Effects of Transportations, a High Lactose Diet and Acth Injections on The White Blood Cell Count, Serum Cortisol and Im
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From the Department of Animal Husbandry and Genetics and the Department of Physiology, Veterinary College of Norway, Oslo.
EFFECTS OF TRANSPORTATIONS, A HIGH LACTOSE DIET AND ACTH INJECTIONS ON THE WHITE BLOOD CELL COUNT, SERUM CORTISOL AND IMMUNOGLOBULIN G IN YOUNG CALVES By E. Simensen, B. Laksesvela, Anne Kristine Blom and V. Sjaastad
SIMENSEN, E. , B. LAKSESVELA, ANNE KRISTINE BLOM and
0. V. SJAASTAD : Effects of transportations, a high lactose diet and
ACTH injections on the white blood cell count, serum cortisol and immunoglobulin G in young calves. Acta ve t. sc and. 1980, 21, 278290. - Twelve calves were subjected to 5 differ ent, consecutive treatments considered to induce stress. These included a) transportations for 4-8 h at temperatures just above or well bel ow O·C at the start of the experiment a nd 6 and 11 weeks later, b) feeding a high lactose diet and c) ACTH injections. The transp ortations resulted in a transient suppression in the level of serum IgG, and increase of cortisol, blood neutrophils and lymphocytes. One and 2 weeks after the first transportation, the lymphocyte count was sup p r ess ed. Intramuscular injections of ACTH also resulted in temporary increases in serum cortisol, blood neutrophils and lymphocytes, but no obvious changes in IgG. Thus, the suppressed levels of IgG which were seen after the transportations did not appear to be directly related to the increased level of cortisol. The high lactose di et was not accompanied by a significantly higher frequency of diarrhoea and lower mean weight gain. The IgG level did not appear to be influenced by the lactose level of the diet, and calves fed a high lactose diet responded similarly to transportation as calves fed a n ormal type of milk replacer. Apart from some diarrhoea, no health problem occurred.
transportation s; lactose levels ; ACTH; cortisol; I g G; b I 00 d n e u t r 0 phi I s; b I 0 0 d I Ymph 0 c y t e s; c a I v e s.
White blood cell count, serum cortisol, immunoglobulin G
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There is evidence in the literature that stress may play an important role in the pathogenesis of infectious diseases in young animals. Thus in calves, development of diseases after transfer from their usual environment is recognized as a problem (Sinha & Abinanti 1962) . Several investigations have been carried out to study the stressing effect of transportation in young calves. The level of circulating glucocorticoids and the white blood cell count have frequently been used for measurement in such studies. Transportation has been found to modify the immunologic response to antigen injections (Hartmann et al. 1976). Possibly, therefore, transportation stress may influence the level of circulating immunoglobulins. However, studies in order to establish such a relationship has not hitherto been reported. Together with transfer of calves to a new environment there is usually a change of diet. The type of feed after purchase has been reported to influence death rate (Staples & Haugse 1974) as well as the frequency of diarrhoea (Weiher et a
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