Effect of a natural plant ingredient — Pulsatilla  saponin B4 on clinical mastitis and serum inflammatory indices in dairy cows

Abstract

Background To investigate the effect of Pulsatilla saponin B4, a purified extract form Pulsatilla Chinensis, on the treatment of clinical mastitis in dairy cows, 12 healthy cows were used as the control group (group A, no treatment), and 36 cows with mastitis were divided into 3 groups based on the quaque die (QD) intramuscular injection (IM) dose used in the as follows, group B (15 mL), group C (30 mL), group D (60 mL). Identified the microorganisms in milk during the experiment,samples in test groups were cultured, isolated, and verified by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Somatic cell count (SCC) and serum inflammatory indices in cows were measured with a 1-day interval in group C and compared with group A. Results Results showed that bacterial detection rates were 100% (group B), 83.33% (group C) and 100% (group D). After the treatment bacterial detection rates dropped to 50.00% (group B), 50.00% (group C), and 41.67% (group D). The medicine was effective in all test groups and showed a dose-effect relationship. Serum haptoglobin (HP), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1α), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), interleukin-2 (IL-2), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-4 (IL-4), leukotriene B4 (LTB4) also the SCC were significantly higher than healthy cows (P < 0.05) on the day (d) 1 in group C but had no significant difference with group A after treatment. Conclusion Treatment with Pulsatilla saponin B4 relieved mastitis, leading to relieve of bacterial infection, SCC and levels of serum inflammatory factors effectively in cows with mastitis after being administered for 4–6 days QD.