Changes in salivary analytes in cows due to the in vitro presence of feed.

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The effect in a sialochemistry profile of the presence of usually available feed in dairy cows was evaluated by an in vitro experiment. For this purpose, a pooled clean saliva from five healthy dairy cows was incubated five times with a standard feed based on a total mixed ration (F), wheat hay (H), and grass (G). The salivary panel was integrated by biomarkers of stress (cortisol -sCor-, salivary alpha-amylase -sAA-, butyrylcholinesterase -BChE-, total esterase -TEA-, and lipase -Lip-), immunity (adenosine deaminase -ADA-), oxidative status (Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity -TEAC-, the ferric reducing ability of saliva -FRAS-, the cupric reducing antioxidant capacity -CUPRAC-, uric acid, and advanced oxidation protein products -AOPP-), and enzymes, proteins, and minerals of general metabolism and&#xa0;markers of liver, muscle, and renal damage (aspartate aminotransferase -AST-, alanine aminotransferase -ALP-, &#x3b3;-glutamyl transferase -gGT-, lactate dehydrogenase -LDH-, creatine kinase -CK-, creatinine, urea, triglycerides, glucose, lactate, total protein, phosphorus, and total calcium). RESULTS: Most of the evaluated analytes showed a coefficient of variations (CV) higher than 15% and/or significant changes compared with the clean saliva when feed was present. Some analytes, such as the oxidative status biomarkers (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;80%), AST (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;60%), or glucose (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;100%), showed significant changes with all the feed types tested. Others showed significant differences only with certain types of feed, such as LDH with F (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;60%) or triglycerides with F (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;100%) and H (CV&#x2009;>&#x2009;95%). However, sCor or gGT remained unchanged (CV&#x2009;<&#x2009;15%, P&#x2009;>&#x2009;0.05) in all the treatments. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of feed can produce changes in most of the analytes measured in cows' saliva, being of high importance to consider this factor when saliva is used as a sample to avoid errors in the interpretation of the results.