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Babington S, Tilbrook AJ, Maloney SK, Fernandes JN, Crowley TM, Ding L, Fox AH, Zhang S, Kho EA, Cozzolino D, Mahony TJ, Blache D. Finding biomarkers of experience in animals. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2024; 15:28. [PMID: 38374201 PMCID: PMC10877933 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00989-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
At a time when there is a growing public interest in animal welfare, it is critical to have objective means to assess the way that an animal experiences a situation. Objectivity is critical to ensure appropriate animal welfare outcomes. Existing behavioural, physiological, and neurobiological indicators that are used to assess animal welfare can verify the absence of extremely negative outcomes. But welfare is more than an absence of negative outcomes and an appropriate indicator should reflect the full spectrum of experience of an animal, from negative to positive. In this review, we draw from the knowledge of human biomedical science to propose a list of candidate biological markers (biomarkers) that should reflect the experiential state of non-human animals. The proposed biomarkers can be classified on their main function as endocrine, oxidative stress, non-coding molecular, and thermobiological markers. We also discuss practical challenges that must be addressed before any of these biomarkers can become useful to assess the experience of an animal in real-life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Babington
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Alan J Tilbrook
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
- School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia
| | - Shane K Maloney
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Jill N Fernandes
- School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia
| | - Tamsyn M Crowley
- School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3217, Australia
- Poultry Hub Australia, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2350, Australia
| | - Luoyang Ding
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Archa H Fox
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Song Zhang
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Elise A Kho
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Daniel Cozzolino
- Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Timothy J Mahony
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Dominique Blache
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
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