title: Counts of bovine monocyte subsets prior to calving are predictive for postpartum occurrence of mastitis and metritis.
abstract: The heightened susceptibility to infectious diseases in postpartum dairy cows is often attributed to immune dysfunction associated with the transition period. However, the cell populations involved in this immune dysfunction and the dynamics between those populations are not well defined. Monocytes play a crucial role in governing initial immune response in bacterial infections. Bovine monocytes are subdivided in classical (CD14+/CD16-), intermediate (CD14+/CD16+) and non-classical monocytes (CD14-/CD16+) with distinct phenotypic and functional differences. This study investigated the relationship of monocyte subsets counts in blood at 42 and 14 days prior to expected calving date to occurrence of metritis and mastitis within 2 weeks postpartum. In the enrolled prospective cohort of 27 German Holstein cows, housed at the Institute of Animal Nutrition of the Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute Braunschweig, Germany, n = 13 developed metritis and/or mastitis postpartum. A multivariable logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between prepartum cell counts of monocyte subsets and neutrophils with postpartum disease. Our model revealed that higher counts of the two CD14+monocyte subsets were predictive of disease. In contrast, higher numbers of the CD14-monocyte subset were negatively associated with disease. Interestingly, the neutrophil count, a common hallmark for inflammatory response, was not associated with the outcome variable at either time point. The results indicate that the number and composition of monocyte subsets before calving are related to the susceptibility to infectious disease within 2 weeks postpartum. Furthermore the oppositional effect of CD14+and CD14-subsets strengthens the hypothesis that these subsets have different functional roles in the inflammatory response in dairy cows.
authors.affiliation: S3 119, Schurman Hall, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14850, USA. bjp62@cornell.edu.|Department of Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. bjp62@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Brianna
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8418-4446
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pomeroy
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. ass233@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Anja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sipka
authors.affiliation: Immunology Unit, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, 30173, Hannover, Germany.|Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Resources, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Jamal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hussen
authors.affiliation: Immunology Unit, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, 30173, Hannover, Germany.|Department of Physiology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, 30173, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Melanie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eger
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Medicine & Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.|GD Animal Health, Deventer, The Netherlands.|Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ynte
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Schukken
authors.affiliation: Immunology Unit, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, 30173, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans-Joachim
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Schuberth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004716:Endometritis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D007958:Leukocyte Count / Q000662:veterinary*; D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors / Q000276:immunology; D008414:Mastitis, Bovine / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000276:immunology; D009000:Monocytes / Q000276:immunology; D049590:Postpartum Period / Q000276:immunology; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D017452:Receptors, IgG / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D018950:Lipopolysaccharide Receptors; D017452:Receptors, IgG