TY - JOUR A1 - Kawashima, Chiho A1 - Ito, Nozomi A1 - Nagashima, Shuntarou A1 - Matsui, Motozumi A1 - Sawada, Kumiko A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. A1 - Miyamoto, Akio A1 - Kida, Katsuya T1 - Influence of hepatic load from far-off dry period to early postpartum period on the first postpartum ovulation and accompanying subsequent fertility in dairy cows JF - The journal of reproduction and development : official journal of the Japanese Society of Animal Reproduction N2 - The aim of the present study was to investigate nutritional and metabolic parameters during the dry and early postpartum periods of ovulatory and anovulatory cows, as well as their postpartum reproductive performance. Blood samples from 20 multiparous Holstein cows were collected once a week from the far-off dry period to 3 weeks postpartum. Early postpartum (0-3 weeks) ovulation was confirmed using plasma progesterone concentration profiles, and cows were considered ovulatory if they had resumed luteal activity by this point (n = 9), whereas cows that had not were considered anovulatory (n = 11). Data from the ovulatory and anovulatory cows were analyzed separately for the far-off dry period (7-4 weeks prepartum), the close-up dry period (3-1 weeks prepartum), and the early postpartum period (0-3 weeks). Serum gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity (far-off, P = 0.065; close-up, P = 0.051; and early postpartum, P = 0.030) and aspartate aminotransferase (close-up, P = 0.050 and early postpartum, P = 0.087) activities were higher in anovulatory than in ovulatory cows. The days open period was longer (P = 0.019) in anovulatory than in ovulatory cows, and the number of artificial inseminations per conception (P = 0.025) was greater. In conclusion, we found that continuously high gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activities in serum, which may be induced by liver disorders, prevent subsequent ovulation and affect subsequent fertility, even if cows obtain sufficient ovulation-related energy and beta-carotene. KW - Dairy cow KW - First ovulation KW - Hepatic enzyme KW - Liver function KW - Reproductive performance Y1 - 2016 SN - 0916-8818 VL - 62 SP - 289 EP - 295 PB - Utha State University CY - Tsukuba ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kawashima, Chiho A1 - Kida, Katsuya A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. A1 - Miyamoto, Akio T1 - Relationship between plasma beta-carotene concentrations during the peripartum period and ovulation in the first follicular wave postpartum in dairy cows N2 - beta-Carotene functions independently of vitamin A in the reproductive performance of dairy cows. The concentrations of beta-carotene in plasma decrease during the dry period, and reach a nadir in about the first week postpartum. This coincides with a negative energy balance, which affects the onset of the first ovulation in early postpartum cows. Thus, we hypothesised that plasma beta-carotene concentrations during the peripartum period may affect ovulation in the first follicular wave postpartum in dairy cows. The aim of the present study was to investigate changes in the profiles of plasma beta-carotene concentrations during the peripartum period in ovulatory and anovulatory cows during the first follicular wave postpartum. We used 22 multiparous Holstein cows, which were fed a total mixed ration consisting of grass, corn silage and concentrate, and collected blood samples for beta-carotene and progesterone analysis from week 3 prepartum to week 3 postpartum when the period of day 0-6 after parturition was regarded as the parturient week (week 0). The first ovulation was confirmed using the profile of plasma progesterone concentrations and colour Doppler ultrasound. Thirteen cows ovulated during the first postpartum follicular wave. Parity, the dry-off period, calving interval, mastitis episodes, and actual 305 days' milk yield during the previous lactation, and milk composition in the last month during the previous lactation in this study did not differ between ovulatory and anovulatory cows. Differences in the plasma beta-carotene profile were observed between ovulatory and anovulatory cows. Plasma P-carotene concentrations at week 3 prepartum were greater in ovulatory cows (2.97 +/- 0.24mg/L) than in anovulatory cows (1.53 +/- 0.14mg/L; P < 0.001), after that its concentrations in ovulatory cows decreased and reached the lowest level at week I postpartum, although its concentrations in anovulatory cows remained unchanged. No differences in plasma P-carotene concentrations between the two groups were observed postpartum. The present study indicates for the first time that the lower P-carotene concentrations in plasma during the prepartum period is associated with anovulation during the first follicular wave postpartum. Y1 - 2009 UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03784320 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anireprosci.2008.02.008 SN - 0378-4320 