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. 2025 Apr 2;15(7):1021.
doi: 10.3390/ani15071021.

Association of Stress and Inflammatory Diseases with Serum Ferritin and Iron Concentrations in Neonatal Calves

Marlene Sickinger  1 , Jessica Jörling  2 , Kathrin Büttner  3 , Joachim Roth  4 , Axel Wehrend  5
Affiliations

Association of Stress and Inflammatory Diseases with Serum Ferritin and Iron Concentrations in Neonatal Calves

Marlene Sickinger et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of iron supplementation and inflammatory disease on cortisol, white blood cell (WBC) count, total protein (TP), lactate, interleukin 1 β (IL1β), interleukin 6 (IL6), substance P (SP), hepcidin, haptoglobin, and ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) in calves. Correlation analyses for the aforementioned parameters with serum iron and ferritin were performed in 40 neonatal calves over the first 10 days of life. Neither iron supplementation, disease status, nor sex had statistically significant effects on the areas under the curve of ferritin, WBC, TP, IL1β, IL6, SP, hepcidin, haptoglobin, or FRAP. However, cortisol concentrations were influenced by disease development. Cortisol concentrations were higher at birth (44.1 ± 1.95 ng/mL) than on day 2 (38.8 ± 1.87 ng/mL) (p = 0.0477), and healthy animals exhibited lower cortisol concentrations than diseased calves (p = 0.0028). Correlation analyses indicated weak positive correlations between ferritin and IL1β (p = 0.0015; ρ = 0.49) and IL6 (p = 0.0011; ρ = 0.50), respectively. The clinical significance of these findings and resulting therapeutic consequences, especially with respect to iron supplementation, should be further investigated in calves and adult cattle.

Keywords: calf; cortisol; cytokines; haptoglobin; hepcidin; inflammation; iron supply.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that this research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as potential conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Comparison of the time patterns of white blood cell (WBC) counts (A), total protein (TP) (B), haptoglobin (C), lactate (D), and cortisol concentrations (E) between healthy and diseased calves. Dots and squares indicate arithmetic means, with whiskers representing standard deviations.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Positive correlations between the time courses of ferritin and IL1β on days 2 and 3 in calves that received no iron supplementation (controls). Dots (ferritin) and squares (IL1β) represent arithmetic means, with whiskers representing standard deviations.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Comparison of the time courses of ferritin and IL6 for calves supplemented with iron. Dots (ferritin) and squares (IL6) represent arithmetic means; whiskers represent standard deviations.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Comparison of the time courses of ferritin and IL6 for calves without iron supplementation. Dots (ferritin) and squares (IL6) represent arithmetic means; whiskers represent standard deviations.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Comparison of the time courses of serum iron and hepcidin. Dots (Fe) and squares (hepcidin) represent arithmetic means; whiskers represent standard deviations; negative correlations were observed.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Comparison of time courses of ferritin and cortisol concentrations (x⇁ ± s; negative correlation particularly in male animals with p = 0.0009 and ρ = −0.68). Dots (ferritin) and squares (cortisol) represent arithmetic means; whiskers represent standard deviations.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Weak negative correlations between ferritin (dots) and FRAP (squares) in calves of the control group (x⇁ ± s; p = 0.0223; ρ = −0.50771).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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