Parturition in mammals: animal models, pain, and distres

Publication history: Accepted - 12 October 2021; Published online - 14 October 2021.Parturition is a complex physiological process and involves many hormonal, morphological, physiological, and behavioural changes. Labour is a crucial moment for numerous species and is usually the most painful experience in females. Contrary to the extensive research in humans, there are limited pain studies associated with the birth process in domestic animals. Nonetheless, awareness of parturition has increased among the public, owners, and the scientific community during recent years. Dystocia is a significant factor that increases the level of parturition pain. It is considered less common in polytocous species because newborns’ number and small size might lead to the belief that the parturition process is less painful than in monotocous animal species and humans. This review aims to provide elements of the current knowledge about human labour pain (monotocous species), the relevant contribution of the rat model to human labour pain, and the current clinical and experimental knowledge of parturition pain mechanisms in domestic animals that support the fact that domestic polytocous species also experience pain. Moreover, both for women and domestic animal species, parturition’s pain represents a potential welfare concern, and information on pain indicators and the appropriate analgesic therapy are discusse

Clinical usefulness of infrared thermography to detect sick animals: frequent and current cases

Infrared thermography (IRT) is a tool that has been studied extensively in the experimental medical field as a method for assessing surface thermal responses under various conditions. These may involve local inflammatory processes resulting from surgical procedures, wounds, neoplasms, pathologies, painful events, or stressful states in animals. IRT measures changes in blood flow in surface blood capillaries and the resulting heat radiation. In the clinical field, thermography has been used as a support method for detecting painful conditions. However, some guidelines indicate that it could be applied for assessing and monitoring animals in rehabilitation to quantify objectively possible improvements in their quality of life. Similarly, IRT makes it possible to assess the degree of circulation in dermal tissue, suggesting that it could be used to determine the degree of damage in traumatized tissue in cases of thromboembolic diseases and burns. This would be useful to distinguish between damaged and healthy tissue and thus determine the optimal therapy for burn patients. This review aims to analyze scientific evidence on the clinical applications of IRT for detecting diseases and assessing painful conditions. A literature search on different databases was performed to recover articles related to the application of IRT as a complementary diagnostic tool, and its potential for assisting in rehabilitation, monitoring wounds, and evaluating body temperature in domestic animals

Efficacy and Function of Feathers, Hair, and Glabrous Skin in the Thermoregulation Strategies of Domestic Animals

The objective of this review is to describe and analyze the effect of feathers, hair, and glabrous (hairless) skin on the thermoregulation of domestic and endotherm animals, especially concerning the uses and scope of infrared thermography (IRT), scientific findings on heat and cold stress, and differences among species of domestic animals. Clinical medicine considers thermoregulation a mechanism that allows animals to adapt to varying thermal environmental conditions, a process in which the presence of feathers, hair, or glabrous skin influences heat loss or heat retention, respectively, under hot and cold environmental conditions. Evaluating body temperature provides vital information on an individual’s physiological state and health status since variations in euthermia maintenance in vertebrates reflect a significant cellular metabolism deviation that needs to be assessed and quantified. IRT is a non-invasive tool for evaluating thermal responses under thermal stress conditions in animals, where the presence or absence of feathers, hair, and glabrous skin can affect readings and the differences detected. Therefore, anatomical regions, the characteristics of feathers, hair, glabrous skin such as structure, length, color, and extension, and strategies for dissipating or retaining heat together constitute a broad area of opportunity for future research into the phenomena of dermal thermoregulation in domestic species

Is the Weight of the Newborn Puppy Related to Its Thermal Balance?

Newborns experience a significant thermal change at birth, leading their bodies to adjust and reduce their metabolism to survive. In this study, newborn puppies’ weights and their temperatures in different body areas and at different measure times were evaluated to determine if there is a relationship between weight and their ability to reach thermostability. It was observed that there is a positive relationship between the weight of the puppies and their thermoregulatory capacity

Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) and Thermoregulation in Animals: Structural Biology and Neurophysiological Aspects

In this review, recent discoveries regarding transient receptor potential are discussed and analyzed to comprehend their role in the thermoregulatory mechanisms of animals. Understanding how these receptors are activated and the pathways through which they recognize specific thermal sensations (such as cold, warm, and hot temperatures) will help researchers verify their participation in inflammatory and pathological processes. Research on transient receptor potential and their functions is ongoing, and many current studies are designed to develop therapeutic approaches that will act directly on these receptors to improve the quality of life of non-human animals