Document Type : Original Article
Authors
Immunobiology and Immunopharmacology Unit, and Reproductive Diseases Department , Animal Reproduction Research Institute, P.O. Box 12556, Giza, Egypt
Abstract
The role of cervical mucus of buffaloes during the estrus phase in defending against pathogenic infection and protecting the genital tract was stud- ied. In the first experiment, pooled fresh cervical mucus from 5 buffaloes in the estrous phase was collected aseptically, incubated for 30 minutes with five concentrations of colony forming units (cfu) of a known pathogenic strain of Brucella melitensis, Rev 1, (1 x 105, 1 x 106, 1 x 107, 1 x 108, and 1 x 109) and seeded onto 10 plates of brucella agar plates (2 plates for each bacterial concentration). No brucella growth at any cfu concentration was detected in all plates. The second experiment aimed to assaying concentrations of nitric oxide, proteins, and carbohydrates in cervical mucus, throughout 9 hours of normal estrous phase in 5 buffaloes, to find out if there are changes in their secretory pattern and to find out if there are possible correlations between them. Also, the electrophoretic pattern of cervical mu- cus proteins was assayed. Concentrations of nitric oxide, proteins, and carbohydrates fluctuated throughout the sampling period. Nitric oxide showed significant positive correlation with concentrations of proteins and carbohydrates in cervical mucus (P < 0.044 and 0.033 respectively). Electrophoretic pattern of cervical mucus collect- ed at all sampling points was the same for all samples and showed 6 protein bands at 212.5, 130, 91, 70, 52, and 30 KD. Nitric oxide secreted in the cervical mucus of estrus-phase buffaloes has powerful bactericidal activity and constitutes a firm defense mechanism in the genital tract against infection even in case of intracellular pathogens. Also, the fluctuating pattern of the three constituents measured is attributed, in general, to the amount and nature of cellular components of the mucus, which are mainly leukocytes and their associated secretory molecules.
Main Subjects
', './data/vmjg/coversheet/cover_en.jpg'))
View on SCiNiTO