Lactoferrin quantification in cattle faeces by ELISA

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Cooke, A. S., Watt, K. A., Albery, G. F., Morgan, E. R. and Dungait, J. A. J. 2020. Lactoferrin quantification in cattle faeces by ELISA. PeerJ. 8, p. e8631. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8631

AuthorsCooke, A. S., Watt, K. A., Albery, G. F., Morgan, E. R. and Dungait, J. A. J.
Abstract

Background: Promoting and maintaining health is critical to ruminant welfare and productivity. Within human medicine, faecal lactoferrin is quantified for routine assessment of various gastrointestinal illnesses avoiding the need for blood sampling. This approach might also be adapted and applied for non-invasive health assessments in animals.
Methods: In this proof-of-concept study, a bovine lactoferrin enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), designed for serum and milk, was applied to a faecal supernatant to assess its potential for quantifying lactoferrin in the faeces of cattle. Faecal lactoferrin concentrations were compared to background levels to assess the viability of the technique. A comparison was then made against serum lactoferrin levels to determine if they were or were not reflective of one another.
Results: The optical densities of faecal samples were significantly greater than background readings, supporting the hypothesis that the assay was effective in quantifying faecal lactoferrin (T13, 115 = 11.99, p < 0.0005). The mean faecal lactoferrin concentration was 0.269 µg mL−1 (S.E. 0.031) and the mean serum concentration 0.074 µg mL−1 (S.E. 0.005). Lactoferrin concentrations of faecal and serum samples, taken from the same animals on the same day, were significantly different (T21 = 2.20, p = 0.039) and did not correlate (r = 0.2699, p = 0.238).
Conclusion: Results support the hypothesis that lactoferrin can be quantified in cattle faeces by ELISA. Whilst further research is required to determine the physiological source of the lactoferrin, this highlights the potential of the method for non-invasive assessment of cattle immunology and pathology.

KeywordsParasitology; Animal health; Immunology; Livestock; Agriculture
Year of Publication2020
JournalPeerJ
Journal citation8, p. e8631
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8631
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Funder project or codeSWBio DTP PhD studentship
Publisher's version
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online27 Feb 2020
Publication process dates
Accepted24 Jan 2020
PublisherPeerj Inc
ISSN2167-8359

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/9718x/lactoferrin-quantification-in-cattle-faeces-by-elisa

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