title: Study of progesterone and cortisol concentrations in the Italian Friesian claw.
abstract: The present research was conducted to study progesterone and cortisol concentrations in the claw of cattle and to verify whether the cattle claw could be considered an efficient matrix to provide retrospective information regarding progesterone and cortisol concentrations related to pregnancy and peripartum periods. These 2 steroids are involved in hoof growth. The study was performed on 32 calves and 24 pregnant milking cows of the Holstein breed, which were clinically healthy and lacking any claw disorders. Samples of at least 0.5cm in thickness were taken from the sole. Progesterone and cortisol concentrations were determined by RIA. The cortisol concentration in the horny shoe of calves from 0 to 30 d of age was significantly higher than the concentration at 31 to 60 and 61 to 120 d of age. Conversely, the progesterone concentration showed no statistically significant difference in relation to age. The horn progesterone concentrations recorded in the milking dairy cows at 7 mo of pregnancy showed high variability in the horizontal sections of the sole (the individual coefficient of variation ranged between 0.09 and 1.11). In 6 cows, genuine extreme values (genuine outliers) of the progesterone level were found. Moreover, significant differences existed among the progesterone concentrations of the sole's transverse sections. We detected a significant positive correlation between the weight of the horn samples after freeze-drying and their weight after hydration. The cortisol and progesterone levels in soaked horn samples were found to be significantly lower than in the same dry samples. These results show that cortisol and progesterone can be measured in the cattle claw horn. The claws of mature dairy cows could not be used as a matrix to provide a retrospective measure of cumulative hormone secretion, whereas the analysis of the calves' claw horns showed retrospective hormonal information similar to hair samples.
authors: Department of Food Science, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Comin
authors: Department of Food Science, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Peric
authors: Department of Food Science, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2, 33100 Udine, Italy. Electronic address: luisa.magrin@gmail.com.
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Magrin
authors: Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Udine, via delle Scienze 206, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Corazzin
authors: Evoluzione S.r.l., via S. Sepolcro 29, 36040 Sossano (VI), Italy.
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Cornacchia
authors: Department of Food Science, University of Udine, via Sondrio 2, 33100 Udine, Italy.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Prandi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001681:Biological Assay; D001835:Body Weight; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005612:Freeze Drying; D006724:Hoof and Claw / Q000737:chemistry*; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000737:chemistry*; D058725:Peripartum Period; D011247:Pregnancy; D011374:Progesterone / Q000737:chemistry*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D011374:Progesterone; D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: claw horn; cortisol; dairy cow; progesterone