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Use of 24-F-1, 25-Dihydroxyvitamin D₃ to Prevent Parturient Paresis in Dairy Cows

National Animal Disease Center, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, Ames, IA 50010

Donald C. Beitz

Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA 50011

E. Travis Littledike

National Program Staff, US Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705

ABSTRACT

Forty-one aged Jersey cows were fed a high Ca diet prior to parturition to predispose them to parturient paresis. Twenty-one of the cows were treated with 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, a synthetic analogue of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, 7 d before the expected parturition. Treated cows received either 100 µg (n = 7) or 150 µg (n = 14) of 24-F-1,25dihydroxyvitamin D₃, intramuscularly at 7-d intervals until the cow calved. Incidence of parturient paresis among untreated animals was 85% (17/20). Injections of 100 µg of 24-F-1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ reduced the incidence of parturient paresis to 43% (3/7), whereas 150 µg injections of 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ reduced the incidence of parturient paresis to 29% (4/14). Plasma concentrations of hydroxyproline were not elevated prior to parturition in 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃-treated cows, indicating that treatment did not stimulate bone resorption and that the ability of 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ to prevent parturient paresis likely resides in its ability to stimulate intestinal Ca absorption prior to parturition. Further, cows treated with 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ that developed parturient paresis had lower than normal plasma concentrations of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, indicating that 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃ treatment impairs the metabolism of 25-hydroxyvitamin D in response to hypocalcemia. These data suggest that injection of 24-F-1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D₃, delivered at 7-d intervals prior to parturition, can effectively reduce incidence of parturient paresis in dairy cows.