Association between Anti-Müllerian Hormone Concentration and Inflammation Markers in Serum during the Peripartum Period in Dairy Cows

Abstract

The relationships between changes in anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) concentration and various traits, including milk somatic cell counts (SCC), were evaluated. Blood samples were collected from 43 Holstein cows 14 days before (D-14) and 10 (D10) and 28 days after (D28) parturition, and vaginal discharge score (VDS) and polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMNL) percentages were assessed in endometrial samples at D28. Cows were separated into four quartiles (Q1–Q4) based on changes in AMH concentration during the peripartum period (AMH ratio: D28/D-14). Correlations between AMH ratio and each parameter were evaluated and classified into high-AMH (Q4, 1.83 ± 0.12, n = 11) and low-AMH (Q1, 0.83 ± 0.05, n = 11) groups. The AMH ratio was positively correlated with magnesium and non-esterified fatty acids levels, and the albumin/globulin ratio at D10 and D28, but negatively correlated with serum amyloid A (SAA) at D10. SAA and γ-globulin levels were significantly higher in the low-AMH group at D28. There was no significant difference in VDS, PMNL percentage, and milk SCC between the two groups. The decreasing AMH ratio from the prepartum to the postpartum period corresponds to high inflammation biomarker levels. Whether it subsequently affects the reproductive prognosis of postpartum cows needs further investigations.

Practical Application of Urinary Zearalenone Monitoring System for Feed Hygiene Management of a Japanese Black Cattle Breeding Herd—The Relationship between Monthly Anti-Müllerian Hormone and Serum Amyloid A Concentrations

“…In addition, ZEN and its metabolites have been suggested to cause apoptosis of granulosa cell/atresia of follicles in several animals [27][28][29][30], the relationship between urinary ZEN and AMH concentration during the monitoring period was studied to clarify the effects of ZEN exposure on AMH secretion from antral follicles. In this regard, similar to our recently reported decrease in AMH concentration during the peripartum period [19], all five examined JB cows displayed a clear decline in AMH concentrations in the month of their calving with a large range of SAA concentrations (Cow 1: 3.1 mg/L, Cow 2: 23.4 mg/L, Cow 3: 4.9 mg/L, and Cow 5: 2.9 mg/L; data not shown). Thus, we deleted all AMH and SAA concentration data for the calving month of each cow from our data set in the present study.…”

“…Briefly, undiluted plasma (50 µL) was used for the assay, which had a limited detection of 11 pg/mL and a coefficient of variation of 2.9%, according to the manufacturer's instructions. Based on our previous studies [19], it is clear that the blood AMH concentration in cattle is lower than usual during the peripartum period; thus, in this study, the AMH concentration in each cow's calving month during the monitoring period was evaluated with particular care. Additionally, SAA concentrations were measured using an automated biochemical analyzer (Pentra C200; HORIBA ABX SAS, Montpellier, France) with a special SAA reagent for animal serum or plasma (VET-SAA 'Eiken' reagent; Eiken Chemical Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) to monitor the inflammation status of each cow during sampling.…”

“…AMH is secreted by ovarian granulosa cells primarily from preantral and early antral follicles of females and is an endocrine marker closely associated with both gonadotrophin-responsive ovarian reserves and with the size of the pool of growing preantral and small antral follicles [15,16]. Additionally, serum amyloid A (SAA), which is one of the most reliable acute phase proteins (APPs) primarily produced by the liver induced by the inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α [17,18], was measured to monitor inflammation in each cow at the monthly sampling time, given our previous report that not only calving itself but also severe inflammation during the postpartum period indicated by high SAA concentration can affect the AMH concentration in cows [19].…”

Serum Amyloid A Concentrations of Healthy and Clinically Diseased Japanese Black Breeding Cattle—Preliminary Measurements for Determining the Cut-Off Concentrations

“…SAA concentration has been considered both as a potential indicator of disease and well-being in individual animals and as an indicator of herd health [ 5 , 7 , 21 , 22 ]. Additionally, any effort to avoid the acute phase response in the transition period would be useful for optimizing the productive and reproductive performance in dairy cattle herds [ 13 ]. Thus, the establishment of MPT, including SAA measurement with the LATIA method in our routine MPT, could be useful in assessing both the nutritional and non-nutritional inflammatory status of JB breeding cows in the perinatal period, and possibly improve the reproductive efficiency of JB breeding cattle herds.…”

“…Recently, however, the diagnostic utility of SAA measurements of cattle diagnosed with mastitis was reported upon applying the reagent developed for cattle SAA measurement with a latex agglutination turbidimetric immunoassay (LATIA) using an automated clinical chemistry analyzer [ 12 ]. We also recently reported significant differences in the SAA concentrations between healthy and clinically pathological groups upon applying the LATIA methods for Holstein dairy cattle and of Japanese Black (JB) calves, thereby indicating the usefulness to estimate/distinguish the inflammatory status and prognosis of the animals with or without (subclinical phase) clinical symptoms based on the SAA concentrations [ 13 , 14 ]. The advantages of SAA analysis using the LATIA system are (1) possible measurement of many samples at a reasonable price in one assay, and (2) detection of the inflammatory status of not only healthy and diseased cattle but also cattle without clinical symptoms (subclinical phase).…”