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Raila, Jens A1 - Kawashima, Chiho A1 - Sauerwein, Helga A1 - Hülsmann, Nadine A1 - Knorr, Christoph A1 - Myamoto, Akio A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. T1 - Validation of blood vitamin A concentrations in cattle: comparison of a new cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) JF - BMC veterinary research N2 - Background: Plasma concentration of retinol is an accepted indicator to assess the vitamin A (retinol) status in cattle. However, the determination of vitamin A requires a time consuming multi-step procedure, which needs specific equipment to perform extraction, centrifugation or saponification prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Methods: The concentrations of retinol in whole blood (n = 10), plasma (n = 132) and serum (n = 61) were measured by a new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) and compared with those by HPLC in two independent laboratories in Germany (DE) and Japan (JP). Results: Retinol concentrations in plasma ranged from 0.033 to 0.532 mg/L, and in serum from 0.043 to 0.360 mg/L (HPLC method). No significant differences in retinol levels were observed between the new rapid cow-side test and HPLC performed in different laboratories (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.320 ± 0.047 mg/L vs. 0.333 ± 0.044 mg/L, and 0.240 ± 0.096 mg/L vs. 0.241 ± 0.069 mg/L, lab DE and lab JP, respectively). A similar comparability was observed when whole blood was used (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.353 ± 0.084 mg/L vs. 0.341 ± 0.064 mg/L). Results showed a good agreement between both methods based on correlation coefficients of r2 = 0.87 (P < 0.001) and Bland-Altman blots revealed no significant bias for all comparison. Conclusions: With the new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) retinol concentrations in cattle can be reliably assessed within a few minutes and directly in the barn using even whole blood without the necessity of prior centrifugation. The ease of the application of the new rapid cow-side test and its portability can improve the diagnostic of vitamin A status and will help to control vitamin A supplementation in specific vitamin A feeding regimes such as used to optimize health status in calves or meat marbling in Japanese Black cattle. KW - Cattle KW - Vitamin A KW - Biomarker KW - Blood KW - Method comparison KW - Cow-side assay Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-017-1042-3 VL - 13 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Raila, Jens A1 - Kawashima, Chiho A1 - Sauerwein, Helga A1 - Hülsmann, Nadine A1 - Knorr, Christoph A1 - Myamoto, Akio A1 - Schweigert, Florian J. T1 - Validation of blood vitamin A concentrations in cattle: comparison of a new cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) N2 - Background: Plasma concentration of retinol is an accepted indicator to assess the vitamin A (retinol) status in cattle. However, the determination of vitamin A requires a time consuming multi-step procedure, which needs specific equipment to perform extraction, centrifugation or saponification prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Methods: The concentrations of retinol in whole blood (n = 10), plasma (n = 132) and serum (n = 61) were measured by a new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) and compared with those by HPLC in two independent laboratories in Germany (DE) and Japan (JP). Results: Retinol concentrations in plasma ranged from 0.033 to 0.532 mg/L, and in serum from 0.043 to 0.360 mg/L (HPLC method). No significant differences in retinol levels were observed between the new rapid cow-side test and HPLC performed in different laboratories (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.320 ± 0.047 mg/L vs. 0.333 ± 0.044 mg/L, and 0.240 ± 0.096 mg/L vs. 0.241 ± 0.069 mg/L, lab DE and lab JP, respectively). A similar comparability was observed when whole blood was used (HPLC vs. iCheck™ FLUORO: 0.353 ± 0.084 mg/L vs. 0.341 ± 0.064 mg/L). Results showed a good agreement between both methods based on correlation coefficients of r2 = 0.87 (P < 0.001) and Bland-Altman blots revealed no significant bias for all comparison. Conclusions: With the new rapid cow-side test (iCheck™ FLUORO) retinol concentrations in cattle can be reliably assessed within a few minutes and directly in the barn using even whole blood without the necessity of prior centrifugation. The ease of the application of the new rapid cow-side test and its portability can improve the diagnostic of vitamin A status and will help to control vitamin A supplementation in specific vitamin A feeding regimes such as used to optimize health status in calves or meat marbling in Japanese Black cattle. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 381 KW - Biomarker KW - Blood KW - Cattle KW - Cow-side assay KW - Method comparison KW - Vitamin A Y1 - 2017 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-401978 ER -