Effects of Bovine Lactoferrin by the Intramammary Infusion in Cows with Staphylococcal Mastitis during the Early Non-Lactating Period.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. To evaluate the clinical effects of bovine lactoferrin on staphylococcal mastitis in Holstein cows during the early non-lactating period, 41 mammary quarters were selected randomly from 36 cows on 3 dairy farms. Twelve quarters were infused intramammarily with bovine lactoferrin. Twenty-nine quarters were infused with antibiotic as a control. In the bovine lactoferrin-infused group, 91.7% of mastitic quarters were cured at 7 days after calving, compared with 48.3% in the control group. Furthermore, the changes in mammary secretion induced by the infusion of bovine lactoferrin were investigated. Mean numbers of staphylococci in mammary gland secretions were significantly decreased in both 5 bovine lactoferrin-infused quarters and 5 antibiotic-infused control quarters (p<0.05). Unlike in the control quarters, the mean total cell concentration in the mammary gland secretions increased in bovine lactoferrin-infused quarters. Similar results were obtained in 6 healthy quarters which were infused with bovine lactoferrin. In these quarters, the cell population contained mainly phagocytes such as polymorphonuclear leukocytes and cells positive for CD11b which is known as a complement receptor. The mean concentration of C3 in mammary gland secretions was significantly increased in 5 mastitic quarters infused with bovine lactoferrin (p<0.05), but showed no significant change in 5 mastitic control quarters. These results suggested that bovine lactoferrin treatment for staphylococcal mastitis in the early non-lactating period might increase the rate of cure through the induction of innate immunity in the host. KEY WORDS: bovine C3, bovine lactoferrin, early non-lactating, intramammary infusion, staphylococcal mastitis.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 64(10): 873-878, 2002 The non-lactating period, a short term of approximately two months, takes place during involution of old tissue and remodelling of new tissue in the mammary gland. Bovine mammary involution is characterized by degeneration of the mammary alveolar structure and a loss of the majority of secretory epithelial cells [18]. The cell loss occurs due to apoptosis.After the cessation of milking, physiological changes in the mammary gland occur, such as the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes into mammary tissue [3], a rise in the level of bovine lactoferrin (bLf) [13] and an increase in the complement hemolytic titer [8,11]. These physiological changes may promote phagocytosis caused by mammary gland secretory cells of old milk components, apoptotic epithelial cells and pathogenic bacteria. Clinical mastitis is rare during the mid non-lactating period [9], at which time the concentration of bLf in mammary gland secretions is at its highest [17]. Prior to this peak in the concentration, an artificial infusion of bLf can promptly increase the level of bLf in the mammary gland. bLf exerts not only bacteriostatic or bactericidal effects on various microorganisms [2], but also priming effects on innate immunity in the host [10,12,15]. In addition, a high concentrati...

Transgenic Cows That Produce Recombinant Human Lactoferrin in Milk Are Not Protected from Experimental Escherichia coli Intramammary Infection

“…In all studies, great individual variations in bLf concentration between cows have been reported. Exogenous Lf has been proposed to represent a potential nonantibiotic therapeutic approach for the treatment of IMI (11,24). Some beneficial effect was reported for subclinical mastitis (26), but for experimental E. coli mastitis, no clear advantage could be demonstrated (33).…”

Effect of Combination Therapy with Lactoferrin and Antibiotics against Staphylococcal Mastitis on Drying Cows

“…The Lf injected cows (n=10) were intra-mammarily injected in the mastitic quarters with 200 mg of Lf per quarter in 10 ml of sterile phosphate buffered saline (PBS) pH7.2 through the teat canal [16]. In the cows with combination therapy of both Lf and antibiotics (n=9), Lf was injected into the mastitic MG at 3 days after antibiotics injection (0 days post injection (dpi)).…”

“…MGSs were measured for each SCC, S.aureus counts, the concentration of Lf, content rate of Con A low-affinity Lf and the mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) in MG cells. The causative staphylococci in mastitic MGSs were isolated with staphylococcus No.110 agar medium (Nissui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan), and the S.aureus counts were measured as described by Kai et al [16,17]. The coagulase production was determined by tube test of rabbit plasma (Eiken Chemical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan).…”

“…Therefore, the many therapeutic methods have been reported, such as antibiotics [8,28,29], cytokines [30,35], immunoglobulin [1], vaccines [27,34], disinfectants [10,11,38] and biologically active substrates [16,19].…”

“…Therefore, Lf was used for bovine mastitis therapy and recent studies have reported the efficacy of Lf therapy against subclinical mastitis in the lactating period with the antibacterial activity of Lf [19] and chronic mastitis in the dry period with alternative complement activation by Lf [16]. However, the sensitivity of the antibacterial effect with Lf was differed according to the strain of S.aureus from bovine mastitis [6,26].…”