Changes in the Paper Electrophoretic Whey-Protein Pattern of Cows with Acute Mastitis

Abstract

Classical studies on inflammation in general have shown that one of the earliest responses of the host to an irritant is an increase in capillary permeability of the host''s tissue near the irritant. This change in permeability, among other things, leads to an outpouring of plasma proteins from the blood circulation. It was wondered whether such a change in permeability towards plasma proteins occurred in a readily detectable quantity in mastitis. The approach taken was to analyze, from the same udder, whey-protein patterns of milk obtained from normal and mastitic quarters. Pre-treatment and post-treatment observations on 43 suspected cases of mastitis were made concerning: (1) the quality of the milk and the condition of the udder (barn tests); (2) the number of leucocytes in the milk; (3) the presence of bacteria in the milk; and (4) the relative amounts of the various whey proteins. The most consistent and obvious change in the whey-protein pattern of milk from mastitic quarters was the appearance of a fraction migrating at the rate of blood-serum albumin. Relative increases in the amount of immune globulin were also noted. The presence of blood-serum albumin in whey was consistently accompanied by high leucocyte counts, but the reverse was not necessarily true. There seemed to be little correlation between the presence of blood-serum albumin and bacteria in the milk. Blood-serum albumin in whey seems to be a reliable indicator of inflammation and, hence, mastitis.