HSP70s Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells in Pre and Postpartum Murrah Buffaloes during Summer and Winter Seasons with Astaxanthin Supplementation

Abstract

Heat shock proteins family, HSP70 (HSP70.1, 70.2 and 70.8) are regarded as the most significant indicators of thermal stress. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the relative mRNA expression pattern of HSP70 gene in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The recorded temperature humidity index (THI) = 83.2; 66.7 and relative humidity (RH) = 80.3; 80.5 for summer and winter seasons, respectively. Thirty two healthy Murrah buffaloes were selected from National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) and randomly divided equally (8 each) into four groups (control and supplemented groups of buffaloes during summer and winter season, respectively). The treatment group was supplemented with Astaxanthin @ 0.25 mg/kg body weight/animal/day during the period 30 days prior to expected date of calving and upto 30 days postpartum. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) was applied to investigate the variation in relative mRNA expression profile of HSP70 gene during different seasons. In the present study, the expression of HSP70.1, HSP70.2 and HSP70.8 were significantly (P<0.05) higher during summer season when compared to winter season. The relative expression of HSP was seen to be significantly (P<0.05) highest on the day of calving in control and treatment groups of both the seasons. From this study, it could be concluded that astaxanthin supplementation caused a down regulation of HSP70 expression in periparturient Murrah buffaloes which infers that its treatment ameliorates the adverse effects of heat and cold stress and augments immunity during stress in the periparturient buffaloes