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Updated: May 1, 2026

Isolation of Leukocytes from the Murine Tissues at the Maternal-Fetal Interface
Published on: May 21, 2015
Two-way calf to dam major histocompatibility class I compatibility increases risk for retained placenta in cattle
Lindert Benedictus1, Aaron J Thomas, Ruurd Jorritsma
1Department of Farm Animal Health, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. l_dert@hotmail.com
Problem:
In cattle, retained placenta (RP) is suggested to arise from failure of immune-mediated rejection of the fetal membranes by the maternal immune system and is associated with major histocompatibility (MHC) class I compatibility between calf and dam.
Method Of Study:
To study the association between RP and different MHC class I compatibilities between calf-dam-granddam combinations, massively parallel pyrosequencing was used to determine the MHC class I haplotypes of cows with and without RP.
Results:
Two-way calf to dam MHC class I compatibility gave a high risk for RP. There was a tendency for a higher risk for RP with calf to dam MHC class I compatibility.
Conclusions:
We concluded that in two-way compatible pregnancies, the maternal immune system fails to reject the fetal membranes, and the fetal immune system does not mount an immune response against maternal MHC class I antigens that could influence the immune-mediated rejection of the fetal membranes by the maternal immune system. The lack of immune-mediated rejection of the fetal membranes by the maternal immune system increases the risk of occurrence of RP.
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