A multiplatform metabolomic approach to characterize fecal signatures of stressful postnatal events in chicks: a pilot study

ABSTRACT: Negative experiences in early life can induce long-lasting effects on the welfare, health, and performance of farm animals. A delayed placement of chicks in breeding houses has negative effects on their performance, and results in fecal-specific odours detectable by rats. Based on this observation, the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and metabolites from the feces of 12-day-old chickens were screened for early markers of response to stressful events using gas-chromatography and liquid-chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS, LC-HRMS). The low reproducibility of solid-phase micro-extraction of the VOCs followed by GC-MS was not suitable for marker discovery, in contrast to liquid extraction of metabolites from freeze-dried feces followed by GC-MS or LC-HRMS analysis. Therefore, the fecal metabolome from 12-day-old chicks having experienced a normal or delayed placement were recorded by GC-MS and LC-HRMS in two genotypes from two experiments. From both experiments, 25 and 35 metabolites, respectively explaining 81% and 45% of the difference between delayed and control chickens, were identified by orthogonal partial least-squares discriminant analysis from LC-HRMS and GC-MS profiling. The sets of molecules identified will be useful to better understand the chicks’ response to stressful events over time and will contribute to define stress or welfare biomarkers. [Only the data from the GC-MS and LC-HRMS fecal metabolomes are deposed on Metabolights] This study was supported financially by a “crédits incitatifs” grant from the department of Animal Physiology and Livestock Systems (PHASE) at INRA and by a grant from the Integrated Management of Animal Health metaprogram of INRA for the “GISA-WHELP” project (www.gisa.inra.fr/en).

INSTRUMENT(S): Gas Chromatography MS - Positive (GC-MS (Positive)), Liquid Chromatography MS - Negative (LC-MS (Negative)), Liquid Chromatography MS - Positive (LC-MS (Positive))

PROVIDER: MTBLS763 | MetaboLights | 2019-04-11

REPOSITORIES: MetaboLights