Evaluation of pregnancy toxemia in goats: Metabolic profile, hormonal findings, and redox balance

Abstract

Pregnancy toxemia entails the development of hyperketonemia due to the negative energy balance that occurs in the last trimester of pregnancy in dairy goats. There are a limited number of studies on new diagnostic biomarkers and the pathophysiology of pregnancy toxemia in goats. This study assessed the hormones spexin and irisin and redox biomarker and metabolic profile changes in goats with pregnancy toxemia. The study included 36 hair goats, with 12 in the subclinical pregnancy toxemia (SPT) group, 12 in the clinical pregnancy toxemia (CPT) group, and 12 in the control group (CG). Spexin, irisin, and insulin hormone concentrations were determined by ELISA, while metabolic profile parameters were evaluated with an automatic chemical analyzer and redox balance by spectroscopy. In the goats with pregnancy toxemia, serum levels of spexin, irisin, insulin, and glucose were significantly lower than those of CG goats. The SPT group had significantly higher ischemia-modified albumin concentrations than CG goats, while the CPT group had significantly lower native thiol concentrations compared to CG animals. The concentrations of beta-hydroxybutyric acid and non-esterified fatty acids in the groups with pregnancy toxemia were significantly higher than those of control animals. In the diagnosis of pregnancy toxemia, spexin had sensitivity of 90 %, specificity of 95 %, and an area under the curve value of 0.988, while irisin had sensitivity of 90 %, specificity of 91 %, and an AUC value of 0.979. In this study, both spexin and irisin hormones showed excellent performance in the diagnosis of pregnancy toxemia. In addition, pregnancy toxemia was found to cause increased oxidative stress and significant changes in metabolic and endocrine metabolism in goats. Measuring these biomarkers in both healthy dairy goats and those with pregnancy toxemia may contribute significantly to the management and diagnosis of herd health.