ESCHERICHIA-COLI MASTITIS IN PERIPARTURIENT COWS - AN OVERVIEW OF 10 YEARS OF RESEARCH ON THE ROLE OF NEUTROPHIL LEUKOCYTES IN LOCAL AND SYSTEMIC REACTIONS

Mastitis is determined by environmental factors, cow related factors a nd pathogens, During the last ten years many insights have been gather ed that lead to the suggestion that neutrophil leukocytes play an impo rtant role during acute coliform mastitis in dairy cows around the tim e of parturition. Upon the invasion of micro-organisms in the mammary gland, peripheral blood Leukocytes migrate into the udder in large num bers, Opsonization, phagocytosis and intracellular killing are meant t o eliminate the hazardous mastitis pathogens, In this review, the qual itative and quantitative aspects of these cell functions before and du ring experimentally induced infections are discussed along with the lo cal and the systemic reactions that are involved in this process.