Acute phase protein concentration in pharyngeal swabs from clinically healthy commercial dairy calves

Abstract

Abstract Background Early diagnosis of disease in calves are crucial for fast recovery and prudent use of antibiotics. Acute phase proteins (APP) are up- or downregulated in response to tissue injury and have been studied widely in human medicine. There is growing interest to use APPs as biomarkers for different diseases and as a tool to initiate and monitor treatment in veterinary medicine too. Pharyngeal swabs, tracheal aspirate (TA) and blood samples were collected from 84 clinically healthy commercial dairy calves and analyzed for the APPs serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp) and lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP). Results We found detectable concentrations of SAA, Hp and LBP in pharyngeal swabs from calves, as well as in TA and serum. We found no correlations between APP concentrations in serum and TA nor pharyngeal swabs. Conclusions SAA, Hp and LBP can be measured in saliva and TA from calves. However, a considerably technical variation in the sampling method for both pharyngeal swab and TA exist, and further validation of the methods are needed.