DNA Damage as a Potential Non-Invasive Indicator of Welfare: A Preliminary Study in Zoo-Housed Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos horribilis)
Measures of oxidative stress have potential for integrating positive and negative life experiences into comprehensive cellular indicators of animal welfare. We explored this possibility when three adult grizzly bear brothers at the Detroit Zoo were temporarily moved to a smaller habitat while their primary home was expanded. We expected that the spatial compression and construction […]
Crib biting and equine gastric ulceration syndrome: Do horses that display oral stereotypies have altered gastric anatomy and physiology?
Equine gastric ulceration syndrome (EGUS) and crib biting (CB) are two separate conditions suffered by horses. Previous research has hypothesized causal relationships between these two conditions, whereby the behavior is driven by a requirement to stimulate saliva production to buffer gastric juice. However, to date, there is limited empirical evidence to support this notion. To […]
Life history trade-offs are influenced by the diversity, availability and interactions of dietary antioxidants
The expression of most life history traits, such as immunity, growth and the development of sexual signals, is negatively affected by high levels of oxidative stress. Dietary antioxidants can reduce oxidative stress and have therefore been the focus of numerous studies in behavioural and evolutionary ecology in the last few decades. Most of this research […]
Diphenyl diselenide supplemented diet reduces depressive-like behavior in hypothyroid female rats
Hypothyroidism has been associated to psychiatric disorder development and tissue oxidative damage. In this study, we evaluated the effect of diphenyl diselenide supplementation on depressive-like behavior triggered by methimazole exposure in female rats. Additionally, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and non-protein thiol (NP-SH) levels were analyzed in cerebral cortex, hippocampus and […]
Possible application of oxidative stress parameters for the evaluation of animal welfare in sheltered dogs subjected to different environmental and health conditions
The objective of this study was to establish an additional prognostic parameter to assess animal welfare. We explored the validity of using the thiol antioxidant barrier (SHp) and determination of reactive oxygen metabolites (dROMs) as indicators of stress and welfare in sheltered dogs. The shelter is a stressful environment for a dog because of its […]
Cumulative stress in research animals: Telomere attrition as a biomarker in a welfare context?
Progress in improving animal welfare is currently limited by the lack of objective methods for assessing lifetime experience. I propose that telomere attrition, a cellular biomarker of biological age, provides a molecular measure of cumulative experience that could be used to assess the welfare impact of husbandry regimes and/or experimental procedures on non-human animals. I […]
Acupuncture Needle Stimulation on Some Physiological Parameters After Road Transport and Physical Exercise in Horse
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of acupuncture (AG) treatment on some hematochemical parameters in five Thoroughbred horses after road transport and exercise. Horses competed in two official races. For each race, animals were transported from their stables to the racetrack. Horses transported and competed in the first race represent the […]