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Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences

Year: 1998 | Volume: 1 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 33-36
DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.1998.33.36
Patterns of Change of Some Commonly Measured Physiological Indices of Short Term Stress in Pigs
S. N. Brown, T. G. Knowles , J. E. Edwards , J. L. McKinstry , M. H. Anil and P. D. Warriss

Abstract: The experiment aimed to map the changes in time of commonly used indices of short term stress in pigs in response to a short term stressor followed by recovery and also to investigate differences in response between individuals. Four pigs were individually driven up and down a ramp and then allowed to recover, on each of three days. Before, during and after being driven measurements of packed cell volume, plasma cortisol, glucose, beta-endorphin, lactate, creatine phosphokinase and heart rate were made. All of the parameters measured changed in response to the treatment in the manner predicted from theory. The graphs shown in the text provide a useful guide to the rise time and the fall time of parameters commonly used in experiments designed to assess animal welfare and also show that some of these parameters are more uniform in the way in which they change over time than others. At the same time the results highlighted that there were readily observable differences between the response of individual animals.

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How to cite this article
S. N. Brown, T. G. Knowles , J. E. Edwards , J. L. McKinstry , M. H. Anil and P. D. Warriss , 1998. Patterns of Change of Some Commonly Measured Physiological Indices of Short Term Stress in Pigs. Pakistan Journal of Biological Sciences, 1: 33-36.

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