The relationship between serum biotin and oxidant/antioxidant activities in bovine lameness

Serum biotin concentrations, erythrocyte superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), reduced glutathione (GSH) and plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were measured in 36 dairy cows, 18 of them were healthy and served as control. In the 18 cows with lameness problems, there were 5 cows with interdigital necrobacillosis, 5 cows with subsolar abscessation, 2 cows with solar ulcers, 2 cows with white line disease, 2 cows with chronic laminitis and 2 cows with septic arthritis. The degree of lameness was estimated to be slight in 3 cows, moderate in 11 cows and severe in 4 cows. Plasma fibrinogen levels and TBARS concentrations were increased significantly (P≤0.05) in lame cows compared to control group. The antioxidant enzymes GSH-Px, and CAT concentrations were increased significantly (P≤0.05) in lame cows. The level of reduced glutathione and the activity of SOD were significantly decreased in affected cows compared to healthy ones. Serum biotin levels in healthy cows ranged from 2.25 to 3.5ng/ml while in lame cows, biotin levels ranged from 1.17 to 2.3ng/ml. Biotin levels correlated positively with blood GSH (r=0.870, P≤0.05), (r=0.735, P≤0.05) and with GSH-Px (r=0.539, P≤0.05), (r=0.637, P≤0.05) and with SOD (r=0.637, P≤0.05), (r=0.449, P≤0.05) and with catalase (r=0.533, P≤0.05), (r=0.585, P≤0.05) in both healthy and lameness affected subjects, respectively.