Pathological Changes in Bovine Mammary Glands Following Intramammary Infusion of Recombinant Interleukin-2

¹ Veterinary Infectious Disease Organization, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 0W0 Canada

Eighteen lactating dairy cows were used to evaluate the physiological response of mammary glands to increasing doses of recombinant bovine interleukin-2. Right front and rear quarters were intramammarily infused with five different doses (.1 to 100 µg per quarter) of interleukin-2 as either a single or multiple treatment. Left front and rear quarters were intramammarily infused with a saline placebo and served as within-animal controls. Milk secretion samples for compositional analysis were collected from each quarter prior to infusion and at 12, 24, 36, and 48 h following infusion. Animals were slaughtered by exsanguination immediately following the 48-h sampling period, and mammary gland tissue was obtained for morphometric analysis. No changes in milk composition were observed between control quarters and those infused with up to 10 pg of interleukin-2 per quarter, administered as either a single or multiple treatment. Quarters infused with a single 100-µg dose of interleukin-2 or three consecutive doses of 25 and 100 µg of interleukin-2 had significantly lower lactose concentrations; there was a concomitant increase in bovine serum albumin, pH, and SCC compared with preinfusion concentrations or with control quarters. Morphometric analysis of tissue demonstrated an increase in stroma, a decrease in lumenal area, and a marked increase in the number of infiltrating leukocytes in those quarters infused with the higher doses of interleukin-2. Results suggest that interleukin-2 can be intramammarily infused at doses as high as 10 µg per quarter without adversely affecting milk quality or normal mammary gland function.

Key Words: interleukin-2 • mammary tissue • immunopathology

Submitted on April 26, 1991
Accepted on July 12, 1991