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Use of inflammatory cell activities in bovine milk to diagnose mastitis
1Department of Biochemistry, University of Turku, Finland.
Insights
Chemiluminescence (CL) assay effectively measures leukocyte activity in milk, correlating well with somatic cell count (SCC). This method shows promise for diagnosing mastitis in dairy cows.
Area of Science:
- Veterinary Medicine
- Immunology
- Dairy Science
Background:
- Mastitis diagnosis in dairy cows relies on indicators like somatic cell count (SCC).
- Leukocyte activity in milk is a key indicator of inflammation and infection.
- Current diagnostic methods may require improvement in sensitivity and specificity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare chemiluminescence (CL) emission, a measure of leukocyte activity, with somatic cell count (SCC) in dairy cow milk.
- To evaluate the diagnostic potential of CL assay for mastitis detection.
- To assess the performance of CL assay in identifying milk samples with bacterial presence.
Main Methods:
- Analyzed 4,883 quarter-milk samples from 132 dairy cows.
- Measured leukocyte activity via chemiluminescence (CL) emission using an automated illuminometer system.
- Determined somatic cell count (SCC) and performed bacteriologic cultures for high SCC/CL samples.
Main Results:
- A strong correlation (r = 0.876) was observed between CL and SCC across all samples.
- CL assay demonstrated higher sensitivity and specificity for detecting major pathogens compared to SCC alone.
- Minor pathogens increased SCC and CL sevenfold, while major pathogens increased them 14- and 25-fold, respectively.
Conclusions:
- Chemiluminescence (CL) assay is a reliable method for assessing milk leukocyte activity and diagnosing mastitis.
- CL assay offers superior diagnostic performance, particularly for identifying infections caused by major pathogens.
- The CL assay has potential for both large-scale laboratory use and simple cowside mastitis testing.
Abstract:
The activity of leukocytes, determined by chemiluminescence (CL) emission, was compared with the somatic cell count (SCC) in 4,883 quarter-milk samples from 132 dairy cows. The presence of bacteria was determined by bacteriologic culture of samples in which SCC and CL were high. Chemiluminescence was measured with an automated illuminometer system at 37 C after separating the leukocytes from milk by allowing them to adhere to cotton-wool swabs. Chemiluminescence emission was induced by opsonized zymosan and enhanced by luminol. After luminol and zymosan were added to the measuring vials containing the swabs, CL emission increased rapidly, reaching its maximum usually at about 15 minutes of reaction time, and decreasing slowly thereafter. In general, good correlation was found between CL and SCC (r = 0.876; P less than or equal to 0.001; n = 4,883). Even milk samples with low SCC gave reliably measurable CL signals. Minor pathogens in the milk caused about a sevenfold increase in both SCC and CL, whereas major pathogens caused 14- and 25-fold increases in SCC and CL, respectively. The diagnostic situation that requires both sensitivity and specificity to be at least 90% was attained only by the CL assay for major pathogens. These results suggest that the measurement of milk leukocyte activity by CL assay applies well to the diagnosis of mastitis, and has the potential to become a large-scale laboratory test, as well as a simple cowside test.
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