Rudolph, Tori E.Roths, MelissaFreestone, Alyssa D.White-Springer, Sarah H.Rhoads, Robert P.Baumgard, Lance H.Selsby, Joshua T.2025-11-202025-11-202024-01-030021-8812https://hdl.handle.net/10919/139695The purpose of this investigation was to establish the role biological sex plays in circulating factors following heat stress (HS). Barrows and gilts (36.8 +/- 3.7 kg body weight) were kept in either thermoneutral (TN; 20.8 +/- 1.6 degrees C; 62.0% +/- 4.7% relative humidity; n = 8/sex) conditions or exposed to HS (39.4 +/- 0.6 degrees C; 33.7% +/- 6.3% relative humidity) for either 1 (HS1; n = 8/sex) or 7 (HS7; n = 8/sex) d. Circulating glucose decreased as a main effect of the environment (P = 0.03). Circulating non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA) had an environment x sex interaction (P < 0.01) as HS1 barrows had increased NEFA compared to HS1 gilts (P = 0.01) and NEFA from HS7 gilts increased compared to HS1 gilts (P = 0.02) and HS7 barrows (P = 0.04). Cortisol, insulin, glucagon, T3, and T4 were reduced as a main effect of environment (P <= 0.01). Creatinine was increased in HS1 and HS7 animals compared to TN (P <= 0.01), indicative of decreased glomerular filtration rate. White blood cell populations exhibited differential patterns based on sex and time. Neutrophils and lymphocytes had an environment x sex interaction (P <= 0.05) as circulating neutrophils were increased in HS1 barrows compared to TN and HS7 barrows, and HS1 gilts (P <= 0.01) and HS7 barrows had less neutrophils compared to TN barrows (P = 0.01), whereas they remained similar in gilts. In contrast, barrow lymphocyte numbers were similar between groups, but in HS7 gilts they were decreased compared to TN and HS1 gilts (P <= 0.04). In total, these data demonstrate that HS alters a host of circulating factors and that biological sex mediates, at least in part, the physiological response to HS.application/pdfenCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalbloodclimate changeheat strokesexswineHeat stress alters hematological parameters in barrows and giltsArticle - RefereedJournal of Animal Sciencehttps://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skae123102387063031525-3163