Effects of supplemental chromium on immune responses of periparturient and early lactation dairy cows1

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine the effects of supplemental dietary chromium on immune responses of dairy cows subjected to physical and metabolic stresses associated with late pregnancy, calving, early lactation, and peak milk yield. Nine periparturient dairy cows were supplemented with chelated Cr (.5 ppm/d) from 6 wk prepartum (wk -6) through 16 wk postpartum (wk 16), and 10 cows were unsupplemented controls. To assess humoral immune responses, all cows were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA; s.c.) and human erythrocytes (HRBC; i.v.) on wk -2 and 2, and sera from weekly blood samples were assayed for content of antigen-specific antibody. Cell-mediated immunity was assessed in vitro using antigen (OVA)- and mitogen-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) blastogenesis of cells collected biweekly from wk -2 and 6. Supplemental Cr caused anti-OVA antibody responses (P < .01) and mitogen-stimulated blastogenic responses of PBMC (P = .05) to be elevated, was associated with lowered OVA-stimulated blastogenic responses of PBMC (P < .01), and had no overall effect on antibody responses to HRBC (P > .10) relative to responses of control cows. These results confirmed and extended our previous observations that supplemental Cr can alter specific immune responses of stressed cattle.

Effects Different Levels of Nanoparticles Chromium Picolinate Supplementation on Growth Performance, Mineral Retention, and Immune Responses in Broiler Chickens

“…The role of chromium in the immune responses of mammals and chicken is well established (Burton et al, 1993;Lee et al, 2003). It has also been reported that chromium modulates the immune response through its effect on cytokine release (Wang et al, 1996).…”

Supplementation with chromium picolinate reduces the incidence of placental retention in dairy cows

“…Recent research has shown that supplementation with organic chromium markedly decreases serum cortisol levels ) and has beneficial effects on the immune system of stressed calves (Burton et al 1993;Mowat et al 1993). Also, chromium requirements in mammals are known to increase during stressfull conditions, particularly those associated with late pregnancy and lactation (Yang et al 1996).…”

Effects of dietary chromium supplementation on glucose tolerance and primary antibody response against peste des petits ruminants in dwarf Bengal goats (Capra hircus)

“…However, in the present investigation the widening of neutrophil : lymphocyte ratio in the control group vis-à -vis the narrowing of the same in the 1Cr group was not likely to be a sequel of stress, rather it might be due to an increased percentage of lymphocytes in the latter dietary group. Dietary Cr supplementation reportedly increased the proliferation of peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro with or without mitogenic stimulation (Burton et al, 1993;Chang et al, 1994) and it is possible that supplemental Cr played the same role during the present investigation also. The goats were fed with a basal diet devoid of supplemental Cr (control) and the basal diet supplemented with 0.5 mg Cr/kg diet (1Cr) for 60 days (n 5 6 per treatment group).…”