Evaluation of serum analytes in pregnant and non-pregnant dairy cows as indicators of pregnancy

S Abbas,D Nak,S Ashraf,M.S Yousaf,A.K Mahmood,H Rehman,A.H Shahzad,I Ahmad,R.S Blouch,Y Nak

doi:10.4314/sajas.v50i5.15

Abstract

This study was conducted to reveal the dynamics of haematological indicators in pregnant and non-pregnant dairy cows. Sixty multiparous healthy dairy cows were divided into four groups based on the length of time they had been pregnant, namely first, second and third trimesters, and non-pregnant (n=15 each). Blood was collected from each animal, and serum was harvested and stored at -20 °C for biochemical profiling. Concentrations of serum total oxidants (TOC), ceruloplasmin oxidase (CpO) and triiodothyronine (T3) were higher (P <0.05) during the third trimester compared with non-pregnant cows. Serum arylesterase (Ary) concentration was lower (P <0.05) during the second and the third trimesters compared with the non-pregnant cows. The concentration of serum total homocysteine (tHcy) was higher (P <0.05) the third trimester compared with the first and the second trimesters. The concentrations of serum total antioxidants (TAC), paraoxonase 1 (PON1), thyroxine (T4), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were not different in the pregnant and the non-pregnant cows. Thus, TOC, Ary, CpO, tHcy and T3 could be taken as biological markers to assess the progression of pregnancy and to develop management tools to improve health status during late gestation in dairy cows Keywords: ceruloplasmin, hepatic enzymes, late gestation, triiodothyronine

Highlights

Pregnancy is characterized by increased metabolic demand owing to the changes in female physiology and the requirements of the growing foetus (Đuričić et al, 2020)
The body develops a number of antioxidant mechanisms (Serdar et al, 2002) to counteract this stress through enzymatic induction and activity of enzymes such as arylesterase (Ary) and paraoxonase (PON) (Turk et al, 2007), ceruloplasmin oxidase (CpO) and apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) (Folnožić et al, 2015)
These defence mechanisms are disrupted in pregnancy, as evidenced by increased oxidative stress (Castillo et al, 2006; Turk et al, 2018), low total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and decreased PON activity (Turk et al, 2005a) in dairy cattle

Summary

Introduction

Pregnancy is characterized by increased metabolic demand owing to the changes in female physiology and the requirements of the growing foetus (Đuričić et al, 2020). The body develops a number of antioxidant mechanisms (Serdar et al, 2002) to counteract this stress through enzymatic induction and activity of enzymes such as arylesterase (Ary) and paraoxonase (PON) (Turk et al, 2007), ceruloplasmin oxidase (CpO) and apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) (Folnožić et al, 2015). These defence mechanisms are disrupted in pregnancy, as evidenced by increased oxidative stress (Castillo et al, 2006; Turk et al, 2018), low total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and decreased PON activity (Turk et al, 2005a) in dairy cattle

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