Subfertility in Buffaloes and the Association of Detected Milk Microbes

Lactogenesis is a complex physiology and an outcome of a successful reproductive cycle in mammalians. The purpose itself is to nourish the newborn with the nutrients necessary for its protection and growth a continuation from the in utero survival strategy. Thus, mammary development and physiology are intriguingly linked to the uterine changes that happen in a normal reproductive individual. Milk is a highly nutritious food that also favours the growth of microorganisms that can enter through the bloodstream or the discharge system. Briefly, the mastitis-induced release of inflammation mediators such as cytokines, interleukins, and prostaglandin F2? are established to be associated with infertility. Before breeding, mastitis can disrupt hormonal patterns (depression of estradiol production, delayed surge of luteinizing hormone) and delay ovulation. The issue of clinical mastitis is obvious but when subclinical mastitis persists for long the problem gets compounded. Thus, microbes get easily established in the mammary glands of buffaloes whose udder and teat anatomy, love for dirt, and swamp to wallow makes them more vulnerable exposing them to various kinds of pathogenic and opportunistic microbes. Buffaloes, by nature, have issues with silent heat, seasonal anestrus, more sensitive to direct radiation heat stress when faced with a pathological attack of infectious microbes in the milk chamber compromises their fertility.

Expression of L-Selectin in Peripheral Blood Leukocytes of Crossbred Cows Affected with Subclinical Mastitis

L-Selectin (SELL) linked with innate immune mechanism involved in neutrophil migration through endothelium to the site of inflammation. Early recruitment of neutrophils at the site of infection is essential to counteract infection at the earliest in conditions like sub-clinical mastitis (SCM). The present study was framed to evaluate the expression pattern of SELL in naturally occurring SCM in crossbred animals using real time PCR technique. Analysis of data on total leukocyte count indicated leucocytosis condition in SCM affected crossbred cows. Relative expression of SELL on peripheral blood leukocytes revealed a significant 3.16 folds down regulation in SCM affected cows when compared with healthy crossbred cows (P<0.05). The possible reason for leukocytosis in SCM animals might be due to down regulation of SELL on leukocytes reducing their ability to transmigrate through blood vessel to infection site. The result of present study revealed a definite role of SELL in SCM which could be explored for therapeutic aspects in near future