Albumin and Alumin/Globulin ratio for sheep and goats, with different acrophases, winter for goats and spring for sheep. A seasonal rhythm was shown also in Alpha 2 globulins by sheep and in Beta globulins by goats. The difference in the acrophase can be attributed to a different production pattern of melatonin in goat, so the liver production of albumin is major during the winter that has a longer scotophase. Archiv Tierzucht 54 (2011) 4, 399-405, ISSN 0003-9438 Keywords

Effects of the dry and the rainy season on endocrine and physiologic profiles of goats in the Brazilian semi-arid region

“…These changes are controlled by T3, T4 and COR, which facilitate the physiological adaptation to changing climatic conditions. It is well known that blood and physiological seasonal variations could be due to the activity of the hypothalamic suprachiasmatic nuclei, which regulate metabolic and endocrine functions (Piccione et al 2011(Piccione et al , 2012. Endocrine and physiological changes reflect endogenous adaptive mechanisms to environmental changes associated with the seasons ( Piccione et al 2009;Ribeiro et al 2015).…”

Relationship between different livestock managements and stress response in dairy ewes

“…It is well established that season, ambient temperature, as well as THI, and the other climatic conditions affect physiological, biochemical and hematological parameters in sheep (Piccione et al, 2011(Piccione et al, , 2012. THI values of 70 or less are considered comfortable, 75-78 stressful, and values greater than 78 cause extreme distress (Di Grigoli et al, 2009).…”

Blood haemogram in Ovis aries and Capra hyrcus: effect of storage time

“…As shown by the literature, the period during which the assessed parameters change significantly from baseline values varies from one species to the other. Much of the available information on the haematology of small ruminants are known from data on sheep and goats (Piccione et al 2007(Piccione et al , 2011(Piccione et al , 2014 because of their economic importance; however, there are relatively few reports regarding blood storage in these species. In view of this lack of information, the objective of this study was to evaluate the stability of hematological parameters in goats and sheep blood stored at 4°C at different times: T0 (within 3 h after sampling), T1 (24 h after sampling), T2 (48 h after sampling), T3 (72 h after sampling), and T4 (1 wk after sampling).…”