Significance of nitric oxide concentration in plasma and uterine secretes with puerperal endometritis in dairy cows

Abstract

Endometritis is an inflammation of the endometrial lining of the uterus without systemic signs, which is associated with chronic postpartum infection of the uterus with pathogenic bacteria. Nitric oxide (NO) is an inflammatory mediator that among other effects causes smooth muscle relaxation and mediated cytoimmunity and inflammation toxicity. To see if the nitric oxide concentration in plasma and uterine secrets is related with postpartum endometritis, NO concentrations in plasma and uterine secrets were measured in dairy cows with puerperal endometritis (clinical endometritis (n = 60) and subclinical endometritis (n = 58)). Cows with clinical or subclinical endometritis showed higher concentrations of NO in both plasma and uterine secrets when compared with normal cows and the highest concentrations of NO in plasma and uterine secrets were found in dairy cows with clinical endometritis. Expression level of NOS2 mRNA in endometrial biopsies from cows with puerperal endometritis was also higher and the highest expression of NOS2 mRNA was found in cows with clinical endometritis. The results showed that concentrations of NO in plasma and uterine fluid are related with the degree of endometritis which may be useful to diagnose the endometritis in dairy cows.

Lactoferrin suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced endometritis in mice via down-regulation of the NF-κB pathway

“…Li et al reported that uterine tissue from cows with clinical endometritis had high expression of NOS2 mRNA [26]. Our findings also demonstrate that LF significantly reduced the LPS-induced increase in the NO levels in uterine tissue in a dose-dependent manner.…”

The Impact of Endometritis on Specific Oxidative Stress Parameters in Cows

“…Free radicals lead to changes in NOS levels in endometrium (Alghamdi et al, 2005). In a study conducted by Li et al (2010), it was observed that NO levels were higher in cows suffering from endometritis, in comparison to healthy animals. It was demonstrated that NO increased to higher levels with increased severity of endometritis.…”

“…Therefore, NO a by-product of L-arginine (Ozcan and Ogun, 2015) increases in both the uterine discharge and the blood serum (Xue et al, 2015). NO, locally secreted from the ovaries, affects the size and functional phase of the follicle as well as ovulation and development and regression of the corpus luteum (Li et al, 2010;Pande et al, 2013). For rapid uterine involution during the postpartum period, uterine content is required to be expelled.…”

“…For rapid uterine involution during the postpartum period, uterine content is required to be expelled. NO shows direct effect on the smooth muscles of the uterus and causes muscle relaxation (Li et al, 2010;Xue et al, 2015). Accumulation of excessive amount of NO in uterine histiocytes causes it to react with superoxide anions to generate peroxynitrite radicals.…”

“…This, in return, aggravates inflammatory reaction resulting in tissue and organ damage. Uterine muscle relaxation causes for accumulation of inflammatory products in the uterine lumen, and this helps increasing the severity of uterine inflammation (Li et al, 2010;Xue et al, 2015).…”