Lactoferrin quantification in cattle faeces by ELISA

PeerJ

article

Andrew S. Cooke¹  Kathryn A. Watt³  Greg F. Albery³  Eric R. Morgan²  Jennifer A.J. Dungait¹ 

[1] Rothamsted Research;School of Veterinary Science, University of Bristol;Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh;Institute of Global Food Security, The Queen’s University Belfast;College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter

关键词: One-health;    Livestock;    Veterinary science;    Animals;    Immunology;    Ecology;    Agriculture;    Veterinary medicine;    Zoology;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.8631

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Background Promoting and maintaining health is critical to ruminant welfare and productivity. Within human medicine, faecal lactoferrin is quantified for routine assessment of various gastrointestinal illnesses avoiding the need for blood sampling. This approach might also be adapted and applied for non-invasive health assessments in animals. Methods In this proof-of-concept study, a bovine lactoferrin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), designed for serum and milk, was applied to a faecal supernatant to assess its potential for quantifying lactoferrin in the faeces of cattle. Faecal lactoferrin concentrations were compared to background levels to assess the viability of the technique. A comparison was then made against serum lactoferrin levels to determine if they were or were not reflective of one another. Results The optical densities of faecal samples were significantly greater than background readings, supporting the hypothesis that the assay was effective in quantifying faecal lactoferrin (T13, 115 = 11.99, p < 0.0005). The mean faecal lactoferrin concentration was 0.269 µg mL−1 (S.E. 0.031) and the mean serum concentration 0.074 µg mL−1 (S.E. 0.005). Lactoferrin concentrations of faecal and serum samples, taken from the same animals on the same day, were significantly different (T21 = 2.20, p = 0.039) and did not correlate (r = 0.2699, p = 0.238). Conclusion Results support the hypothesis that lactoferrin can be quantified in cattle faeces by ELISA. Whilst further research is required to determine the physiological source of the lactoferrin, this highlights the potential of the method for non-invasive assessment of cattle immunology and pathology.

【 授权许可】

CC BY