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      Pronounced Inter-Individual Variation in Plasma Cortisol Response to Fluoxetine Hydrochloride in the Pig

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          Abstract

          Simple Summary

          Holistic animal welfare assessment requires measures for emotional (affective) state, in particular positive states. Pharmacological agents such as antidepressants that create a predictable positive affective state can be valuable tools to assess novel welfare biomarkers. However, efficacy of pharmacological action in the brain needs to be demonstrated before such an approach is applicable. Counterintuitively, in humans and sheep, effective delivery of antidepressant agent, i.e., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, has been demonstrated by an increase in downstream cortisol levels. Here, we tested the efficacy of measuring circulating cortisol as an indicator for effective delivery of a single intravenous dose of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine hydrochloride to the pig brain. Antidepressant treatment resulted in increased plasma cortisol levels 15–165 min after treatment as compared with saline controls, suggesting that, similar to the other species, plasma cortisol is an indicator of fluoxetine hydrochloride efficacy. However, individual cortisol profiles of pigs treated with the antidepressant were highly variable with either the expected—an unorthodox, or no response. We conclude that significant inter-individual variation in cortisol response currently precludes the use of cortisol as a reporter for fluoxetine hydrochloride efficacy in the pig. These data need to be verified in a larger study.

          Abstract

          Animal welfare assessment requires measures for positive affective state. Pharmacological agents that manipulate affective state can be used to evaluate novel biomarkers for affective state assessment. However, to validate that an agent has modified brain function, a reliable indicator is required. Circulating cortisol has been used as a reporter for effective delivery of the antidepressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine hydrochloride to the brain in humans and sheep. Here, we tested cortisol as a reporter for effective delivery of fluoxetine hydrochloride to the pig brain. We hypothesized that following administration of SSRI, innervation of the serotonergic reward pathway would result in activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to increased circulating cortisol levels. Large White-Landrace gilts received either a single intravenous dose of 100 mg fluoxetine hydrochloride suspended in 10 mL saline (n = 4), or 10 mL saline alone (n = 4). Blood samples were collected every 15 min for one hour prior to, and six hours post-treatment. The interaction of treatment x time on mean plasma cortisol levels between 15–165 min post-treatment was significant ( p = 0.048) with highest cortisol concentrations of SSRI treated pigs versus controls (+ 98%) at 135 min post-treatment. However, individual cortisol profiles after SSRI treatment revealed high inter-individual variation in response. We conclude that, while combined data imply that plasma cortisol may be a readout for SSRI efficacy, inter-individual variation in SSRI response may preclude application of this approach in the pig. Given the current limited sample size, further research to confirm these findings is needed.

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          Most cited references19

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          Consistent sex differences in cortisol responses to psychological stress.

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            INVITED REVIEW: The usefulness of measuring glucocorticoids for assessing animal welfare.

            Glucocorticoids (corticosterone in birds and rodents and cortisol in all other mammals) are glucoregulatory hormones that are synthesized in response to a range of stimuli including stress and are regularly measured in the assessment of animal welfare. Glucocorticoids have many normal or non-stress-related functions, and glucocorticoid synthesis can increase in response to pleasure, excitement, and arousal as well as fear, anxiety, and pain. Often, when assessing animal welfare, little consideration is given to normal non-stress-related glucocorticoid functions or the complex mechanisms that regulate the effects of glucocorticoids on physiology. In addition, it is rarely acknowledged that increased glucocorticoid synthesis can indicate positive welfare states or that a stress response can increase fitness and improve the welfare of an animal. In this paper, we review how and when glucocorticoid synthesis increases, the actions mediated through type I and type II glucocorticoid receptors, the importance of corticosteroid-binding globulin, the role of 11 β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and the key aspects of neurophysiology relevant to activating the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis. This is discussed in the context of animal welfare assessment, particularly under the biological functioning and affective states frameworks. We contend that extending the assessment of animal welfare to key brain regions afferent to the hypothalamus and incorporating the aspects of glucocorticoid physiology that affect change in target tissue will advance animal welfare science and inspire more comprehensive assessment of the welfare of animals.
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              The use of judgement bias to assess welfare in farm livestock

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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Animals (Basel)
                Animals (Basel)
                animals
                Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI
                MDPI
                2076-2615
                18 March 2020
                March 2020
                : 10
                : 3
                : 504
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia; laura.latimer-marsh@ 123456adelaide.edu.au (L.E.M.); alexandra.whittaker@ 123456adelaide.edu.au (A.L.W.)
                [2 ]South Australian Research and Development Institute, Livestock Sciences, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia; robyn.terry86@ 123456gmail.com (R.T.); drcameronralph@ 123456gmail.com (C.R.R.)
                [3 ]Davies Research Centre, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, the University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, Australia
                [4 ]Robinson Research Institute, the University of Adelaide, North Adelaide, SA 5006, Australia
                Author notes
                [* ]Correspondence: stefan.hiendleder@ 123456adelaide.edu.au ; Tel.: +61-421-054-046
                Author information
                https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0803-2042
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9011-8296
                https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6222-3240
                Article
                animals-10-00504
                10.3390/ani10030504
                7143575
                32197320
                58b39f60-a3fe-40ae-9dc5-4a9f94293990
                © 2020 by the authors.

                Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

                History
                : 09 March 2020
                : 13 March 2020
                Categories
                Brief Report

                cortisol,antidepressant,fluoxetine hydrochloride,pig,affective state,welfare

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