Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs
The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either una...
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doaj-a8c5a7b37aca4f55bb3f63aab643c28e2021-07-23T13:27:36ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-07-01112054205410.3390/ani11072054Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in PigsLaura Marsh0Mark R. Hutchinson1Clive McLaughlan2Stefan T. Musolino3Michelle L. Hebart4Robyn Terry5Paul J. Verma6Stefan Hiendleder7Alexandra L. Whittaker8School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaSchool of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaDepartment of Primary Industries and Regions, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics, Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, AustraliaSchool of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaDepartment of Primary Industries and Regions, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaDepartment of Primary Industries and Regions, South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaSchool of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaSchool of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, SA 5371, AustraliaThe ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable to distinguish between positive and negative emotional states, or they are simply not suitable for a production environment. Therefore, the development of novel measures of animal emotion is a necessity. Here we investigated the efficacy of microRNA (miRNA) in the brain and blood as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Female Large White × Landrace pigs (<i>n</i> = 24) were selected at weaning and trained to perform a judgment bias test (JBT), before being exposed for 5 weeks to either enriched (<i>n</i> = 12) or barren housing (<i>n</i> = 12) conditions. Pigs were tested on the JBT once prior to treatment, and immediately following treatment. MiRNA and neurotransmitters were analyzed in blood and brain tissue after euthanasia. Treatment had no effect on the outcomes of the JBT. There was also no effect of treatment on miRNA expression in blood or the brain (FDR <i>p</i> > 0.05). However, pigs exposed to enriched housing had elevated dopamine within the striatum compared to pigs in barren housing (<i>p</i> = 0.02). The results imply that either (a) miRNAs are not likely to be valid biomarkers of a positive affective state, at least under the type of conditions employed in this study, or (b) that the study design used to modify affective state was not able to create differential affective states, and therefore establish the validity of miRNA as biomarkers.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/7/2054welfarebiomarkerspositive affective statemiRNApigs |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Laura Marsh Mark R. Hutchinson Clive McLaughlan Stefan T. Musolino Michelle L. Hebart Robyn Terry Paul J. Verma Stefan Hiendleder Alexandra L. Whittaker |
spellingShingle |
Laura Marsh Mark R. Hutchinson Clive McLaughlan Stefan T. Musolino Michelle L. Hebart Robyn Terry Paul J. Verma Stefan Hiendleder Alexandra L. Whittaker Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs Animals welfare biomarkers positive affective state miRNA pigs |
author_facet |
Laura Marsh Mark R. Hutchinson Clive McLaughlan Stefan T. Musolino Michelle L. Hebart Robyn Terry Paul J. Verma Stefan Hiendleder Alexandra L. Whittaker |
author_sort |
Laura Marsh |
title |
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs |
title_short |
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs |
title_full |
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs |
title_fullStr |
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs |
title_sort |
evaluation of mirna as biomarkers of emotional valence in pigs |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Animals |
issn |
2076-2615 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable to distinguish between positive and negative emotional states, or they are simply not suitable for a production environment. Therefore, the development of novel measures of animal emotion is a necessity. Here we investigated the efficacy of microRNA (miRNA) in the brain and blood as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Female Large White × Landrace pigs (<i>n</i> = 24) were selected at weaning and trained to perform a judgment bias test (JBT), before being exposed for 5 weeks to either enriched (<i>n</i> = 12) or barren housing (<i>n</i> = 12) conditions. Pigs were tested on the JBT once prior to treatment, and immediately following treatment. MiRNA and neurotransmitters were analyzed in blood and brain tissue after euthanasia. Treatment had no effect on the outcomes of the JBT. There was also no effect of treatment on miRNA expression in blood or the brain (FDR <i>p</i> > 0.05). However, pigs exposed to enriched housing had elevated dopamine within the striatum compared to pigs in barren housing (<i>p</i> = 0.02). The results imply that either (a) miRNAs are not likely to be valid biomarkers of a positive affective state, at least under the type of conditions employed in this study, or (b) that the study design used to modify affective state was not able to create differential affective states, and therefore establish the validity of miRNA as biomarkers. |
topic |
welfare biomarkers positive affective state miRNA pigs |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/7/2054 |
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