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The immediate effects of weaning stress on the hypothalamus‐pituitary‐adrenal alteration of newly weaned piglets
Author(s) -
Yu ChienHo,
Chen ChingYi,
Chang ChihCheng
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1111/jpn.13104
Subject(s) - weaning , hypothalamus , endocrinology , medicine , adrenal gland , pituitary gland , hormone , corticotropin releasing hormone , biology , crossbreed , gene expression , adrenocorticotropic hormone , zoology , gene , biochemistry
This study was conducted to examine the effects of weaning stress on gene expression of specific markers in hypothalamus‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axis and neuronal activity in the newly weaned piglets. Twelve 28‐days‐old, newly weaned crossbred (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) male piglets from 6 l (2 piglets/l) were randomly categorized into two groups: (a) weaning stress: piglets were separated from their dams, relocated and mixed with the unacquainted domestic piglets for 2 hr (stress, n = 6); (b) no‐stress: piglets stayed with their dams in the farrowing house (NS; n = 6). After weaning stress, all piglets were electrically euthanized and the blood samples/HPA tissues were collected for subsequent analysis, including plasma cortisol and mRNA expression of c‐fos, c‐jun, corticotropin‐releasing hormone (CRH), CRH receptor 1 (CRHR‐1) and adrenocorticotropin hormone receptor (MC2R). Results: Weaning stress significantly ( p < 0.05) increased the plasma cortisol level and suppressed the expression of c‐fos and CRH in hypothalamus. In addition, weaning stress enhanced the mRNA abundance of c‐jun and CRHR‐1 in the pituitary gland. No significant differences in the gene expression of MC2R and CRHR‐1 were observed in the adrenal gland between treatment groups. Taken together, HPA involved in weaning stress and CRHR‐1 and c‐jun could be potential markers to evaluate the activation of HPA axis.