Proceeding of Veterinary and Animal Science Days 2016, 8th- 10th June, Milan, Italy 

HAF © 2013 

Vol. III, No. 1s  ISSN: 2283-3927 

   

 

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Keywords 
Innate Immunity, Forestomachs, 

Inflammatory Response, Rumen 

 

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR 

Filipe Joel 
joel.soares@unimi.it 
 

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Rumen fluid, a new diagnostic matrix in 

dairy cattle farms? 

J. Filipe a*, E. Trevisib, M. Massaraa, A. Minutib, P. Banib, M. 

Amadoric, F. Rivaa 

 

a Department of Veterinary Medicine, Università degli Studi di Milano, 
Milan, Italy. 

b Istituto di Zootecnica, Facoltà di Agraria, Università Cattolica del Sacro 
Cuore, Piacenza, Italy. 

c Laboratory of Cellular Immunology, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale 
della Lombardia e dell’Emilia-Romagna, Brescia, Italy. 

 

 
Abstract 
Production diseases of dairy cows are considered man-made problems caused by the inability of cows 

to achieve a sufficient feed energy intake (Mulligan, 2008).  

A correct management of production diseases demands early diagnostic and prognostic parameters, in 

order to improve the management system and reduce the prevalence of clinical cases (Ingvartsen, 

2003).   

A previous study of our group indicated that forestomachs walls express immune receptors and 

cytokines, and the rumen liquor contains leukocytes able to produce IFN-γ (Trevisi, 2014).  

Our working hypothesis implied that ruminal fluids could be a source of diagnostic information for the 

identification of herds at risk for production diseases. 

We first demonstrated that the diet can influence the immune response in forestomachs. Diverse 

leukocyte populations at low concentrations and IFN-γ were revealed in some samples of rumen fluids, 

with a clear inhibition of the response observed in the animals fed the maize-supplemented diet, 

compared to a normal and a soy-supplemented diet. 

We better characterized the leukocytes subpopulations in the rumen liquor, isolating B cells, monocytes 

and γδT cells. 

Finally we performed a field survey in order to find correlation among the immune profile of the rumen 

liquor. Clinically healthy animals showed a farm specific immunologic pattern of the rumen liquor: low 

CD45 mRNA expression, low IFN-γ, few/absent B-cells.  

We can conclude that the epithelial cells of ruminant forestomachs can react to different stresses 

(metabolic, infectious, inflammatory) and the inflammatory response can be sustained by infiltrating 

leukocytes. 

Our data points into the idea that dairy farms could be ranked according to a risk score using the 

inflammatory markers in rumen fluids, in addition to the traditional analysis. 
 

References 

Ingvartsen, K.L., Dewhurst, R.J., Friggens, N.C., 2003. On the relationship between lactational performance and health: is it yield or metabolic imbalance that cause p roduction diseases in 

dairy cattle? A position paper. Livest. Prod. Sci. 83, 277-308. 

Mulligan FJ, Doherty ML. 2008 Production diseases of the transition cow. The Veterinary Journal. 176:3–9. 

Trevisi E, Amadori M, Riva F, Bertoni G, Bani P., 2014. Evaluation of innate immune responses in bovine forestomachs. Res Vet Sci. 96(1):69-78. 

 

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