scholarly journals Long-term and trans-generational effects of neonatal experience on sheep behaviour

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 20140273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Clark ◽  
Joanna Murrell ◽  
Mia Fernyhough ◽  
Treasa O'Rourke ◽  
Michael Mendl

Early life experiences can have profound long-term, and sometimes trans-generational, effects on individual phenotypes. However, there is a relative paucity of knowledge about effects on pain sensitivity, even though these may impact on an individual's health and welfare, particularly in farm animals exposed to painful husbandry procedures. Here, we tested in sheep whether neonatal painful and non-painful challenges can alter pain sensitivity in adult life, and also in the next generation. Ewes exposed to tail-docking or a simulated mild infection (lipopolysaccharide (LPS)) on days 3–4 of life showed higher levels of pain-related behaviour when giving birth as adults compared with control animals. LPS-treated ewes also gave birth to lambs who showed decreased pain sensitivity in standardized tests during days 2–3 of life. Our results demonstrate long-term and trans-generational effects of neonatal experience on pain responses in a commercially important species and suggest that variations in early life management can have important implications for animal health and welfare.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. J. Adcock

Farm animals routinely undergo painful husbandry procedures early in life, including disbudding and castration in calves and goat kids, tail docking and castration in piglets and lambs, and beak trimming in chicks. In rodents, inflammatory events soon after birth, when physiological systems are developing and sensitive to perturbation, can profoundly alter phenotypic outcomes later in life. This review summarizes the current state of research on long-term phenotypic consequences of neonatal painful procedures in rodents and farm animals, and discusses the implications for farm animal welfare. Rodents exposed to early life inflammation show a hypo-/hyper-responsive profile to pain-, fear-, and anxiety-inducing stimuli, manifesting as an initial attenuation in responses that transitions into hyperresponsivity with increasing age or cumulative stress. Neonatal inflammation also predisposes rodents to cognitive, social, and reproductive deficits, and there is some evidence that adverse effects may be passed to offspring. The outcomes of neonatal inflammation are modulated by injury etiology, age at the time of injury and time of testing, sex, pain management, and rearing environment. Equivalent research examining long-term phenotypic consequences of early life painful procedures in farm animals is greatly lacking, despite obvious implications for welfare and performance. Improved understanding of how these procedures shape phenotypes will inform efforts to mitigate negative outcomes through reduction, replacement, and refinement of current practices.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 459 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. L. Gatford ◽  
C. T. Roberts ◽  
K. L. Kind ◽  
P. I. Hynd

Animal producers are well aware that a low-birthweight animal is more likely to die in the first few days of life, and, if it survives, it is likely to perform poorly. We are now coming to appreciate that early life events can permanently change an animal’s developmental trajectory, also often referred to as developmental programming. This is an area of current interest in biomedicine, where the concept is known as the ‘developmental origins of health and disease’ (DOHaD). Current gaps in understanding include many of the underlying mechanisms, and whether and how we might intervene and restore the potential for healthy and productive development. This review introduces the biomedical perspective of developmental programming, reviews some of the evidence for long-term effects of early life exposures on welfare and productivity in animal production, with a focus on prenatal growth and maternal stress in pig production, and discusses options for intervening to improve long-term outcomes.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 175346661989249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon A. McGrath-Morrow ◽  
Joseph M. Collaco

Emerging evidence suggests that adverse early life events can affect long-term health trajectories throughout life. Preterm birth, in particular, is a significant early life event that affects approximately 10% of live births. Worldwide, prematurity is the number one cause of death in children less than 5 years of age and has been shown to disrupt normal lung development with lasting effects into adult life. Along with impaired lung development, interventions used to support gas exchange and other sequelae of prematurity can lead to the development of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD is a chronic respiratory disease of infancy characterized by alveolar simplification, small airways disease, and pulmonary vascular changes. Although many survivors of BPD improve with age, survivors of BPD often have chronic lung disease characterized by airflow obstruction and intermittent pulmonary exacerbations. Long-term lung function trajectories as measured by FEV1 can be lower in children and adults with a history BPD. In this review, we discuss the epidemiology and manifestations of BPD and its long-term consequences throughout childhood and into adulthood. Available evidence suggests that disrupted lung development, genetic susceptibility and subsequent environment and infectious events that occur in prenatal and postnatal life likely increase the predisposition of children with BPD to develop early onset chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The reviews of this paper are available via the supplemental material section.


