Preventing Postpartum Uterine Disease in Dairy Cattle Depends on Avoiding, Tolerating and Resisting Pathogenic Bacteria

Up to forty percent of dairy cows can develop metritis or endometritis when bacteria infect the uterus after parturition. However, it is unclear why other cows exposed to similar pathogens do not develop uterine disease. We suggest that resilient dairy cows prevent the development of uterine disease using the three complimentary defensive strategies of avoiding, tolerating and resisting infection with pathogenic bacteria. Avoidance maintains health by limiting the exposure to pathogens. Avoidance includes intrinsic behaviors to prevent exposure to pathogens or infected animals, perhaps signaled by the fetid odor of uterine disease. Tolerance improves health by limiting the tissue damage caused by the pathogen burden. Tolerance depends on controlling the tissue damage that pathogens cause in the endometrium by neutralizing bacterial toxins, enhancing tissue repair, and inducing adaptive metabolic responses. Resistance improves health by limiting the pathogen burden. Resistance relies on the immune system generating an inflammatory response in the endometrium to eliminate pathogenic bacteria. People who manage dairy cows can also help prevent uterine disease by using extended lactations, avoiding trauma to the genital tract, maintaining hygiene, and supplying appropriate nutrition during the transition period and after parturition to counter the metabolic stress of lactation. Developing new ways to prevent uterine disease depends on increasing our understanding of the mechanisms of avoidance, tolerance and resistance to pathogens in the postpartum uterus.

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Metabolic Stress in the Transition Period of Dairy Cows: Focusing on the Prepartum Period

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani10081419 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (8) ◽

pp. 1419

Author(s):

Osvaldo Bogado Pascottini ◽

Jo L. M. R. Leroy ◽

Geert Opsomer

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Dairy Cows ◽

Systemic Inflammation ◽

Postpartum Period ◽

Transition Period ◽

Metabolic Stress ◽

Negative Energy ◽

Spontaneous Reduction ◽

Fat Mobilization ◽

Transition Dairy Cows

All modern, high-yielding dairy cows experience a certain degree of reduced insulin sensitivity, negative energy balance, and systemic inflammation during the transition period. Maladaptation to these changes may result in excessive fat mobilization, dysregulation of inflammation, immunosuppression, and, ultimately, metabolic or infectious disease in the postpartum period. Up to half of the clinical diseases in the lifespan of high-yielding dairy cows occur within 3 weeks of calving. Thus, the vast majority of prospective studies on transition dairy cows are focused on the postpartum period. However, predisposition to clinical disease and key (patho)physiological events such as a spontaneous reduction in feed intake, insulin resistance, fat mobilization, and systemic inflammation already occur in the prepartum period. This review focuses on metabolic, adaptive events occurring from drying off until calving in high-yielding cows and discusses determinants that may trigger (mal)adaptation to these events in the late prepartum period.

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Ceftiofur reduced Fusobacterium leading to uterine microbiota alteration in dairy cows with metritis

Animal Microbiome ◽

10.1186/s42523-021-00077-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Soo Jin Jeon ◽

