Transcriptional responses of PBMC in psychosocially stressed animals indicate an alerting of the immune system in female but not in castrated male pigs

Table 1 Phenotype data of the analysed animals

Parameter	HSF	HSM	LSF	LSM	p-value #
Skin lesions §
Front	72.0 ± 16.5	65.0 ± 22.0	7.5 ± 1.3	16.0 ± 6.8	<0.001
Mid	60.0 ± 23.0	45.8 ± 22.5	12.8 ± 3.0	19.5 ± 11.7	<0.05
Rear	28.0 ± 16.9	7.8 ± 2.6	5.5 ± 1.3	8.5 ± 2.5	>0.10
Total	160.0 ± 47.9	118.5 ± 46.7	25.8 ± 3.8	44.0 ± 13.2	<0.01
Creatinekinase (U/l)	11543.0 ± 3270.5	9232.0 ± 1430.8	2062.5 ± 356.5	2904.5 ± 260.5	<0.001
Cortisol (ng/ml)	65.2 ± 8.50	72.5 ± 6.3	50.7 ± 6.7	59.0 ± 7.0	<0.10

Values are displayed as mean ± SEM; n =8; balanced for mixing groups; # effects for stress level but not for sexes; p-value (2 tailed) of a two sample t-test reflecting differences between animals with high stress level and low stress level; § skin lesions in body sections: front (head, neck, shoulders, and front legs), middle (flanks and back), and rear (rump, hind legs, and tail).

ISSN: 1471-2164