Corso di Laurea in Produzioni e Gestione degli Animali in Allevamento e Selvatici - PGAAS

After acquiring knowledge on the physiology of vertebrates, that is the functions of cells, organs and systems and of the endocrine and nervous mechanisms that contributes to the maintenance of homeostasis both in natural environment and in livestock, after acquiring knowledge on the stages of behavior development and on behavior patterns in species of veterinary interest, after acquiring the means and techniques to evaluate the behavior of animals of veterinary interest, the student will have to possess the critical capacity necessary to apply the acquired knowledge and competences in the teachings of the following years.

The student will have to be autonomous in the critical and comparative evaluation of welfare conditions and life quality of domesticated animals in urban areas, confined spaces, production facilities and experimental conditions.

KNOWLEDGE AND COMPREHENSION

 The student will have to show that he/she has acquired basic notion of the physiology of cells, organs and systems, but he will also need to understand the causality relation between specific stimuli and the biological processes that work in the maintenance of homeostasis. He/She will also need to have knowledge about the stages of behavior development and to understand how environment can influence the behavior of animals of veterinary interest.

ABILITY TO USE KNOWLEDGE AND COMPREHENSION

Given a starting situation and a variation is such a state, the student will be able to foresee and describe the response mechanisms and to judge whether such responses are enough to maintain homeostasis. He will also be able to evaluate the behavior of species of veterinary interest through suitable technique (such as writing and ethogram).

AUTONOMY IN MAKING JUDGEMENTS

the student will be able to comment and discuss critically and independently the data and issues related to the course covered in the scientific literature

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The student will demonstrate correct and timely use of specialist terminology when exposing contents in a physiology/ethology context and a logic and sequential analysis of cause/effect relations in physiological processes.

LEARNING SKILLS
The student will develop learning skills needed to understand the major physiological and ethological mechanisms and apply them in clinical and behavioral studies.

Theoretical lectures are done using PowerPoint slides and videos. The practical sessions are done in the same classrooms as the theoretical, in educational labs and at the C.I.S.R.A.

The teaching materials are shared with the students through the University e-learning platform Moodle.

Learning assessment will be carried out frequently by the teacher in several ways:

- In the classroom at the end of each lectures by administering short questions of the subjects discussed during the lessons.

- During some of the practical sessions for Applied Ethology a collective analysis and discussion of behavior of different species of veterinary interest will take place through the use of videos.

- During all the practical sessions the students will have to answers questions, perform analytical techniques or collect, analyze and discuss data on proposed subjects.

- During lectures, at the end of each learning unit, the main subjects asked during exams will be highlighted.

- During the course an intermediate written exam on Physiology subjects is carried out and during the last part of the course students can take a written exam on Applied Ethology.

Cell Physiology (6h): intercellular communication; the plasma membrane: constituents and structure; the fluid mosaic model of the cell membrane; transports through the membrane: passive diffusion, facilitated diffusion and primary and secondary active transports; the osmosis and the osmotic pressure; electrical properties of the cells; the Gibbs-Donnan effect and the generation of a membrane potential; the Nerst equation and the Goldman-Hodgkin-Katz equation.

Basic notions of Physiology of the nervous system (7h): the generation and the propagation of an electrical impulse; the saltatory conduction of the nervous impulse; the synapses, types and transmission of the nervous impulse; post-synaptic potentials; temporal and spatial summation of the post-synaptic potentials; components of a reflex arc and mechanism of action; classification of nervous receptors; description of specific nervous receptors (Pacini corpuscle, muscle spindle, Golgi tendon organ); basic notions on the organization of the nervous system; the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system: main effects and target organs, neurotransmitters and the paravertebral sympathetic chain.

Muscle contraction (3h): organization of muscle fibers and molecular mechanisms of contraction; muscle metabolism, energy sources and metabolic pathways; classification of muscle fibers (fast and slow); main characteristics of different muscle fibers; the rigor mortis, cause of onset and end; muscle characteristics that influence the properties of meat; differences among skeletal, cardiac and smooth muscle cells.

The cardiac function (4h): electrical properties of the myocardium; generation and propagation of cardiac action potentials; modulation of heart activity by the autonomous nervous system; the ECG: main characteristics; phases of the cardiac cycle; external signs of the cardiac activity (apex beat and heart sounds).

