title: Expression profile of genes associated with mastitis in dairy cattle.
abstract: In order to characterize the expression of genes associated with immune response mechanisms to mastitis, we quantified the relative expression of the IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN-γ and TNF- α genes in milk cells of healthy cows and cows with clinical mastitis. Total RNA was extracted from milk cells of six Black and White Holstein (BW) cows and six Gyr cows, including three animals with and three without mastitis per breed. Gene expression was analyzed by real-time PCR. IL-10 gene expression was higher in the group of BW and Gyr cows with mastitis compared to animals free of infection from both breeds (p < 0.05). It was also higher in BW Holstein animals with clinical mastitis (p < 0.001), but it was not significant when Gyr cows with and without mastitis were compared (0.05 < p < 0.10). Among healthy cows, BW Holstein animals tended to present a higher expression of all genes studied, with a significant difference for the IL-2 and IFN- γ genes (p < 0.001). For animals with mastitis no significant difference in gene expression was observed between the two breeds. These findings suggest that animals with mastitis develop a preferentially cell-mediated immune response. Further studies including larger samples are necessary to better characterize the gene expression profile in cows with mastitis.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Zootecnia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG Brazil.
authors.forename: Isabela
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.forename: Priscila Vendramini
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Carla Christine
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lange
authors.forename: Marta F M
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Mayara Morena Del Cambre Amaral
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Weller
authors.forename: Katiene Régia Silva
authors.initials: KR
authors.lastname: Sousa
authors.forename: Paulo Sávio
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Lopes
authors.forename: José Domingos
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.forename: Simone E F
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Guimarães