Abstract

Pigs are fascinating animals to study from many perspectives- ranging from production to animal welfare to basic science: More than 25 million pigs in Germany, and 680 million worldwide, are kept for pork production, making pork the most popular meat at all. However, growing societal concerns on the question how pigs should be housed and treated pose a challenge to conventional production. One aspect of our research addresses a foremost issue in male pig production in the EU– sustainable alternatives to male piglet castration without anesthesia. Our findings show that immunocastration – a vaccination against GnRH – offers clear advantages from an animal welfare point of view. Another key focus of our research is the consequence of pig housing conditions on the immune system. Research in humans and model species indicate that stressors affect the immune system, but pigs are surprisingly poorly studied, especially with respect to the underlying mechanisms. In stressful situations, catecholamines modulate mammalian immune function, and in addition, they can be sensed by many bacteria. Our studies demonstrate that bacteria grown in the presence of catecholamine stress hormones alter their growth environment in a way that host immune response is suppressed. These findings add a new dimension to interkingdom signaling and provide novel clues to explain the increased susceptibility of a stressed animal. This research adds a further highlight to the numerous advantages of the pig model for human (infectious) disease research.