Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case
European wild rabbit (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) has been defined as a keystone species in the Mediterranean ecosystem. Rabbits have been classed as “endangered” by the IUCN within their native range. In this sense, animal nutrition may play a fundamental and limiting role in the cons...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/22/3225 |
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| author | Pablo Jesús Marín-García Lola Llobat Carlos Rouco Juan Antonio Aguayo-Adán Torben Larsen Maria Cambra-López Enrique Blas Juan José Pascual Amorós |
| author_facet | Pablo Jesús Marín-García Lola Llobat Carlos Rouco Juan Antonio Aguayo-Adán Torben Larsen Maria Cambra-López Enrique Blas Juan José Pascual Amorós |
| author_sort | Pablo Jesús Marín-García |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | European wild rabbit (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) has been defined as a keystone species in the Mediterranean ecosystem. Rabbits have been classed as “endangered” by the IUCN within their native range. In this sense, animal nutrition may play a fundamental and limiting role in the conservation of wild species. The overarching goal of ecological nutrition is to unravel the extensive web of nutritional links that direct animals in their interactions with their ecological environments. The main aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different feed intake, geographic location, animal sex, and reproductive stage on glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and plasmatic urea nitrogen (PUN), albumin, glutamate, and total protein metabolites. Additionally, we examined the potential of these metabolites as biomarkers. Full stomach contents and blood samples were collected from European wild rabbits (<i>n</i> = 89) for the analysis of the metabolites described above. Our work shows that the levels of these metabolites are affected by the sex of the animals, as well as by their reproductive stage (glucose, NEFA and albumin). There were signs of better optimisation of resources by females than by other groups of animals. These data may be interesting in the study of nutritional components that could be affecting physiological state of this species. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:31:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-faba091c6d314f8eada7dbb99316ea65 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T18:31:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-faba091c6d314f8eada7dbb99316ea652023-11-24T07:30:15ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152022-11-011222322510.3390/ani12223225Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) CasePablo Jesús Marín-García0Lola Llobat1Carlos Rouco2Juan Antonio Aguayo-Adán3Torben Larsen4Maria Cambra-López5Enrique Blas6Juan José Pascual Amorós7Department of Animal Production and Health, Veterinary Public Health and Food Science and Technology (PASAPTA), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, 46113 Valencia, SpainDepartment of Animal Production and Health, Veterinary Public Health and Food Science and Technology (PASAPTA), Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad Cardenal Herrera-CEU, CEU Universities, 46113 Valencia, SpainEcology Area, Faculty of Science, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, SpainEcology Area, Faculty of Science, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, SpainDepartment of Animal Science, Aarhus University, DK-8830 Tjele, DenmarkInstitute for Animal Science and Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, SpainInstitute for Animal Science and Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, SpainInstitute for Animal Science and Technology, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camino de Vera s/n, 46022 Valencia, SpainEuropean wild rabbit (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) has been defined as a keystone species in the Mediterranean ecosystem. Rabbits have been classed as “endangered” by the IUCN within their native range. In this sense, animal nutrition may play a fundamental and limiting role in the conservation of wild species. The overarching goal of ecological nutrition is to unravel the extensive web of nutritional links that direct animals in their interactions with their ecological environments. The main aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of different feed intake, geographic location, animal sex, and reproductive stage on glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), and plasmatic urea nitrogen (PUN), albumin, glutamate, and total protein metabolites. Additionally, we examined the potential of these metabolites as biomarkers. Full stomach contents and blood samples were collected from European wild rabbits (<i>n</i> = 89) for the analysis of the metabolites described above. Our work shows that the levels of these metabolites are affected by the sex of the animals, as well as by their reproductive stage (glucose, NEFA and albumin). There were signs of better optimisation of resources by females than by other groups of animals. These data may be interesting in the study of nutritional components that could be affecting physiological state of this species.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/22/3225metabolitebiomarkerEuropean rabbitconservationecological nutrition |
| spellingShingle | Pablo Jesús Marín-García Lola Llobat Carlos Rouco Juan Antonio Aguayo-Adán Torben Larsen Maria Cambra-López Enrique Blas Juan José Pascual Amorós Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case Animals metabolite biomarker European rabbit conservation ecological nutrition |
| title | Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case |
| title_full | Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case |
| title_fullStr | Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case |
| title_full_unstemmed | Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case |
| title_short | Unravelling the Role of Metabolites for Detecting Physiological State of Wild Animals: European Rabbit’s (<i>Oryctolagus cuniculus</i>) Case |
| title_sort | unravelling the role of metabolites for detecting physiological state of wild animals european rabbit s i oryctolagus cuniculus i case |
| topic | metabolite biomarker European rabbit conservation ecological nutrition |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/22/3225 |
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