Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Research article2007Peer reviewedOpen access

Morphometric analysis of proinflammatory cytokines in mammary glands of sows suggests an association between clinical mastitis and local production of IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha

Zhu YH, Fossum C, Berg M, Magnussona U

Abstract

Twelve healthy primiparous sows received intramammary inoculation with Escherichia coli (serotype O127) during the 24-h period preceding parturition. Mammary gland biopsy samples were taken immediately before inoculation (0 h) and from the inoculated and the contralateral non-inoculated glands 24 h after inoculation. The analyses of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) by immunohistochemistry revealed that the production of these proinflammatory cytokines significantly increased in the inoculated mammary glands of sows that developed clinical signs of mastitis (affected group, n = 4) 24 h after inoculation. This was also true for IL-8 in the inoculated mammary glands of sows that did not develop clinical signs of mastitis (nonaffected group, n = 8). Sows that developed clinical signs of mastitis displayed significantly lower constitutive production of IL-1 beta than did sows that remained clinically healthy. The data indicate that the development of clinical symptoms of coliform mastitis in the sow is associated with a locally increased proinflammatory cytokine production in response to intramammary E. coli infection

Published in

Veterinary Research
2007, Volume: 38, number: 6, pages: 871-882 Publisher: EDP SCIENCES S A