Skip to main content
Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica logoLink to Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
. 1984 Jun 1;25(2):297–308. doi: 10.1186/BF03547272

Mastitis Whey — a Good Medium for Bacteria?

Ökad tillväxt av bakterier i vassla från mastitkor.

P Maisi 1,, T Mattila 1, M Sandholm 1
PMCID: PMC8287475  PMID: 6334433

Abstract

Growth of mastitis pathogenic bacteria was measured in bovine whey samples by a turbidometric microtechnique. Whey from mastitis cows supported growth as compared with whey prepared from normal milk. Blood proteins leak into milk during mastitis. A study was undertaken to analyze which molecules from blood would promote bacterial growth in whey Fractions containing hemoglobin showed a distinct growth-promoting effect. An inadequate iron supply is one of the restricting growth factors for bacteria in milk. By utilizing heme-compounds the pathogens can by-pass the effect of antimicrobial iron-binding present in milk in the form of lactoferrin.

Keywords: milk, bovine milk, bovine mastitis, milk bacteria, heme, hemoglobin

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.3 MB).

References

  1. Bornside G. H., Bouis P. J., Gohn I. Haemoglobin and E. coli, a lethal intraperitoneal combination. J. Bact. 1968;95:1567–1571. doi: 10.1128/jb.95.5.1567-1571.1968. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bullen J. J. The significance of iron in infection. Rev. inf. Dis. 1981;3:1127–1138. doi: 10.1093/clinids/3.6.1127. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cowart, R. E.: The role of iron in the virulence of the organism Listeria monocytogenes. Diss. Abstr. Intern. 1980, 40, 5542-B.
  4. Davidsohn, I. & J. B. Henry: Clinical Diagnosis by Laboratory Methods. 15th ed. W. B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia 1974, pp. 104–110.
  5. Eaton J. W., Branot P., Mahoneyr J. R. Haptoglobin: a natural bacteriostat. Science. 1982;215:691–693. doi: 10.1126/science.7036344. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Honkanen-Buzalski, T.: Protein transfer between blood and milk as a marker or bovine mastitis — with special reference to serum albumin antitrypsin and secretory immunoglobulins. Thesis. College of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki 1982.
  7. Honkanen-Buzalski T., Sandholm M. Trypsin-inhibitors in mastitic milk and colostrum: correlation between trypsin-inhibitor capacity, bovine serum albumin and somatic cell count. J. Dairy Res. 1981;48:213–223. doi: 10.1017/S0022029900021634. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Mancini G., Carbonara A. O., Heremans J. F. Immunochemical quantitation of antigens by single radial immunodiffusion. Immunochemistry. 1965;2:235–254. doi: 10.1016/0019-2791(65)90004-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Marcelis J. H. Interactions between bacteria and iron binding proteins. Vet. Res. Comm. 1980;4:151–164. doi: 10.1007/BF02278494. [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  10. Reiter B., Oram J. P. Bacterial inhibitors in milk and other biological fluids. Nature. 1967;216:238–330. doi: 10.1038/216328a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Weinberg E. D. Iron and infection. Microbiol. Rev. 1978;42:45–66. doi: 10.1128/MR.42.1.45-66.1978. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica are provided here courtesy of BMC

RESOURCES