The bovine teat canal is highly specialized in its unique function of preventing both leakage of milk and entry of bacteria and thereby plays a major role in the defence of the udder against mastitis. The teat canal is a longitudinally folded cylinder-shaped body opening, covered with approximately the same type of epithelia as the normal skin and surrounded with a net-like integrated musculoelastic system facilitating its opening and closure. During milking, dead, flattened, enucleated squamae (cellular detritus) are sloughed from the teat canal surface and are continually replaced by inner cells differentiating outwards. The epidermis is characterized by a polarized pattern of epithelial growth and differentiation, with a single layer of proliferating keratinocytes and multiple overlying differentiated layers. Morphologically, the cells transit from the basal layers on the basement membrane of the dermis through stratum corneum before they finally end up as the keratin of the teat canal. The majority of the epidermal protein synthesizing machinery is devoted to making keratin. This is reflected in the fact that keratins are the major structural proteins, constituting up to 85% of a fully differentiated keratinocyte. Epidermal keratin is a 40-70 kDa alpha-helical coiled-coil dimer of the intermediate filament family that, among other marker proteins, characterizes each stage of keratinocyte differentiation. Studies of skin fragility disorders show that the primary role of keratins in epidermal cells is to reinforce them so that they do not lyse upon physical pressure and to provide cells with subtly different properties of resistance and plasticity to equip the epithelial cells for the physical stress of each particular body site. Epithelial cell specialization for function also depends, however, on the lipid composition and organization and on the epidermal architecture. Epidermal architecture depends on epidermal turnover time, which in turn depends on cell number as well as the proliferative condition. Both in vitro and in vivo studies have implicated calcium as a major modulator of epidermal differentiation. Calcium is a factor known to enhance differentiation and promote expression of the differentiation-specific keratin genes. In animals and humans, both topical and systemic retinoids produce acanthosis, hypergranulosis and a relative (but not absolute) decrease in the thickness of the stratum corneum. Despite a high degree of epithelial specialization, we expect a somewhat similar immunological functional importance in the teat canal epithelia as in other stratified squamous keratinized type epithelia.

The teat canal is an invagination of the outer teat surface. Its epithelial constitution is, however, highly specialized as indicated by its high turnover rate, its unique function in trapping bacteria, and in sealing the teat canal between milkings. The keratin of the teat canal is in a dynamic state of generation and degradation. Repeated removal during milking of keratin contaminated with or colonized by bacteria plays a significant role in preventing mastitis (Murphy, 1959; Capuco et al. 1992). To study the biology of the keratin lining, e.g., its turnover, and its relation to mastitis defence, reliable methods of collecting keratin in vivo for quantitative and qualitative analysis are necessary. Bright et al. (1990) compared methods for keratin collection in vivo and suggested that a tapestry needle was a suitable tool for collecting repeatable, representative samples of keratin for lipid analysis from single teat canals of living cows.

On the background of positive survival data from farms in Mississippi, treating calves with antiserum injection in addition to normal colostrum administration, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the influence of a single subcutaneously administered bovine antiserum injection (0.031 g of IgG/kg of body weight) and pooled colostrum administration on efficiency of Ig absorption and on 24-h plasma IgG concentration in neonatal bull calves. Twenty-nine male dairy calves (21 Holsteins and 8 Jerseys) were assigned randomly at parturition to receive one of four treatments: 1) colostrum (n = 9), 2) colostrum and bovine antiserum injection (n = 7), 3) milk replacer (n = 5), or 4) milk replacer and bovine antiserum injection (n = 8). At birth, calves either did or did not receive an injection of bovine antiserum and were fed pooled colostrum or milk replacer (Holsteins, 3.8 L; Jerseys, 1.9 L) via an esophageal feeder. Blood was collected immediately before administration of the colostrum or milk replacer, then again at 24 and 48 h postpartum. Immunoglobulin G concentrations of colostrum, milk replacer, antiserum, and plasma were monitored by single radial immunodiffusion. Colostrum administration and injection of bovine antiserum each increased plasma Ig concentration at 24 h posttreatment. In addition, antiserum injection increased the apparent efficiency of absorption of colostral Ig by 42% over that for calves fed colostrum alone. The increase in plasma IgG for antiserum-treated calves exceeded the total amount of IgG administered in the antiserum injection; hence, this increase appeared to be the result of an increase in total absorption of colostral IgG, or possibly antiserum injection somehow triggered active synthesis of IgG. Injection of antiserum might possibly serve as a beneficial adjunct to a colostrum management program by enhancing the acquisition of passive immunity from colostral sources.

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