Study of the incidence of pregnancy toxemia by measuring some blood elements, metabolites and cortisol levels in Ghezel ewes

Subject Areas : Veterinary Clinical Pathology

sakineh hosseini ¹ , Gholamali Moghaddam ² , Abbas Rafat ³ , Aytak Bakhshayesh Khiabani ⁴

1 - MSc Student of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
2 - Professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
3 - Professor, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.
4 - MSc Student of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

Received: 2017-01-17 Accepted : 2017-12-04 Published : 2018-01-21

Keywords: Cortisol, blood metabolite, Ghezel, Pregnancy toxemia, Ewe,

Abstract :

Pregnancy toxemia of ewes is a metabolic disease caused by glucose deficiency in mothers in response to rapid increases in fetal requirements. The objective of this study was evaluation of some blood elements and metabolites and cortisol levels in pregnant Ghezel ewes at Khalatposhan research station. In this study, blood samples were taken from 50 pregnant ewes at three times, before mating, during pregnancy and before lambing. Thereafter, glucose, calcium, phosphorus, urea and total protein levels were measured using the spectrophotometric method and blood cortisol concentration using the Elisa method. The effect of parity on serum glucose concentration was significant (p<0.01). Phosphorus concentration in all ewes was at the same level and no significant difference was observed regarding phosphorous levels between ewes. Lambing type had no effect on the measured parameters. Blood sampling time had significant effect (p<0.01) on all the measured parameters except phosphorus. Serum cortisol levels were significantly (p<0.01) increased by body weight of lambs at birth. There was a negative correlation between glucose and urea (r=-0.16). The correlation between total protein and urea (r=0.42) and total protein and phosphorous (r=-0.21) was statistically significant (p<0.01). In general it can be concluded that pregnancy toxemia could be prevented by measurement and analysis of blood metabolites during pregnancy and the use of suitable diets and management strategies.

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