Exploration of serum sensitive biomarkers of fatty liver in dairy cows
Citation
Shen, Y., Chen, L., Yang, W., Wang, Z. (2018). Exploration of serum sensitive biomarkers of fatty liver in dairy cows. Scientific Reports, [online] 8(1), http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-31845-0
Plain language summary
Serum proteins are sensitive with diseases in dairy cows, and some of them could be used as biomarkers for fatty liver. This study aimed to explore serum biomarkers for fatty liver in dairy cows. Serum concentrations of FGF-21, LP-PLA2, Hbα, Hbβ and total Hb differed between fatty liver and control dairy cows. The concentration of serum FGF-21 and total Hb were highly or moderately correlated with the concentration of liver TAG, and had good power to predict liver TAG concentration. These results indicate that the concentration of serum FGF-21 and total Hb could be potentially developed as biomarkers to detect fatty liver in dairy cows. Further studies using large number of dairy cows were warranted to confirm this finding.
Abstract
Serum proteins are sensitive with diseases in dairy cows, and some of them could be used as biomarkers for fatty liver. This study aimed to explore serum biomarkers for fatty liver in dairy cows. A total of 28 early lactating dairy cows were chosen from a commercial dairy herds, liver samples were collected for determining concentration of triacylglycerol (TAG), and serum samples were collected for measuring fibroblast growth factor-21 (FGF-21), adiponectin, Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (LP-PLA2), and hemoglobin (Hb). Dairy cows were divided into fatty liver (liver TAG > 5%, wet weight) and control group (liver TAG < 5%, wet weight). Concentration of FGF-21 was greater in fatty liver cows, while the concentration of LP-PLA2 and Hb was less. The concentration of FGF-21 and total Hb had strong correlation with the liver TAG as well as good prediction power (kappa value = 0.79 and 0.58, respectively). These results suggested that the serum concentration of FGF-21 and total Hb could be potentially used as fatty liver biomarkers in lactating dairy cows.