Rapid leukocyte esterase detection of cytological endometritis in dairy cows

Certain limitations are associated with all kinds of diagnostic techniques used for the identification of bovine cytological endometritis under field conditions. Leukocyte esterase (LE) tape of urinary test strips has been used to detect cytological endometritis with an acceptable level of agreement with endometrial cytology in lactating dairy cows; however, the sampling procedure of LE tape strips is still time-consuming and not advisable for use at the farm level.

The present study was designed to provide a simpler and faster LE test to improve the field applicability of LE tape strips for the detection of bovine cytological endometritis.

Endometrial samples were collected using cytobrush and modified LE tape techniques from slaughtered (n=74) and live dairy cows (n=43). The urinary strip's LE tape was affixed onto the cytobrush rod head using a hot glue adhesive. This modification created the possibility of rapid reading of the intensity of color change of LE tapes.

Considering the cytology as the reference method, the sensitivity and specificity of the LE method for slaughterhouse samples were 82% and 73%, respectively. The agreement between endometrial cytology and the modified LE technique, considering the combination of slaughterhouse and clinical samples, was found to be moderate (=0.51; P<0.0001) in the present study.

A rapid leukocyte esterase test can be used as a cow side and potential alternative to endometrial cytology; however, the efficacy of this method should further be evaluated based on the conception rates in dairy cows.