Is diamine oxidase, which is an indicator for disease assessment in diarrheal calves, influenced by the serum copper concentration?

Abstract

Diarrhea remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in beef calves. Calf diarrhea is problematic because it reduces productivity at the production site.

In the healthy state, the intestinal villi absorb water and glucose, but when the intestinal epithelium is impaired diarrhea develops, and damage to intestinal villi reduces productivity. It is known that diamine oxidase (DAO) is produced by mucosal epithelial cells of the small intestine and is involved in the control of cell proliferation. Therefore, DAO activity has been used as a biomarker of intestinal villi status. However, as DAO is a copper (Cu)-containing enzyme, it may be reduced by copper deficiency. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the serum DAO activity level and Cu concentration in diarrheal calves, and to examine whether DAO can be used to evaluate the pathological condition of diarrhea without being affected by the serum copper concentration. In addition, we examined the sequential changes in serum DAO activity in healthy calves according to the days after birth.