The Influence of Technological Stress on the Protective Properties of Pig Skin Depending on Age

Abstract

The skin performs the most important physiological functions of the body. The protective function is the main among them. This article presents the results of studies of how the technological stress affects the protective properties of pig skin depending on the animals’ age. The parameters of the skin, characterizing the epidermis, the main protective skin barrier, were studied in domestic Poltava Meat Breed pigs of different ages. The skin epidermis in animals of all studied age groups is actively involved in the performance of protective functions. Upon reaching the live weight of 100 kg, the young boars of the breed experience a great technological load, which causes tension in the skin protective systems and, thus, activation of these systems. This results in greater values of the epidermis thickness comparing to adult boars (by 17.22% (p⩽0.05)) due to an increase in its inner (underlying) layers (by 33.05% (p⩽0.001)). The stratum corneum of the young boars’ epidermis is thinner but more dense, with pronounced sudanophilia. With pigs reaching their adulthood, the tension in their protective factors decreases and stabilizes. In adult boars, the stratum corneum is thicker (a significant difference is 6.82 μm or 28.14%), but it is more susceptible to keratinization, is looser and has pronounced fibrillation. These changes probably mark the already developed adaptation to the existing natural and technological conditions.