Comparison of plasma sialic acid concentration between retained fetal membrane and healthy Holstein dairy cows

Abstract

Sialic acid (SA), an acetylated derivative of neuroaminic acid, is widely distributed in mammalian tissues. Since SA is usually bound to glycoproteins, glycolipids, oligosaccharides and polysaccharides, it is scarcely found as free form in the serum. Moreover, SA is an important structural component of biological membranes and it is widely found in bacteria and animal tissues but its concentration increases rapidly following inflammation and tissue injury. In the present study, the effect of retained fetal membranes (RFM) on plasma sialic acid activity was studied weekly on 60 postpartum Holstein dairy cows with ELISA from 3 weeks before calving to 1 week after calving named as the transitional period. There was a significant difference between the RFM and healthy groups in the amount of sialic acid during the two weeks before calving and also a week after calving. Also, there was a significant difference in the trend of variation of sialic acid concentration during different weeks in each group. The results indicated that upper plasma sialic acid activity is associated with RFM in the early postpartum period and this could be used as a RFM diagnostic parameter beside other diagnostic parameters in dairy cows.

Keywords

• holstein dairy cows
• sialic acid
• plasma
• retained fetal membrane