Lactoferrin concentrations in bovine milk during involution of the mammary glands with different bacteriological findings.

Lactoferrin is an iron-binding glycoprotein of the transferrin family, present in high concentrations in secretions from the mammary glands during the involution period, and has antimicrobial ability. To determine lactoferrin concentrations in bovine milk with different bacteriological findings, 151 quarter milk samples were collected on a dairy farm of the Holstein-Friesian breed in Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia. Classical microbiological methods were used for bacteria isolation, and ELISA analysis was used for lactoferrin concentration quantification. The most common isolated bacteria in bovine milk samples were Corynebacterium spp. (32.45%) and coagulase-negative staphylococci (4.64%) with lactoferrin concentrations of 6.0497 ± 1.6774 mg/mL and 5.2961 ± 1.3633 mg/mL, respectively. The lowest mean value of lactoferrin concentration was observed in uninfected quarters and quarters infected with environmental pathogens, while the highest concentration of lactoferrin was in udder quarters infected with Streptococcus agalactiae. One in four milk samples where Staphylococcus aureus was isolated had much lower lactoferrin concentrations (1.1736 mg/mL) than the other three samples (6.2089 ± 0.5016 mg/mL), which requires further research.
Laktoferin, glikoprotein koji veže željezo, pripadnik porodice bjelančevina transferin, prisutan je u visokoj koncentraciji u sekretu mliječne žlijezde tijekom involucije i posjeduje antimikrobnu sposobnost. Radi utvrđivanja koncentracije laktoferina u mlijeku krava s različitim bakteriološkim nalazima, prikupljen je 151 pojedinačni uzorak mlijeka na farmi holštajn-frizijske pasmine na području Autonomne pokrajine Vojvodine Republike Srbije. Za identifikaciju bakterija korištene su klasične mikrobiološke metode i ELISA za određivanje koncentracije laktoferina. Najčešće izdvojene bakterije u uzorcima mlijeka krava bile su Corynebacterium spp. (32,45%) s koncentracijom laktoferina 6,0497 ± 1,6774 mg/mL i koagulaza negativni stafilokoki (4,64%) s koncentracijom laktoferina 5,2961 ± 1,3633 mg/mL. Najniža srednja vrijednost koncentracije laktoferina zabilježena je u negativnim četvrtima vimena i četvrtima inficiranim bakterijama iz okoliša, dok je najviša koncentracija laktoferina bila u četvrtima vimena inficiranima vrstom Streptococcus agalactiae. Jedan od četiriju uzoraka mlijeka gdje je bio izdvojen Staphylococcus aureus imao je znatno nižu vrijednost laktoferina (1,1736 mg/mL) od ostala tri uzorka (6,2089 ± 0,5016 mg/mL), što zahtijeva daljnja istraživanja.