The respiration (4h): functions of the respiratory system; lung ventilation and factors that affect it; factors that influence the resistance to the air flow in the airways; elastic properties of the lungs; alveolar surface tension: cause and associated phenomena; lung capacities and volumes; gas exchanges; oxygen and carbon dioxide transport in the blood.

Blood Physiology (4h): liquid compartments; plasma volume and hematocrit measurement; functions of red blood cells; plasma composition; functions of white blood cells; platelets; hemostasis; hematopoiesis.

Endocrinology (6h): hormones and endocrine glands: classification and mechanisms of action. Intracellular communication systems; hypothalamus and hypophysis: their hormones and functions; thyroid gland; parathyroid glands: endocrine regulation of calcium metabolism; endocrine pancreas; control of blood sugar concentration; adrenal glands: hormones of the cortical and medullar part and their mechanisms of action.

Physiology of reproduction (8h): endocrine control of estral and ovarian cycle in different species of domestic animals; fecundation, pregnancy, parturition and lactation; reproductive cycle in wild ungulate species; roe deer and the delayed egg implantation: embryonic diapause; male genitalia; endocrine regulation of male gonads; functions of epididymis, vas deferens and accessory glands; fibro-elastic and musculovascular penis.

Physiology of digestion (8h): function, endocrine and nervous regulation of digestion; chewing and deglutition; salivary glands; gastric digestion in monogastric species; physiology of rumination; intestinal digestion; liver; intestinal absorption.

Kidney physiology (6h): functions of the kidney; glomerulus filtration; kidney regulation of glomerulus filtration speed and of blood flow; transports of solutes and water; tubular reabsorption; reabsorption and secretion in different tracts of the renal tubule; tracts of the renal tubule that are hormone dependent; renal clearance: insulin, creatine, and hippuric acid; endocrine function of the kidney.

Introduction to Ethology (3h): the origin of ethology; proximate and root cause; instinct and learning; techniques for observation and recording methods necessary to write an ethogram.

Ethogram of the main production species: bovine (2h), sheep and goat (2h), pig (2h), rabbit (2h). For each species communication means, feeding behavior, being awake/resting/sleeping, social behavior (social distribution, hierarchy/leadership), space management, sexual behavior, mother-son bond, conspecific bonds, inter-species bonds are discussed.

Stress physiology (2h): hypothalamus-hypophysis-adrenal axis; adrenalin and noradrenalin; cortisol and corticosterone; acute stress; cronic stress.

Stress/welfare (3h): development of research on welfare; the five freedoms; evaluation of animal welfare through direct/indirect parameters; ethological indicators; maladaptive behaviors in bovine, goat, sheep, pig and rabbit; environmental enrichments.

Practical sessions (18h):  2 hours of collective practical session for viewing, analyzing and discussing videos about normal and maladaptive behavior of the animal species whose ethograms have been discussed during the theoretical lessons. 6 hours at the C.I.S.R.A. where the techniques for containment of production animals will be shown, to evaluate the motility of pre-stomachs  through auscultation with a phonendoscope and to measure parameters associated with the pulmonary and the heart activity. 2 hours at the C.I.S.R.A. for observation and evaluation by the students of the direct (physiological and ethological indicators) and indirect (structural and management indicators) parameters that define welfare in pig and bovine livestock. 4 hours in a chemistry lab to assess parameters of the heart and respiratory functions: performance of a spirometry test, measurement of blood oxygen saturation, of arterial blood pressure, of heart frequency and performance of an ECG with critical discussion. 4 hours in a chemistry lab on manipulation of blood samples: type of anticoagulant agents and their use, determination of physiological parameters of blood samples, complete blood count, red blood cells count, PCV and blood smear tests.

Exam: there will be an oral exam at the end of the course. Two intermediate written tests will take place, one through Moodle platform on Applied Ethology, one on paper about on selected subject of Physiology.

- Cunningham J., Klein B., 4th Edition Veterinary Physiology, Saunders Elsevier.

- Phillips C., Cattle Behaviour and Welfare, Blackwell Publishing, 

- Houpt K., Domestic Animal Behaviour, Blackwell Publishing