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Animals
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Hormones and the Welfare of Animals
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Hormones and the Welfare of Animals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2022) | Viewed by 18874

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alan Tilbrook

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Guest Editor
The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia
Interests: neuroendocrinology; endocrinology; animal welfare; animal science; stress; behavior; biomedical sciences; animal reproduction
Dr. Dominique Blache

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley 6009, Australia
Interests: animal welfare; endocrinology; stress physiology; domestic animals; emotional reactivity
Prof. Dr. Shane Maloney

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia
Interests: thermoregulation; chronobiology; physiology; animal science; stress; biomedical sciences
Dr. Jill Fernandes

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD 4343, Australia
Interests: animal welfare; environmental science; animal neuroscience; animal behaviour
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A growing concern to society is the welfare of animals, creating the need for objective measures to assess animal welfare. However, assessing the welfare of animals in an objective manner is fraught with difficulty. Animals have numerous endocrine (hormonal) responses in their daily lives, and these responses affect the physiological and behavioural functioning of the animal. Sometimes a response will signal a welfare concern, but in other contexts the same response might be considered normal. To date, animal research has concentrated on a small number of endocrine systems and hormones, generally studied in isolation. To advance the science of animal welfare, we need broader, systems-based, approaches to animal endocrinology. Furthermore, interdisciplinary approaches are required to establish when the actions of hormones are associated with physiological or behavioural consequences that have negative or positive effects on the welfare of an animal.

Original manuscripts from any discipline that address any of the following are invited for this Special Issue:

1. The actions of hormones on physiological and behavioural functioning, such that animal welfare is impacted

2. The usefulness of measuring hormones and their actions for the assessment of animal welfare

3. The manipulation of hormones to improve animal welfare

We look forward to reading your thought-provoking manuscripts that take novel approaches in endocrinology to advance our ability to understand and assess the welfare of animals.

Prof. Alan Tilbrook
Dr. Dominique Blache
Prof. Dr. Shane Maloney
Dr. Jill Fernandes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hormones
  • animal neurophysiology
  • animal welfare
  • assessment of animal welfare

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3683 KiB  
Article
Immune Functions Alterations Due to Racing Stress in Thoroughbred Horses
by Mônica Cristina Zandoná Meleiro, Hianka Jasmyne Costa de Carvalho, Rafaela Rodrigues Ribeiro, Mônica Duarte da Silva, Cristina Massoco Salles Gomes, Maria Angélica Miglino and Irvênia Luiza de Santis Prada
Animals 2022, 12(9), 1203; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12091203 - 7 May 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2681
Abstract
Racehorses are constantly exposed to stress. Aiming to verify the state of blood components and cortisol alterations during their routine and after races, phagocytosis and oxidative neutrophil burst assays, serum cortisol determination, erythrocytes apoptosis evaluation, lymphoproliferation assays, and blood count tests were performed [...] Read more.
Racehorses are constantly exposed to stress. Aiming to verify the state of blood components and cortisol alterations during their routine and after races, phagocytosis and oxidative neutrophil burst assays, serum cortisol determination, erythrocytes apoptosis evaluation, lymphoproliferation assays, and blood count tests were performed in thirty Thoroughbred racehorses, which were divided in two groups. The samples were taken right after races (moment 0 d), during rest periods (−11 d, +1 d, +3 d), and after training (−8, +2, +5). In both groups, the phagocytosis showed a decrease in percentage and intensity immediately after the race when comparing samples collected during rest or training periods. In the mean values of oxidative burst on samples collected immediately after the race, group I animals demonstrated a decrease (524.2 ± 248.9) when compared with those samples collected in other moments. No significant differences were found between the results of different moments regarding the apoptotic cells and lymphoproliferation assays. The mean values of serum cortisol levels were increased immediately after racing. There was an increase in the percentage of neutrophils found immediately after the race. It was possible to conclude that, although a transient reduction was found in the number of neutrophils, the horses’ adaptive function was not affected. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hormones and the Welfare of Animals)
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12 pages, 739 KiB  
Article
Glucocorticoids of European Bison in Relation to Their Status: Age, Dominance, Social Centrality and Leadership
by Amandine Ramos, Jean-Patrice Robin, Lola Manizan, Cyril Audroin, Esther Rodriguez, Yvonne J. M. Kemp and Cédric Sueur
Animals 2022, 12(7), 849; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12070849 - 28 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2274
Abstract
Stress is the body’s response to cope with the environment and generally better survive unless too much chronic stress persists. While some studies suggest that it would be more stressful to be the dominant individual of the group, others support the opposite hypothesis. [...] Read more.
Stress is the body’s response to cope with the environment and generally better survive unless too much chronic stress persists. While some studies suggest that it would be more stressful to be the dominant individual of the group, others support the opposite hypothesis. Several variables can actually affect this relationship, or even cancel it. This study therefore aims to make the link between social status and the basal level of stress of 14 wild European bison (Bison bonasus, L. 1758) living together. We collected faeces and measured the faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGM). We showed that FGM is linked to different variables of social status of European bison, specifically age, dominance rank, eigenvector centrality but also to interactions between the variables. Preferential leaders in bison, i.e., the older and more dominant individuals which are more central ones, are less stressed compared to other group members. Measurement of such variables could thus be a valuable tool to follow and improve the conservation of species by collecting data on FGM and other social variables and adapt group composition or environmental conditions (e.g., supplement in food) according to the FGM concentration of herd individuals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hormones and the Welfare of Animals)
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Review

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16 pages, 1863 KiB  
Review
Impact of Estrogens Present in Environment on Health and Welfare of Animals
by Konrad Wojnarowski, Paweł Podobiński, Paulina Cholewińska, Jakub Smoliński and Karolina Dorobisz
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2152; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072152 - 20 Jul 2021
Cited by 53 | Viewed by 11898
Abstract
Nowadays, there is a growing interest in environmental pollution; however, knowledge about this aspect is growing at an insufficient pace. There are many potential sources of environmental contamination, including sex hormones—especially estrogens. The analyzed literature shows that estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), [...] Read more.
Nowadays, there is a growing interest in environmental pollution; however, knowledge about this aspect is growing at an insufficient pace. There are many potential sources of environmental contamination, including sex hormones—especially estrogens. The analyzed literature shows that estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and synthetic ethinyloestradiol (EE2) are the most significant in terms of environmental impact. Potential sources of contamination are, among others, livestock farms, slaughterhouses, and large urban agglomerations. Estrogens occurring in the environment can negatively affect the organisms, such as animals, through phenomena such as feminization, dysregulation of natural processes related to reproduction, lowering the physiological condition of the organisms, disturbances in the regulation of both proapoptotic and anti-apoptotic processes, and even the occurrence of neoplastic processes thus drastically decreasing animal welfare. Unfortunately, the amount of research conducted on the negative consequences of their impact on animal organisms is many times smaller than that of humans, despite the great richness and diversity of the fauna. Therefore, there is a need for further research to help fill the gaps in our knowledge. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hormones and the Welfare of Animals)
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