Abstract
Simple SummaryInfrared thermography is a clinically useful method for detecting physiopathological alterations in animals through microvascular changes. It has been adapted for applications with large species, as a support tool in evaluating animal welfare, and can also contribute to productive and reproductive evaluations. This review discusses the thermal windows currently in use and characterizes their differences and limitations as resources for early detection and diagnosis in cattle and river buffaloes.Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-ionizing, non-invasive technique that permits evaluating the comfort levels of animals, a topic of concern due to the growing interest in determining the state of health and welfare of production animals. The operating principle of IRT is detecting the heat irradiated in anatomical regions characterized by a high density of near-surface blood vessels that can regulate temperature gain or loss from/to the environment by modifying blood flow. This is essential for understanding the various vascular thermoregulation mechanisms of different species, such as rodents and ruminants’ tails. The usefulness of ocular, nasal, and vulvar thermal windows in the orbital (regio orbitalis), nasal (regio nasalis), and urogenital (regio urogenitalis) regions, respectively, has been demonstrated in cattle. However, recent evidence for the river buffalo has detected discrepancies in the data gathered from distinct thermal regions in these large ruminants, suggesting a limited sensitivity and specificity when used with this species due to various factors: the presence of hair, ambient temperature, and anatomical features, such as skin thickness and variations in blood supplies to different regions. In this review, a literature search was conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed, using keyword combinations that included “infrared thermography”, “water buffalo”, “river buffalo” “thermoregulation”, “microvascular changes”, “lacrimal caruncle”, “udder”, “mastitis”, and “nostril”. We discuss recent findings on four thermal windows—the orbital and nasal regions, mammary gland in the udder region (regio uberis), and vulvar in the urogenital region (regio urogenitalis)—to elucidate the factors that modulate and intervene in validating thermal windows and interpreting the information they provide, as it relates to the clinical usefulness of IRT for cattle (Bos) and the river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).
Highlights
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a tool that is being used increasingly with farm animals due to society’s growing interest in animal welfare [1,2,3,4]
The plantar window helps evaluate thermal states [46], but it has not been possible to validate this window in dogs [47] (Figure 2). These findings indicate the need to improve our understanding of different thermal windows in light of recent scientific findings and to analyze their possible clinical usefulness for work with large ruminants
These findings indicate the need to improve our understanding of different thermal win5 of 23 dows in light of recent scientific findings and to analyze their possible clinical usefulness for work with large ruminants
Summary
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a tool that is being used increasingly with farm animals due to society’s growing interest in animal welfare [1,2,3,4] This technique detects the heat irradiated by a surface, decoding it into a temperature by a biological body, and interpreting its relation to the state of animal comfort [5]. In terms of both physiological and practical mechanisms, the principal mechanism involved in heat gain or loss is the regulation of the diameter of near-surface blood vessels; that is, the cutaneous vasodilatation that occurs in anatomical regions to permit thermal exchanges with the environment [6,7,8,9,10,11]. This review discusses recent scientific findings on the thermal windows of the orbital (regio orbitalis), nasal (regio nasalis), udder (regio uberis), and urogenital regions (regio urogenitalis) to elucidate the individual and environmental factors that intervene in the validation and interpretation of these windows and their clinical usefulness for evaluating thermal comfort and welfare in two species: cattle (Bos taurus and Bos indicus) and river buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)
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