Serum antioxidant barrier levels in wild boar serum bred in the Campania Regional "game production center"

In plasma a real "antioxidant barrier” is identifiable, and to constitute it both inside (eg. carotenoids, ascorbate, vitamin E, etc.) and outside (eg. GSH, protein, bilirubin, uric acid, etc.) substances contribute. Each of these components blocks the potential damaging action of free radicals, whose reactivity is precisely linked to the particular "shortage" of these small particles negative. Any "insult" against this barrier allows free radicals to attack and damage cell structures, setting the stage for lesions typical of oxidative stress and all its dangerous consequences (premature aging, disease, etc.) [1]. The aim of the present study was to measure two components of the plasma oxidative barrier to evaluate the animal welfare status: the Biological Antioxidant Potential (BAP) and the anti oxidant power (OXY). The BAP is used as an index to determine the biological antioxidant capacity and is measured on the basis of the capacity of the plasma sample to reduce ferric ions to ferrous ions. The OXY-adsorbent test measures the ability of a plasma or serum sample to oppose a massive oxidative insult induced by a solution of hypochlorous acid. The present study was performed on wild boars (Sus scrofa) bred in the wild of two areas (C1and D1) of a 820 hectares wood belonging to Campania Region, included in the “Cilento e Vallo di Diano” National Park. The wood is made up of Quercus cerris and Castano sativa, mixed mesoxerofil conifer. Blood samples, from the jugular vein, were collected from 15 and 18 wild boars of the C1 and D1 areas respectively, during the routine sanitary control. On the serum, BAP test and OXY-adsorbent test were evaluated (DIACRON, Grosseto, Italy). The results are shown in Table 1. The data show no significative difference between wild boars of C1 and D1 area, both in BAP test and OXY-adsorbent test. These preliminary values are valid for the definition of the normal range in healthy and, therefore, used as parameters to evaluate the stress oxidative status and then animal welfare [2].