Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T01:42:49.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Are free glucose and glucose-6-phosphate in milk indicators of specific physiological states in the cow?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2014

T. Larsen*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, PO Box 50, DK-8830 Tjele, Denmark
K. M. Moyes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Avian Sciences, University of Maryland, 4127 Animal Sciences Center, Building 142, College Park, MD 20742, USA
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

A total of 3200 milk samples from Holstein and Jersey cows were analysed for free glucose and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) by an enzymatic-fluorometric method that requires no pre-treatment. The cows were primiparous as well as multiparous, and samples were taken throughout the entire lactation period. In addition, lactose, protein, fat, citrate and β-hydroxybutyrate were determined and comparisons between these variables were made. Data were analysed using GLM model for the effect of parity, breed, time from last milking and stage of lactation on variations in parameters in milk. Pearson’s correlations were generated between milk variables. P<0.05 was considered significant. Concentration of free glucose and G6P were on average 331 and 81 μM, respectively. Time from last milking (stay in the gland cistern) did not increase the concentration of these monosaccharides, indicating that they are not hydrolysis product from lactose post secretion, but rather reflecting the energy status of the mammary epithelial cells pre-secretion. Wide variation in range of these metabolites, that is, from 90 to 630 μM and 5 to 324 μM, for glucose and G6P, respectively, was observed. During the first 21 weeks in milk, free glucose increased whereas G6P decreased. Concentration of free glucose in milk is greater for primiparous than multiparous cows and greater for Holstein than Jersey cows. Concentration of G6P was not affected by parity or breed. The use of free glucose and G6P as indicators of physiological conditions and risk of disease is warranted for use as potential biomarkers for in-line surveillance systems on-farm.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Annison, EF 1983. Metabolite utilization by the ruminant mammary gland. In Biochemistry of lactation (ed. TB Mepham), pp. 399436. Elsevier, Amsterdam, New York.Google Scholar
Bauman, DE, Brown, RE and Davis, CL 1970. Pathways of fatty acid synthesis and reducing equvivalents generating in mammary gland of rat, sow, and cow. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics 140, 237244.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bickerstaffe, R, Annison, EF and Linzell, JL 1974. Metabolism of glucose, acetate, lipids and aminoacids in lactation dairy cows. Journal of Agricultural Sciences Cambridge 82, 7185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjerre-Harpøth, V, Friggens, NC, Thorup, VM, Larsen, T, Damgaard, BM, Ingvartsen, KL and Moyes, KM 2012. Metabolic and production profiles of dairy cows in response to decreased nutrient density to increase physiological imbalance at different stages of lactation. Journal of Dairy Science 95, 23622380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cant, JP, Trout, DR, Qiao, F and Purdie, NG 2002. Milk synthetic response of the bovine mammary gland to an increase in the local concentration of arterial glucose. Journal of Dairy Science 85, 494503.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chaiyabutr, N, Faulkner, A and Peaker, M 1981. Changes in the concentration of the minor constituents in goat’s milk during starvation and on refeeding of the lactating animal and their relationship to mammary gland metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition 45, 149157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faulkner, A 1980. The presence of cellular metabolites in milk. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 630, 141145.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faulkner, A and Peaker, M 1987. Regulation of mammary glucose metabolism in lactation. In The mammary gland: development, regulation and function (ed. MC Neville and CW Daniel), pp. 535562. Plenum Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faulkner, A and Pollack, HT 1989. Changes in the concentration of metabolites in milk from cows fed on diets supplemented with soyabean oil or fatty acids. Journal of Dairy Research 56, 179183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Faulkner, A, Chaitabutr, N, Peaker, M, Carrick, DT and Kuhn, NJ 1981. Metabolic significance of milk glucose. Journal of Dairy Research 48, 5156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurtaud, C, Rulquin, H and Verite, R 1998. Effect of graded duodenal infusions of glucose on yield and composition of milk from dairy cows. 1. Diets based on corn silage. Journal of Dairy Science 81, 32393247.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hurtaud, C, Lemosquet, S and Rulquin, H 2000. Effect of graded duodenal infusions of glucose on yield and composition of milk from dairy cows. 2. Diets based on grass silage. Journal of Dairy Science 83, 29522965.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kuhn, NJ and White, A 1975. Milk glucose as an index of the intracellular glucose concentration of rat mammary gland. Biochemical Journal 152, 153155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larsen, T 2014. Fluorometric determination of free glucose and glucose-6- phosphate in milk and other opaque matrices. Food Chemistry (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, T and Nielsen, NI 2005. Fluorometric determination of β-hydroxybutyrate in milk and blood plasma. Journal of Dairy Science 88, 20042009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lemosquet, S, Rigout, S, Bach, A, Rulquin, H and Blum, JW 2004. Glucose metabolism in lactating cows in response to isoenergetic infusions of propionic acid or duodenal glucose. Journal of Dairy Science 87, 17671777.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marschke, RJ and Kitchen, BJ 1984. Glucose levels in normal and mastitic milk. Journal of Dairy Research 51, 233237.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mepham, TB 1993. The development of ideas on the role of glucose in regulating milk secretion. Australian Journal of Agricultural Sciences 44, 509522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moyes, KM, Larsen, T and Ingvartsen, KL 2013. Generation of an index for physiological imbalance and its use as a predictor of primary disease in dairy cows during early lactation. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 21612170.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rigout, S, Lemosquet, S, van Eys, JE, Blum, JW and Rulquin, H 2002. Duodenal glucose increases glucose fluxes and lactose synthesis in grass silage-fed dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 85, 595606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rigout, S, Hurtaud, C, Lemosquet, S, Bach, A and Rulquin, H 2003. Lactational effect of propionic acid and duodenal glucose in cows. Journal of Dairy Science 86, 243253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Scott, RA, Bauman, DE and Clark, JH 1976. Cellular gluconeogenesis by lactating bovine mammary tissue. Journal of Dairy Science 59, 5056.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Threadgold, LC and Kuhn, NJ 1984. Monosaccharide transport in the mammary gland of the intact lactating rat. Biochemical Journal 218, 213219.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilde, CJ and Kuhn, NJ 1981. Lactose synthesis and the utilisation of glucose by rat mammary acini. International Journal of Biochemistry 13, 311316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, K, Liu, HY, Wang, HF, Zhoy, MM and Liu, JX 2011. Effect of glucose availability on glucose transport in bovine mammary epithelial cells. Animal 6, 488493.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, FQ, Dixon, WT and Kennely, JJ 1996. Localization and gene expression of glucose transporters in bovine mammary gland. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology B – Molecular Biology 115, 127134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zhao, FQ, Miller, PJ, Wall, EH, Zheng, YC, Dong, B, Neville, MC and McFadden, TB 2004. Bovine glucose transporter GLUT8: cloning, expression, and developmental regulation in mammary gland. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta – Gene Structure and Expression 1680, 103113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed