RESUMEN
The role of cervical mucus of buffalos during the estrus phase in defending against pathogenic infection and protecting the genital tract was studied. In the first experiment, pooled fresh cervical mucus from 5 buffalos in the estrous phase was collected aseptically, incubated for 30 minutes with five concentrations of colony forming units [CFU] of a known pathogenic strain of Brucella melitensis, Rev 1, [1x105, 1x106, 1x107, 1x108 and 1x109] and seeded onto 10 plates of brucella agar plates [two plates for each bacterial concentration]. No brucella growth at any CFU concentration was detected in all plates. The second experiment aimed to assaying concentrations of nitric oxide, proteins and carbohydrates in cervical mucus, throughout 9 hours of normal estrous phase in 5 buffalos, to find out if there are changes in their secretory pattern and to find out if there are possible correlations between them. Also, the electrophoretic pattern of cervical mucus proteins was assayed. Concentrations of nitric oxide, proteins and carbohydrates fluctuated throughout the sampling period. Nitric oxide showed significant positive correlation with concentrations of proteins and carbohydrates in cervical mucus. Electronic pattern of cervical mucus collected at all samples and showed 6 protein bands at 212.5, 130, 91, 70, 52 and 30 kD. Nitric oxide, secreted in the cervical mucus of estrus-phase buffalos, has powerful bactericidal activity and constitutes a firm defense mechanism in the genital tract against infection, even in case of intracellular pathogens. Also, the fluctuating pattern of the three constituents measured is attributed, in general, to the amount and nature of cellular components of the mucus, which are mainly leukocytes and their associated secretory molecules