Haematological parameters as indicators of transport stress in rabbits

haematological stress indicators in rabbits. All the animals used came from the same farm and wererandomly chosen from those that reached the end of their productive cycle (82 days old). A total offour journey session were performed. Each journey lasted 100 minutes. Moreover, for each journey,the same lorry driven by the same transport operator, was used. In order to assess stress condition,blood samples from 80 male rabbits (20 animals per journey session) were collected two days beforeeach transport session and at the de-bleeding in the slaughterhouse. Haematological and biochemicalvariables were analyzed: packed cell volume (PCV) did not differ significantly after transport while asignificant neutrophilia (P<0.001), lymphocytopaenia (P<0.001) with a significant increase in the N/Lratio were observed in all transported rabbits. A significant increase (P<0.001) in serum glucoseconcentration following transport, was found. Furthermore, total protein, albumin and osmolalityincreased significantly in all rabbits. These findings underlined a moderate dehydration caused bytransport that was evidenced also by the increasing in Na and K serum concentrations. A significantupsurge in serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P<0.01), alanine aminotransferase (ALT)(P<0.001) and creatine kinase (CK) activities (P<0.001) were recorded in all rabbits after transport.A twofold increase in serum corticosterone concentration (6.23 vs. 14.88 ng/mL; P<0.01) evidencedthe stress condition experienced by all rabbits during transport.The altered levels of some of theanalyzed blood variables, lead to the conclusion that, as in other species, haematological parametersmay be usefully employed to highlight the stress condition of rabbits during transport.[...]