Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In beef cattle, the level of blood glucose is a crucial parameter of their carbohydrate metabolism, but it is highly influenced by slaughter stress. This necessitates the use of alternative parameters to assess the mean glucose status reliably. Therefore, our study quantified serum fructosamine as a known alternative in different beef cattle breeds depending on husbandry and slaughter conditions. Moreover, we aimed to identify and quantify novel blood parameters that reflect glucose metabolism. Slaughtering blood was analyzed from the breeds Angus, Heck, and Galloway kept extensively on pasture and slaughtered after on-farm gunshot (condition A; n=26), as well as the breeds Fleckvieh, Galloway, and Zebu kept intensively in a stable and slaughtered after boltshot (condition B; n=22). A nitro-blue tetrazolium-based assay identified serum fructosamine between 71 and 654 µmol/L, with the lowest mean level in Angus cattle (137 µmol/L; n=8) and the highest in Fleckvieh (290 µmol/L; n=16) and Zebu (422 µmol/L; n=3), independent of their slaughter stress-related blood glucose values. For novel blood parameters, we analyzed protein levels using mass spectrometry and identified α-glucosidase as another serum parameter of glucose metabolism. A pH-dependent activity assay showed the primary importance of the neutral (tissue) variant of α-glucosidase, whereas the acid (lysosomal) α-glucosidase was marginally present in blood serum. Neutral α-glucosidase ranged between 2.5 and 13.5 U/L, with a higher mean serum activity in Fleckvieh cattle (9.5 U/L; n=16) than in condition B (5.3 U/L) or condition A cattle breeds (6.3 U/L). In conclusion, the data from our study suggest that fructosamine, in conjunction with α-glucosidase activity, could be utilized as a novel blood parameter to assess the overall status of glucose metabolism in beef cattle.
Language: English
Topic: Animal health and immunology
Subfield: Small Animals
Field: Veterinary
Domain: Health Sciences
SDG: Zero hunger
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4413479687