Cytokines Expression Associated with E.coli Infection In bovine mammary glands

In order to characterize the expression of genes associated with immune response mechanisms to mastitis, we quantified the relative expression of the IL-4, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 genes in milk cells of healthy cows and cows with clinical mastitis. Gene expression was analyzed by real-time PCR.IL8 gene expression was higher than another interleukin. E. coli is among the major mastitis pathogens responsible for clinical mastitis in dairy cows, but the infection are normally cleared by the immune system within a few days. Mastitis tolerance/susceptibility is difficult to measure directly and hence milk somatic cell count (SCC) or milk somatic cell score (SCS) is used as an indicator trait for mastitis as both traits are highly positively correlated. Thus, understanding of mastitis pathogen and somatic cell count associated with cell mediated immune response useful for future control of mastitis.