Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a bilateral chemosensory structure strongly involved in animal behaviour, thanks to its sensory epithelium (VNSE) that detects pheromones. Experimental VNO lesions can impair social, reproductive and maternal behaviour, while feline spontaneous vomeronasalitis has been...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Asproni, Pietro, Mainau, Eva, Cozzi, Alessandro, Carreras, Ricard, Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile, Teruel, Eva, Pageat, Patrick
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA)
Repositorio:IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.irta.cat:20.500.12327/1683
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/1683
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030303
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:636
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spelling Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?Asproni, PietroMainau, EvaCozzi, AlessandroCarreras, RicardBienboire-Frosini, CécileTeruel, EvaPageat, Patrick636The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a bilateral chemosensory structure strongly involved in animal behaviour, thanks to its sensory epithelium (VNSE) that detects pheromones. Experimental VNO lesions can impair social, reproductive and maternal behaviour, while feline spontaneous vomeronasalitis has been associated with aggression. This study aimed to describe vomeronasalitis in farm pigs and explore its association with intraspecific behavioural alterations. Using 38 six-month-old pigs, the skin lesion score based on Welfare Quality® protocols was obtained during the fattening period. The seventy-six VNOs from these pigs were stained in haematoxylin-eosin for histological examinations. VNSE inflammation was classified considering its intensity. Skin lesions data were compared to vomeronasalitis. There were 34% of pigs that showed unilateral VNSE inflammation, while 66% were bilaterally affected. The mean ± SD number of skin lesions/animal was 4.4 ± 2.82, and 34% of pigs scored 1 (moderately wounded animals) at least once during the fattening period. Statistical analysis showed an association between bilateral vomeronasalitis and skin lesion score (p < 0.05) and between bilateral moderate vomeronasalitis and skin lesions number (p < 0.01). This is the first report linking vomeronasalitis to social life in farm animals. Considering the role of social life in animal welfare, our data opens a research field linking pathology to animal behaviour.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionMDPIProducció AnimalBenestar Animal202220222022info:eu-repo/semantics/article9application/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/1683https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030303reponame:IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archiveinstname:Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA)InglésAnimalsAttribution 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositori.irta.cat:20.500.12327/16832026-06-16T08:51:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
title Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
spellingShingle Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
Asproni, Pietro
636
title_short Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
title_full Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
title_fullStr Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
title_full_unstemmed Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
title_sort Is There a Link between Vomeronasalitis and Aggression in Stable Social Groups of Female Pigs?
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Asproni, Pietro
Mainau, Eva
Cozzi, Alessandro
Carreras, Ricard
Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile
Teruel, Eva
Pageat, Patrick
author Asproni, Pietro
author_facet Asproni, Pietro
Mainau, Eva
Cozzi, Alessandro
Carreras, Ricard
Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile
Teruel, Eva
Pageat, Patrick
author_role author
author2 Mainau, Eva
Cozzi, Alessandro
Carreras, Ricard
Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile
Teruel, Eva
Pageat, Patrick
author2_role author
author
author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Producció Animal
Benestar Animal
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv 636
topic 636
description The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a bilateral chemosensory structure strongly involved in animal behaviour, thanks to its sensory epithelium (VNSE) that detects pheromones. Experimental VNO lesions can impair social, reproductive and maternal behaviour, while feline spontaneous vomeronasalitis has been associated with aggression. This study aimed to describe vomeronasalitis in farm pigs and explore its association with intraspecific behavioural alterations. Using 38 six-month-old pigs, the skin lesion score based on Welfare Quality® protocols was obtained during the fattening period. The seventy-six VNOs from these pigs were stained in haematoxylin-eosin for histological examinations. VNSE inflammation was classified considering its intensity. Skin lesions data were compared to vomeronasalitis. There were 34% of pigs that showed unilateral VNSE inflammation, while 66% were bilaterally affected. The mean ± SD number of skin lesions/animal was 4.4 ± 2.82, and 34% of pigs scored 1 (moderately wounded animals) at least once during the fattening period. Statistical analysis showed an association between bilateral vomeronasalitis and skin lesion score (p < 0.05) and between bilateral moderate vomeronasalitis and skin lesions number (p < 0.01). This is the first report linking vomeronasalitis to social life in farm animals. Considering the role of social life in animal welfare, our data opens a research field linking pathology to animal behaviour.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022
2022
2022
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/1683
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030303
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12327/1683
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12030303
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv Animals
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Attribution 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv 9
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
publisher.none.fl_str_mv MDPI
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive
instname:Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA)
instname_str Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries (IRTA)
reponame_str IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive
collection IRTA Pubpro. Open Digital Archive
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,301603

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