Effect of confinement in metabolism stalls on cortisol, antibody production, and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity in lambs
Hsieh, M.M.; Friend, T.H.; Lay, D.C.; Wagner, G.G.
Contemporary Topics in Laboratory Animal Science 35(1): 48-52
1996
ISSN/ISBN: 1060-0558 PMID: 16457520 Document Number: 8774
It has long been established that bringing untamed sheep into laboratories may cause a stress response in the subjects that c.an jeopardize the validity of certain types of data. In this study, 30 ten-week-old tame lambs (Ovis aries) were used to evaluate the effect of confinement in metabolism stalls on adrenocortical function and specific and nonspecific immune function. All lambs were habituatec to human contact and were assigned to either experiment 1 (n=18) or 2 (n=12). In Experiment 1, six lambs were placed in metabolism st on day -7 (S -7), and six lambs were placed in either metabolism stalls (S) or a group pen (P) on day 0. The S -7 lambs were placed on treatment 7 days prior to S and P lambs to study possible habituation to the stalls. All lambs were inoculated with chicken red blood c, Its (CRBC) in Freund's incomplete adjuvant on day 0. Treatment did not affect plasma cortisol concentration or antibody (Ab) productior in response to CRBC, determined at 2-day intervals (day 0 to day 12). In Experiment 2, six lambs were placed in either metabolism stalls (S) or in a group pen (P) on day 0. Plasma cortisol concentration was determined at 2-day intervals (day 0 to day 12), whereas mononuclear effector cell activity was determined by antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity assays at days 0, 4, 8, and 12. Cortisol concentration and mononuclear cell efficiency were influenced by days on treatment (P<0.003 and P<0.0001, respectively) but not by treatments (P>0.4 t. aad P>0.8, respectively). Two days after completion of the two experiments, adrenocortical function was assessed by measuring plasma cortisol concentration in response to administration of 1 IU of ACTH/kg of body weight. The integrated cortisol response from 0 to 4 h after AC I'll administration was 195.3 and 177.3 ng/ml (P>0.50) for the S and P lambs, respectively. Confinement of tame 10-week-old lambs in metabolism stalls had a variable effect on cortisol, antibody production, and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity, perhaps reflect ng differences in how individual sheep reacted to the treatments.
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