The present paper describes the main procedures used to slaughter fowl, pigs, calves and adult cattle, sheep, and farmed fish, starting on the farm and ending with the death of the animal at the abattoir. It reviews the currently known causes of stress, indicated by behavioural and physiological measurements on the animal level, and by post-mortem muscle metabolism. During the pre-slaughter per...

In Chile, cow carcasses present the highest bruise prevalence compared with other cattle categories; however, the causes of the bruises are frequently unknown. In this study, 52 cull cows were transported to the slaughterhouse in three batches under identical transport conditions. A combination of direct observation and video analyses was used to determine moment, pre-slaughter stage and cause ...

In phase I of this study, the rate of protein synthesis was measured by the incorporation of [3H]leucine into the protein pool in the heart of conscious rabbits. At 2 h after ischemic preconditioning (PC) with six 4-min occlusion/4-min reperfusion (O/R) cycles ( group II), the [3H]leucine content in the ischemic-reperfused region was increased by 82% compared with that in controls ( group I), i...

21 21 Brief periods of ischaemia, are known to induce a shifts of the p[Ca ] /Mg -ATPase curves induced by 21 reversible deficit in myocardial function despite the Ca sensitizer as observed with isolated myofibrils from maintenance of histological and metabolic integrity, a stunned pig myocardium [6]. Moreover, another group 21 phenomenon initially described by Heyndrickx et al. in found a decr...

In this article we describe a rare clinical condition of stress cardiomyopathy (takotsubo cardiomyopathy) for which we, despite controversy and lack data, identified the main pathogenic pathways (including direct toxic effect catecholamines on myocardium, catecholamine-mediated myocardial stunning, microcirculation disorders). After systematic review, distinct pathology features new diagnostic ...

Common slaughter procedures for African sharptooth catfish (Clarias gariepinus) include asphyxiation, ice chilling and exsanguination, which may all cause substantial suffering over prolonged periods of time before death. Therefore, comprehensive evaluations potentially more humane this species are urgently needed. Here, we use a non-invasive electroencephalographic (EEG) method to assess the s...

In experimental studies in the dog, total proximal coronary artery occlusions of up to 15 minutes result in reversible injury, meaning that the myocytes survive this insult. The 15 minutes of ischemia, however, induce numerous changes in the myocardium, including certain monuments to the brief episode of ischemia that may persist for days. One of these monuments is stunned myocardium, which rep...