Neurobiology of environmental enrichment in pigs: hanges in monoaminergic neurotransmitters in several brain areas and in the hippocampal proteome
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Author
Arroyo, Laura
Valent, Daniel
Carreras, Ricard
Pato, Raquel
Sabrià, Josefa
Bassols, Anna
Publication date
2020-08-16ISSN
1874-3919
Abstract
Environmental enrichment in porcine farms improves animal welfare and leads to better public acceptance. To better understand the neurological mechanisms of the response to environmental enrichment, monoaminergic neurotransmitters were quantified in several brain areas from pigs after eight weeks of housing in barren or enriched conditions. Furthermore, iTRAQ labelling combined with LC-MS/MS was used to identify differentially abundant proteins in the hippocampus. Blood biochemical parameters related with stress and welfare were measured. Pigs under enriched conditions showed a decrease in plasma cortisol and lactate. The decrease in noradrenaline in the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, a general decrease in the dopaminergic system and an increase of serotonin in the striatum indicate a lower response to stress in enriched conditions. In the proteomic analysis, 2304 proteins were identified, of which 56 were differential between housing groups (46 upregulated and 10 downregulated). Bioinformatics analysis revealed that they were mainly related to ribosome, translation, microtubules and metabolic mitochondrial processes, indicating that pigs under enriched environments have higher abundance of proteins related to protein synthesis and neuronal activity. Together with previous behavioural studies, our results suggest that environmental enrichment provides a less stressful environment and that pigs cope better with stress conditions like the slaughterhouse. Significance Animal welfare has become an important aspect for the sustainability of animal production. The modification of the environment by enriching it with rooting materials and wider space allowance is known to have a positive effect on pigs' welfare. Searching for the underlying neurobiological mechanisms, we found that housing in an enriched environment increased the abundance of proteins related to protein synthesis, microtubule assembly, vesicle-mediated transport and energy metabolism in the hippocampus of pigs. Likewise, changes in the neurotransmitter profile in several brain areas were compatible with a better response to stress. This study expands the knowledge about the biological basis of animal welfare-promoting actions
Document Type
Article
Document version
Accepted version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
636 - Animal husbandry and breeding in general. Livestock rearing. Breeding of domestic animals
Pages
31
Publisher
Elsevier
Is part of
Journal of Proteomics
Citation
Arroyo, Laura, Daniel Valent, Ricard Carreras, Raquel Pato, Josefa Sabrià, Antonio Velarde, and Anna Bassols. 2020. "Neurobiology Of Environmental Enrichment In Pigs: Hanges In Monoaminergic Neurotransmitters In Several Brain Areas And In The Hippocampal Proteome". Journal Of Proteomics 229: 103943. doi:10.1016/j.jprot.2020.103943.
Grant agreement number
MINECO/Programa Estatal de fomento de la investigación científica y técnica de excelencia/AGL2015-68463-C2-2-P/ES/ESTUDIO MOLECULAR DE LOS EFECTOS DE LA SUPLEMENTACION DE AMINOACIDOS EN TERNEROS AMAMANTADOS MEDIANTE UNA APROXIMACION BIOQUIMICA Y PROTEOMICA/
Program
Benestar Animal
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2831]
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/