Influence of age and plasma treatment on neutrophil phagocytosis and CD18 expression in foals

Effect of colostrum treated by heat on immunological parameters in newborn lambs

“…Serum opsonic capacity of the lambs increased following ingestion of colostrum, whether heat-treated or not. This activity increased with age, and, at 32 days of life was similar to that recorded for other adult animals (Bernadina et al, 1991;Gröndahl et al, 1999). The main plasmatic opsonines are IgG and complement (Tizard, 2002), but in our experiment this capacity was independent of IgG concentration as has been observed in kittens (Hanel et al, 2003).…”

“…The main plasmatic opsonines are IgG and complement (Tizard, 2002), but in our experiment this capacity was independent of IgG concentration as has been observed in kittens (Hanel et al, 2003). In foals, Gröndahl et al (1999Gröndahl et al ( , 2001 have found a negative correlation between serum opsonic capacity and serum IgG concentration. Our results indicate that lambs are initially deficient in serum opsonic capacity which is independent of the serum IgG concentration and heat treatment of the colostrum.…”

Immunologic Profiles of Peripheral Blood Leukocytes and Serum Immunoglobulin G Concentrations in Perinatal Mares and Neonatal Foals (Heavy Draft Horse)

“…Newborn foals are essentially agammaglobulinemic and acquire passive immunity by ingestion and absorption of colostrum from the dam [8,9]. In the field of clinical immunology, although fragmentary information such as subpopulations of lymphocytes [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], responses of lymphocytes to antigens [13,[17][18][19], and phagocytic functions of neutrophils [10,11,13,15,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] has been reported, sequential and comprehensive studies are rare in perinatal mares and neonatal foals. Therefore, more detailed information on immunology may enable more accurate diagnoses and may be applicable to the field of preventive medicine.…”

Five Fatal Cases of Primary Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Albino Asinara Donkey Foals

“…This critical and protective role that TNF-a orchestrates within innate defense systems against fungal infection is further corroborated by the observations that the use of TNF-a antagonists in clinical practice is associated with an increased incidence of aspergillosis [26]. Moreover, the study by Grondahal et al (1999) showed that in neonatal foals, the phagocytic capacity of the neutrophils is mature but that the opsonic ability of the serum is a limiting factor for phagocytosis up to the age of 3-4 weeks [21]. This fact may also be important in infection susceptibility in young foals and could be the reason why the other four albino donkey foals aged 60 days, although housed in the same paddock, survived.…”

“…They regularly assumed colostrum, but no information about the serum immunoglobulin G concentration 48 hours after birth was available, so a failure in the transfer of passive immunity cannot be excluded, although the fact that they were five different colts makes it a rare possibility. Hypogammaglobulinemia due to failure of passive transfer of colostral immunoglobulins is a common predisposing factor for neonatal infections [20], although serum opsonins other than immunoglobulins, such as complement components, may also be of importance in the elimination of microbes by phagocytosis [21]. It should be emphasized that foals are very susceptible to infections by opportunistic pathogens such as A. fumigatus.…”