Purine Turnover Metabolites and Selected Antioxidants in Blood of Goats during the Periparturient Period

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between the erythrocyte concentrations of ATP, ADP, AMP, NAD+, NADP+ and adenylate energy charge (AEC) and their metabolites: inosine (Ino), hypoxanthine (Hyp), uric acid (UA), selected blood antioxidants: superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR) of goats during the periparturient period. The study was conducted on 12 clinically healthy pregnant goats (Capra hircus) - 75% genotype of the Polish noble white aged between 2-3 years. Blood was taken from the external jugular vein early in the morning before feeding and obtained twice (4 weeks and 1 week) before delivery and twice (2 and 3 weeks) after delivery. The ATP concentration did not change significantly. One week before delivery ADP, AMP and Ino concentrations were significantly higher and AEC value significantly lower compared to values in the third week after delivery (p ≤ 0.02, p ≤ 0.05, p ≤ 0.03 and p ≤ 0.01, respectively). One week before and two weeks after delivery we observed a significant increase in SOD and GR activities and an increase in NAD+ and NADP+ concentrations but a significant decrease in Hyp and UA concentrations. Constant ATP concentration and the changes in the dynamics and tendency of Hyp and UA concentrations show that in the periparturient period in goats, purine metabolism undergoes adaptive changes. The balance between resynthetic processes and adenine nucleotide degradation is retained in order to level the oxygen and energy lacks. The results of our study show that the maintenance of prooxidative homeostasis in goats of peripartal period depends mainly on enzymatic mechanisms.