Federico Cunha ◽

Rodolfo Daetz ◽

Rodrigo C. Bicalho ◽

Svetlana Lima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cows ◽

Rectal Temperature ◽

Coenzyme A ◽

Carbon Sources ◽

Metabolic Stress ◽

16S Rrna Gene Sequencing ◽

Uterine Disease ◽

Rrna Gene ◽

Hydroxybutyric Acid ◽

Coenzyme A Biosynthesis

Abstract Background Metritis is an inflammatory uterine disease found in ~ 20% of dairy cows after parturition and associated with uterine microbiota with high abundance of Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, and Porphyromonas. Ceftiofur is a common treatment, but the effect on uterine microbiota is poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the short-term impact of ceftiofur on uterine microbiota structure and function in cows with metritis. Eight cows received ceftiofur (CEF) and 10 remained untreated (CON). Uterine swabs were collected for PCR and metagenomic analysis at diagnosis before treatment (5 ± 1 DPP) and 2 days after diagnosis/treatment (7 ± 1 DPP) from the same individuals. Seven CEF and 9 CON passed quality control and were used for 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results Ceftiofur treatment resulted in uterine microbiota alteration, which was attributed to a decrease in relative abundance of Fusobacterium and in gene contents involved in lipopolysaccharide biosynthesis, whereas uterine microbiota diversity and genes involved in pantothenate and coenzyme A biosynthesis increased. Ceftiofur treatment also reduced rectal temperature and tended to reduce total bacteria in the uterus. However, other uterine pathogens such as Bacteroides and Porphyromonas remained unchanged in CEF. The blaCTX-M gene was detected in 37.5% of metritic cows tested but was not affected by CEF. We found that β-hydroxybutyric acid, pyruvic acid, and L-glutamine were preferentially utilized by Fusobacterium necrophorum according to metabolic activity with 95 carbon sources. Conclusions Ceftiofur treatment leads to alterations in the uterine microbiota that were mainly characterized by reductions in Fusobacterium and genes involved in LPS biosynthesis, which may be associated with a decrease in rectal temperature. The increase in pantothenate and coenzyme A biosynthesis indicates microbial response to metabolic stress caused by ceftiofur. Preference of Fusobacterium for β-hydroxybutyric acid may help to explain why this strain becomes dominant in the uterine microbiota of cows with metritis, and it also may provide a means for development of new therapies for the control of metritis in dairy cows.

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Effects of supplementing a Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation product during the transition period on rumen fermentation of dairy cows fed fresh diets differing in starch content

Journal of Dairy Science ◽

10.3168/jds.2019-16671 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 102 (11) ◽

pp. 9943-9955 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

W. Shi ◽

C.E. Knoblock ◽

I. Yoon ◽

M. Oba

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Dairy Cows ◽

Transition Period ◽

Starch Content ◽

Rumen Fermentation ◽

Fermentation Product ◽

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Fermentation Product

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The Physiological Roles of Vitamin E and Hypovitaminosis E in the Transition Period of High-Yielding Dairy Cows

Animals ◽

10.3390/ani11041088 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 1088

Author(s):

Satoshi Haga ◽

Hiroshi Ishizaki ◽

Sanggun Roh

Keyword(s):

Dairy Cows ◽

High Performance ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Transition Period ◽

Disease Risk ◽

Serum Vitamin ◽

Physiological Role ◽

Density Lipoprotein ◽

Alpha Tocopherol ◽

Transition Dairy Cows

Levels of alpha-tocopherol (α-Toc) decline gradually in blood throughout prepartum, reaching lowest levels (hypovitaminosis E) around calving. Despite numerous reports about the disease risk in hypovitaminosis E and the effect of α-Toc supplementation on the health of transition dairy cows, its risk and supplemental effects are controversial. Here, we present some novel data about the disease risk of hypovitaminosis E and the effects of α-Toc supplementation in transition dairy cows. These data strongly demonstrate that hypovitaminosis E is a risk factor for the occurrence of peripartum disease. Furthermore, a study on the effectiveness of using serum vitamin levels as biomarkers to predict disease in dairy cows was reported, and a rapid field test for measuring vitamin levels was developed. By contrast, evidence for how hypovitaminosis E occurred during the transition period was scarce until the 2010s. Pioneering studies conducted with humans and rodents have identified and characterised some α-Toc-related proteins, molecular players involved in α-Toc regulation followed by a study in ruminants from the 2010s. Based on recent literature, the six physiological factors: (1) the decline in α-Toc intake from the close-up period; (2) changes in the digestive and absorptive functions of α-Toc; (3) the decline in plasma high-density lipoprotein as an α-Toc carrier; (4) increasing oxidative stress and consumption of α-Toc; (5) decreasing hepatic α-Toc transfer to circulation; and (6) increasing mammary α-Toc transfer from blood to colostrum, may be involved in α-Toc deficiency during the transition period. However, the mechanisms and pathways are poorly understood, and further studies are needed to understand the physiological role of α-Toc-related molecules in cattle. Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying hypovitaminosis E will contribute to the prevention of peripartum disease and high performance in dairy cows.

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