COW HEAL ▶▶▶TH
New tool: The cell differentiation index
For decades now, milk-testing laboratories have been using somatic cell count as an indicator of mastitis. And while somatic cell count is still the best test for mastitis screening, a more refined screening method could help dairy farmers further improve herd health.
BY MELANIE EPP, INDEPENDENT FREELANCE JOURNALIST U
A look inside the Fossomatic 7 DC, used for differentiating between the different mastitis-causing cells.
nder the direction of Peter Höckels, German milk laboratory Landeskontrollverband Nordrhein Westfalen aims to increase herd health by using advanced milk-testing technology. Fossomatic 7
DC, says Höckels, could be a game changer for dairy farmers around the world.
Indexing udder health data When infection is present in the udder, the body sends high numbers of somatic cells to the injured site. Not all cells are created equal, though, and different parts of cells give impor- tant information on the status of mastitis and inflammation. There are often times that information isn’t available until af- ter it’s too late to do anything about it. Mr Höckels and the milk laboratory are part of a collaborative project called ZellDiX that aims to improve milk control by assessing and
indexing udder health data using cell differentiation technolo- gy. It is their hope that the information will lead to a reduction in antimicrobial use, and improve productivity and udder health. “Until today we are only able to count the total somatic cells and there was no possibility to look into these somatic cells and to find out which kinds of cells are in the samples. Is the inflammation acute or chronic for example? We think it’s very important to have this information to give answers to the farmers for useful treatment of cows,” Mr Höckels explains.
Macrophages, granulocytes and lymphocytes counted Somatic cells are divided into three components: the lymphocytes, the macrophages and the branulocytes or polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN). All three components play a vital role in the inflammatory response inside the mammary gland, explains Mr Höckels. The proportion of the three different cells is dependent on the status of the inflammation. In a healthy udder, somatic cells are low, as are macrophages. If there is inflammation, the number of somatic cells increases; the number of granu- locytes (PMNs) will also increase. Rather than just providing an overall cell count, the Fossomatic 7 DC gives two new re- sults: the number of the macrophages and the number of granulocytes and lymphocytes. They work with a special
16 ▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 5, No. 4, 2018
PHOTO: MELANIE EPP
PHOTO: MELANIE EPP
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