ORIGINAL ARTICLE Identification of some plasma biomarkers associated with early weaning stress in crossbred piglets U. K. De 1 & S. Nandi 2 & Reena Mukherjee 1 & G. K. Gaur 3 & M. R. Verma 4 Received: 18 June 2016 /Accepted: 23 November 2016 /Published online: 2 December 2016 # Springer-Verlag London 2016 Abstract The present study was undertaken to examine the physiological effects of early weaning of crossbred piglets and identify a panel of plasma-based biomarkers. Eighteen cross- bred (Landrace × indigenous) suckling piglets were assigned to one of the two treatments on the day of weaning: (1) control (n = 9), piglets were loose-housed with their dam and (2) weaned (n = 9), piglets were abruptly selected from their dam and kept in a separate pen. Ad libitum water was supplied to all pens for drinking and all the piglets received same con- centrate diet with free access. The blood was collected from anterior vena cava on d -3, 1, 3, 7, and 15 relative to weaning (day 1) and measured for oxidative stress indicators (total antioxidant; TA and nitric oxide; NOx), acute phase proteins (haptoglobin; Hp and ceruloplasmin; Cp), high mobility group box 1 protein (HMGB1), inflammatory cytokines (in- terferon-gamma;IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor- alpha;TNF-α, and interleukin-1beta; IL-1β), and chemokines (intercellular adhesion molecule-1; ICAM-1, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1;MCP-1 and transforming growth factor beta 1; TGF-β1). It is concluded that MCP-1, Hp, and HMGB1 pro- tein are the potential biomarkers besides NOx and IL-1β which are the sensitive indicator of physiological stress in early weaned piglets. In the future, the determination of these markers would definitely help in identifying the weaned pig- lets with substantial stress condition which in turn help to find out the strategies for effective and efficient management of piglets to make the pig husbandry an economically profitable, environmentally sustainable, and ecologically viable industry. Keywords HMGB1 . ICAM-1 . IFN-γ . Il-1β . MCP-1 . TNF-α . Stress . Weaning piglet Introduction In swine husbandry, early weaning practices have become increasingly popular over traditional weaning owing to have certain potential advantages (Alexander et al. 1980 ; Hohenshell et al. 2000). The physical, social, and emotional stress implicated to early weaning is due to maternal separa- tion, relocation, introduction to new social groups, and sudden change of diet (Moeser et al. 2007;O’Loughlin et al. 2014). The introduction of new diet containing higher dry mass con- tent leads to physiological changes and poor weight gain in piglets (Sutherland et al. 2006; Kojima et al. 2008). Acute phase response is considered to be an exclusive bio- marker of weaning stress in animals (Kim et al. 2011). The oxidative stress is considered to be one of the important bio- markers in weaned piglets (Sauerwein et al. 2005; Wang et al. 2008). Reduction of total antioxidant capacity and elevation of plasma nitric oxide (NO) level (Zhu et al. 2012), haptoglobin (Hp), C-reactive protein, and serum amyloid A following weaning have been reported in piglets (Arthington et al. 2003; Sauerwein et al. 2005; Pomorska-Mól et al. 2012). High mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) protein is a universal protein and resides in the nuclei and cytoplasm of all cell * U. K. De ujjwalde@gmail.com 1 Division of Medicine, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 241322, India 2 CADRAD, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 241322, India 3 Livestock Production and Management Section, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 241322, India 4 Division of Livestock Economics, Statistics and Information Technology, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, Uttar Pradesh 241322, India Comp Clin Pathol (2017) 26:343–349 DOI 10.1007/s00580-016-2379-x