2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Borghild Løyland

AbstractBackgroundWhile lower socioeconomic status increases individual’s risk for chronic conditions, little is known about how long-term social assistance recipients (LTRs) with multiple chronic health problems experience chronic pain and/or psychological distress. Social assistance is the last safety net in the Norwegian welfare system and individuals have a legal right to economic assistance if they are unable to support themselves or are entitled to other types of benefits. The purposes of this study were to determine the co-occurrence of both chronic pain and psychological distress and to evaluate for differences in demographic and social characteristics, as well as health-related quality of life, among LTRs.MethodsThis descriptive, cross-sectional study surveyed people receiving long-term social assistance in Norway about their health and social functioning from January-November 2005. The social welfare authority offices in each of 14 municipalities in Norway were responsible to locate the LTRs who met the study’s inclusion criteria. The selected municipalities provided geographic variability including both rural and urban municipalities in different parts of the country. LTRs were included in this study if they: had received social assistance as their main source of income for at least 6 of the last 12 months; were between 18 and 60 years of age; and were able to complete the study questionnaire. In this study, 405 LTRs were divided into four groups based on the presence or absence of chronic pain and/or psychological distress. (1) Neither chronic pain nor psychological distress (32%, n = 119), (2) only chronic pain (12%, n = 44), (3) only psychological distress and (24%, n = 87), (4) both chronic pain and psychological distress (32%, n =119).ResultsExcept for age and marital status, no differences were found between groups in demographic characteristics. Significant differences were found among the four groups on all of the items related to childhood difficulties before the age of 16, except the item on sexual abuse. LTRs with both chronic pain and psychological distress were more likely to have experienced economic problems in their childhood home; other types of abuse than sexual abuse; long-term bullying; and had more often dropped out of school than LTRs with neither chronic pain nor psychological distress. LTRs with both chronic pain and psychological distress, reported more alcohol and substance use/illicit drug use, more feelings of loneliness and a lower mental score on SF-12 than LTRs with only chronic pain.Conclusions and implicationsCo-occurrence of chronic pain and psychological distress is common in LTRs and problems in early life are associated with the co-occurrence of chronic pain and psychological distress in adult life. Although this study cannot assign a clear direction or causality to the association between social and demographic characteristics and chronic pain and psychological distress, the findings when examining LTRs’ problems in childhood before the age of 16, indicated that incidents in early life create a probability of chronic pain and psychological distress in the adult life of the individuals. Further studies should use life course studies and longitudinal data in to investigate these important questions in LTRs.


1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (12) ◽  
pp. 2705-2709 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. M. Austin

The Chesapeake Bay, while a significant habitat for fisheries resources, is in actuality an aquatic “bedroom community”, as many of the economically important species are seasonally transient. The pressure on these resources due to their demand for human consumption and recreation, proximity to extensive industrial activity along the shores, and climate scale environmental fluctuations has resulted in stock declines by most important species. Our inability to separate natural population fluctuations from those of anthropogenic origin complicates management efforts. The only way to make these separations, and subsequent informed management decisions is by supporting long-term stock assessment programs (monitoring) in the Bay which allow us to examine trends, cycles and stochastic processes between resource and environment. These programs need to monitor both recruitment and fishing mortality rates of the economically important species, and to identify and monitor the environmentally sensitive “canary” species.


2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (38) ◽  
pp. 5879-5886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerbrich E. van den Bosch ◽  
Monique van Dijk ◽  
Dick Tibboel ◽  
Jurgen C. de Graaff

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (40) ◽  
pp. 4825-4837 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo Alberto de la Riva ◽  
Francisco Javier López Mendoza ◽  
Guillermin Agüero-Chapin

Background: Oxygen is involved in a variety of physiological reactions in aerobic organisms, such as those produced in the electron transport chain, hydroxylation, and oxygenation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are naturally formed as byproducts from these previously reactions involving the O2 molecule; they are made up of superoxide anion (O2−), hydroxyl radical (HO−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), nitric oxide (NO), peroxyl (ROO−), and reactive aldehyde (ROCH). Under certain environmental stress conditions, ROS are accumulated causing cellular damage but also triggering the overexpression of several enzyme classes such as superoxide dismutases (SOD), catalases (CAT) and glutathione peroxidases (GPx), which represent an important intrinsic antioxidant defence line. Liver is a key organ in vertebrates including farm animals and human. The oxidative stress plays an important role in systemic malfunctions including hepatic, renal and immunological, disorders. Methods: This review presents a brief update about the relationship of oxidative stress with hepatic, renal and immunological malfunctions in stressed organisms. Cellular and exogenous hepatoprotective compounds share also the ability to scavenge ROS acting as antioxidants and in many cases as stimulators of immune response in stressed organisms. We present the effect of some hepatoprotectors on the hepatic, renal and immunological function in stressed mice by the jointed evaluation of biological and oxidative stress markers. Conclusion: Hepatoprotective effect of several exogenous compounds is very associated with their antioxidant capacity. This fact is relevant for keeping oxidant/antioxidant balance in the respective organs, but also for maintaining the physiological status of the whole organism.


Author(s):  
Maria Fitzgerald ◽  
Michael W. Salter

The influence of development and sex on pain perception has long been recognized but only recently has it become clear that this is due to specific differences in underlying pain neurobiology. This chapter summarizes the evidence for mechanistic differences in male and female pain biology and for functional changes in pain pathways through infancy, adolescence, and adulthood. It describes how both developmental age and sex determine peripheral nociception, spinal and brainstem processing, brain networks, and neuroimmune pathways in pain. Finally, the chapter discusses emerging evidence for interactions between sex and development and the importance of sex in the short- and long-term effects of early life pain.


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