BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION IN A HOLSTEIN HEIFER WITH BOVINE LEUKOCYTE ADHESION DEFICIENCY

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) was performed in a 9-month-old heife r with bovine leucocyte adhesion deficiency (BLAD). Clinical and haema tological findings, selected neutrophil function and CD18 expression o f neutrophils in a B-2 integrin-deficient heifer were examined. Twelve months after BMT, a small fluorescent region in the CD18-positive are a of a flow cytometric profile was demonstrated and estimated to repre sent 0.3-0.5% of the CD18-positive neutrophils as measured by flow cyt ometric analysis following immunomagnetic separation. The animal's cli nical condition appeared to improve and stabilize over our observation period of 28 months following BMT. Newly expressed CD18 seemed to pla y an important role in ameliorating the clinical signs of BLAD in this heifer.