Abstract
BackgroundTransportation is necessary to introduce new breeds of goats to the farm and move the adult meat goat from the farm to the slaughterhouse. However, these actions may give rise to transport stress. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) are playing some important regulate roles during transport stress. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of transport stress on the pathological injury and HSPs expression in the stomach of goats. A total of three batches of Ganxi goats from western Jiangxi province were enrolled in this study. For each batch, twelve healthy adult male goats were randomly divided into three groups (four goats per batch and per group): Control group, stress group transported during 2 h and stress group transported during 6 h.ResultsOur results showed that the different degrees of stomach walls damage, with the change of expression levels of heat shock protein 27 (HSP27), heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), occurred after goats transportation. In rumen, the mRNA and protein expressions of HSP27 and HSP70 were increased after transport stress, but not HSP90. In reticulum, all three HSPs mRNA and protein levels were upregulated after 2 h transport, but decreased after 6 h transport. In omasum, HSP27 and HSP70 mRNA and protein were increased after transport stress, however, HSP90 mRNA level only had a slightly enhancement after transport stress. In abomasum, HSP70 and HSP90 mRNA and protein levels were increased after transport stress, but HSP27 was decreased after transport stress.ConclusionsTaken together, these results revealed that the pathological changes in the gastric tissues and the stomach HSPs expression in goats are related to transport stress and duration. Moreover, this study also provides some new data to advocate reducing transport stress of goats and improving animal welfare.
Highlights
Transportation is necessary to introduce new breeds of goats to the farm and move the adult meat goat from the farm to the slaughterhouse
To evaluate the response of Heat shock protein (HSP) when animals are exposed to harmful stimulus, we detected the expression of HSPs protein and mRNA in rumen
Western blot analyses showed that a significant increase in heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) (p < 0.05) in the rumen were induced after 2 h or 6 h transportation, but not heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) (p > 0.05; Fig. 1c, d)
Summary
Transportation is necessary to introduce new breeds of goats to the farm and move the adult meat goat from the farm to the slaughterhouse. These actions may give rise to transport stress. As a part of the digestive system, the stomach plays an important role in the daily life of livestock. Animals may expose to some stimuli such as changes in temperature and humidity, restriction of feed and water, mixed with other animals, and so on These stimuli are highly stressful which can induce so called “transport stress” in animals and result in the increase of morbidity and even cause death [4, 5].
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