Impact of short-term heat stress on physiological responses and expression profile of HSPs in Barbari goats

Six, nonpregnant, Barbari goats aged 4–5 years were selected for the study. For the first 6 days, the animals were kept in psychrometric chamber at thermoneutral temperature for 6 h each day to make them acclimated to climatic chamber. On the 7th day, the animals were exposed to 41 °C temperature for 3 h and then to 45 °C for the next 3 h. Cardinal physiological responses were measured, and blood samples (3 ml) were collected at 1-h interval during the heat exposure period and then once after 6 h of the heat exposure. The rectal temperature (RT) and respiratory rate (RR) increased significantly (P < 0.05) during the heat exposure compared to pre- and postexposure. The relative messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of heat shock protein (HSP)60, HSP70, and HSP90 increased significantly (P < 0.05) within 1 h after exposure to heat stress at 41 and 45 °C and decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in next 2 h but remain significantly (P < 0.05) elevated from preexposure. HSP105/110 relative mRNA expression level remained unchanged during the first 4 h, and thereafter, it increased significantly (P < 0.05) and reached the peak at 6 h. Relative protein expression pattern of HSPs during exposure to heat stress showed similar trend as observed for the relative mRNA expression. Given the response sensitivity and intensity of HSP genes to environmental stresses, HSP70 was found to be the most sensitive to temperature fluctuation, and it could be used as an important molecular biomarker to heat stress in animals.