STUDIES ON EXPERIMENTAL CHLAMYDIAL MASTITIS IN GOAT HISTOENZYMOLOGY

Two strains of Chlamydia psittaci (one isolated from aborted goat foet us and the other from brain of a buffalo calf that had died of meningo encephalitis) were injected intracisternally into six goats to produce experimental mastitis. Cryostat sections of 7-8 mum thickness, obtain ed from udder, teat, liver and kidney of infected and control animals were incubated for histoenzymic demonstration of alkaline-(AKPase), ac id-(ACPase) and adenosine-tri-(ATPase) phosphatases; lactate-(LDH) and succinate-(SDH) dehydrogenases and for reduced nicotinamide adenine d inucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-D). Results demonstrated that AKPase and NADPH-D declined while ACPase accumulated in acinar cells o f udder while both NADPH-D and ACPase decreased in teat sinus epitheli um. Hepatic canaliculi in perilobular areas of liver lobules registere d complete absence of AKPase and ATPase. Hepatocytes and renal tubules accumulated LDH, SDH and NADPH-D. The interstitial connective tissue of udder and kidney presented higher levels of AKPase. Comparison of r esults with biochemical alterations in the level of these enzymes reve aled striking discrepancies which seem to arise because of failure of biochemical procedures to discriminate between functional cells of tis sue and inflammatory cells. The functional significance of histoenzymi c alterations has been discussed.