Cendron, Filippo and Huerta, Almudena and Penasa, Mauro and Laghi, Luca and Birolo, Marco
(2026)
Integrated endocrine, metabolomic, and targeted gene-expression profiling reveals genotype-specific responses to heat stress in broiler chickens.
[Data Collection]
Collection description
Blood, feather, excreta, liver, and muscle (Pectoralis major) samples were collected for corticosterone determination, metabolomic profiling, and gene-expression analyses.
For individual-level analyses, two birds per pen (representative of their pen in terms of average live weight) were sampled, resulting in 12 samples per genotype × environment combination. Pooled excreta were collected at pen level for corticosterone metabolite determination, resulting in 6 pooled samples per genotype × environment combination. Thus, the experimental unit was the individual bird for corticosterone (plasma and feathers), metabolomic profiling (plasma and muscle), and gene-expression analyses (liver), and the pen for excreta corticosterone. For corticosterone metabolite determination in excreta, pooled fresh droppings were collected. In each pen, 5 to 6 freshly voided droppings were identified by residual warmth, used as an indicator of recent deposition, and collected from different areas of the pen to obtain a representative pooled sample. Care was taken to avoid visible contamination with litter, feathers, or feed residues. Samples were homogenized, transferred into sterile tubes, and stored at −20°C until extraction.
Blood samples were collected in lithium-heparin Vacutainer tubes (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA), immediately placed on ice, centrifuged (2,000 × g for 15 min at 4°C) to obtain plasma, and stored at −20°C until analysis. Feather samples were collected from standardized body regions and stored dry at room temperature until corticosterone extraction. Excreta samples consisted of pooled fresh excreta representative of each pen and were stored at −20°C until analysis. For metabolomic analyses, plasma and muscle samples from individual animals were used. Plasma was obtained from blood samples collected in lithium-heparin Vacutainer tubes, whereas muscle samples were collected during slaughter. Both plasma and muscle samples were immediately snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at −80°C until analysis. For gene-expression analyses, liver and muscle samples were individually collected during slaughter, rapidly excised, immersed in QIAzol reagent (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), immediately snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen, and stored at −80°C until RNA extraction.
| DOI: |
 10.25430/researchdata.cab.unipd.it.00001878 |
| Keywords: |
Corticosterone; metabolomics; poultry welfare; physiological adaptation; thermal stress. |
| Subjects: |
Life Sciences > Applied Life Sciences, Biotechnology and Molecular and Biosystems engineering: Applied plant and animal sciences; forestry; food sciences; applied biotechnology; environmental, and marine biotechnology; applied bioengineering; biomass, biofuels; biohazard > Applied animal sciences (including animal breeding, veterinary sciences, animal husbandry, animal welfare, aquaculture, fisheries, insect gene drive)
Life Sciences > Applied Life Sciences, Biotechnology and Molecular and Biosystems engineering: Applied plant and animal sciences; forestry; food sciences; applied biotechnology; environmental, and marine biotechnology; applied bioengineering; biomass, biofuels; biohazard > Environmental biotechnology (including bioindicators, bioremediation, biodegradation) |
| Department: |
Departments > Dipartimento di Agronomia Animali Alimenti Risorse Naturali e Ambiente (DAFNAE) |
| Depositing User: |
Filippo Cendron
|
| Date Deposited: |
20 Jul 2026 12:28 |
| Last Modified: |
20 Jul 2026 12:28 |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| Type of data: |
Database |
| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Name | Email |
|---|
| Author | Cendron, Filippo | filippo.cendron@unipd.it | | Author | Huerta, Almudena | almudena.huertapalacios@studenti.unipd.it | | Author | Penasa, Mauro | mauro.penasa@unipd.it | | Author | Laghi, Luca | l.laghi@unibo.it | | Author | Birolo, Marco | marco.birolo@unipd.it |
|
| Research funder: |
European Union |
| Grant number: |
101136346 EUPAHW, SOA16. |
| Collection period: |
|
| Temporal coverage: |
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| Resource language: |
English |
| Metadata language: |
English |
| Publisher: |
Research Data Unipd |
| Date: |
20 July 2026 |
| Copyright holders: |
The Author |
| URI: |
https://researchdata.cab.unipd.it/id/eprint/1878 |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| Type of data: |
Database |
| Contributors: |
| Contribution | Name | Email |
|---|
| Author | Cendron, Filippo | filippo.cendron@unipd.it | | Author | Huerta, Almudena | almudena.huertapalacios@studenti.unipd.it | | Author | Penasa, Mauro | mauro.penasa@unipd.it | | Author | Laghi, Luca | l.laghi@unibo.it | | Author | Birolo, Marco | marco.birolo@unipd.it |
|
| Research funder: |
European Union |
| Grant number: |
101136346 EUPAHW, SOA16. |
| Collection period: |
|
| Temporal coverage: |
|
| Resource language: |
English |
| Metadata language: |
English |
| Publisher: |
Research Data Unipd |
| Date: |
20 July 2026 |
| Copyright holders: |
The Author |
| Last Modified: |
20 Jul 2026 12:28 |
|
orcid.org/0000-0002-8221-7566
