Endotoxin activities in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids from calves with mycoplasma bronchopneumonia

Abstract

The frequency and severity of complex bovine respiratory diseases have increased globally, and respiratory disease is currently regarded as the principle health problem and most economically important disease in young calves. Bovine mycoplasmas are often isolated from pneumonic lungs in combination with other pathogens such as Pasteurella multocida. The systemic complications and deleterious outcomes associated with Gram-negative infections have been attributed to the exaggerated inflammatory responses largely elicited by a highly pro-inflammatory component of the Gram-negative bacterial envelope known as endotoxin. To the best of our knowledge, comparative studies on the relationship between endotoxin activity in plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF), and between endotoxin activity and bronchopneumonia have not yet been performed in calves. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to determine plasma and/or BALF endotoxin activity in calves with bronchopneumonia.