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Updated: Jul 14, 2026
Protein Transfection of Mouse Lung
Published on: May 15, 2013
Use of serum total protein as a proxy for passive transfer status in lambs
Rob F Kelly1, Amy Jennings1,2, Elizabeth Burrough1
1Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Midlothian, UK.
Background:
Serum total protein (TP) is commonly used to investigate failure of passive transfer of immunity (FPTI) in cattle. This short communication explores the use of serum TP as a proxy of passive transfer (PT) status in lambs.
Methods:
Blood samples were obtained from 434 lambs within 8‒24 hours of birth to measure serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and TP. The relationship between serum IgG and TP was described using a linear regression model. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to select a serum TP cut-off for sub-optimal PT.
Results:
There was a moderate positive relationship between serum IgG and TP (r2 = 0.57). The serum TP cut-off with the optimal sensitivity (86.8%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 80.8‒92.1%) and specificity (80.2%, 95% CI: 75.3‒84.8%) to detect serum IgG concentrations of 24 mg/mL or less was 6.8 g/dL.
Limitations:
This work involved lowland lambs sampled from a single well-managed farm. Further work is needed to establish FPTI cut-offs in a variety of sheep populations.
Conclusions:
Serum TP measurement is an appropriate field diagnostic to estimate the PT status of lambs in lowland flocks.
