Prediction of susceptibility to the porcine stress syndrome

Abstract

An experiment designed to compare different predictors of porcine stress syndrome (PSS) was conducted. Animals were exposed to the anesthetic gas, halothane, and their reactions monitored to determine susceptibility or resistance to PSS. Two blood creatine phosphokinase (CPK) traits plus their logs10 were examined as predictors of PSS susceptibility. These were Sigma CPK, Antonik CPK, log Sigma CPK, and log Antonik CPK. The accuracy of these predictors varied from 87 percent to 91 percent in agreement with halothane-determined stress susceptibility. In addition, the relationship of PSS and blood types systems (AO,H) were studied. Two blood types, (+,-/-) and (-,+/+), were consistently stress susceptible while three blood types, (+,a/a), (+,a/c), and (+,c/-), were consistently stress resistant. However, one blood type (+,a/-) contained both stress-susceptible and stress-resistant individuals.