Possible relationships between the physical conditions of cattle and the occurrence of structural modifications of their coat hair

Yutaka Kawahara; Naoya Kawahara; Masaki Yamamoto; Hiroyuki Wakizaka; Michiko Okada; Yoshimitsu Ikeda

doi:10.1071/AN22217

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Previous Next Contents Vol 64(1)

Possible relationships between the physical conditions of cattle and the occurrence of structural modifications of their coat hair

Yutaka Kawahara

^A ^* , Naoya Kawahara ^B , Masaki Yamamoto ^C , Hiroyuki Wakizaka ^D , Michiko Okada ^D and Yoshimitsu Ikeda ^E

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Division of Environmental Engineering Science, Gunma University, 1-5-1, Tenjin-cho, Kiryu, Gunma 376-8515, Japan.

^B Yamagata Prefectural Agricultural Mutual Aid Association, 1333, Koseki, Tendo, Yamagata, 994-8511, Japan.

^C Textile Research Institute of Gunma, 5-46-1, Aioi-cho, Kiryu, Gunma 376-0011, Japan.

^D North Eastern Industrial Research Center of Shiga Prefecture, 27-39, Mitsuyamotomachi, Nagahama, Shiga 526-0024, Japan.

^E Tama Techno Plaza, Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute, 3-6-1, Azuma-cho, Akishima, Tokyo 196-0033, Japan.

^* Correspondence to: kawahara@gunma-u.ac.jp

Handling Editor: Surinder Chauhan

Animal Production Science 64, AN22217 https://doi.org/10.1071/AN22217

Submitted: 5 June 2022 Accepted: 12 September 2023 Published: 2 October 2023

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context

Concerning the epithelial tissue in the skin, including hair, vitamin A is required for the integrity of epithelial cells, strengthened by compounding keratin fibres. Further, the complex hormonal changes seen in pregnancy may contribute to the hair growth. Thus, the structure of the cattle coat hair may change depending on the conditions of vitamin A deficiency or pregnancy.

Aims

The effects of several diseases, i.e. vitamin A deficiency, pneumonia, chronic pneumonia, and chronic renal failure, or pregnancy, on the structure of the coat hair were investigated.

Methods

Physical properties of the coat hair, collected from Japanese black cattle (Bos Taurus) and Holstein cows (Bos taurus Taurus), were investigated to study the effects of vitamin A deficiency, other diseases, or pregnancy on the formation of hair.

Key results

When vitamin A concentration was lowered to about half of the minimum concentration for vitamin A adequacy of 20 μg/dL in plasma (i.e. deficiency level was high), we could perceive the interference in the self-assembly of the keratin fibrils. However, we also confirmed structural modifications of the keratin fibres obtained from the cattle suffering chronic renal failure. The coat hair collected from the pregnant cows tended to show superior tensile strengths to those of the hair from the non-pregnant ones when compared at the same diameter level, although pregnancy might have increased cortisol affecting the hair follicle function. Further, from the X-ray diffraction measurements, the non-pregnant cow coat hairs, having exhibited the inferior tensile properties, were found to be structurally modified.

Conclusions

The structure of the coat hair could be modified when the vitamin A concentration was severely reduced (vitamin A deficiency). The physiological conditions during pregnancy may be advantageous to serve the regular formation of the hair.

Implications

Hair has a function serving as a proxy of health status for a certain period of animal life.

Keywords: cow, higher order structure, pneumonia, pregnancy, renal failure, tensile strength, vitamin A deficiency, X-ray diffraction measurement.

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