科研之友
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摘要
The inflammatory response during bacterial infections in ruminants is mediated by pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) [13]. TNF-汐 has an important role as a mediator of the inflammatory response as it induces expression of adhesion molecules on endothelial cells, activates neutrophils and macrophages, and induces production of nitric oxide and complement factors [14,10]. Quantitation of cytokines in biological fluids could be a useful tool in the diagnosis of inflammatory conditions since cytokine patterns give detailed information about the course of an inflammation. Infectious diseases, like mastitis, represent great health problems among dairy cows and sheep. A thorough understanding of how the immune system acts during such diseases could lead to the development of new diagnostic methods and/or treatments. Therefore, the development of new techniques for measuring ruminant cytokines is warranted.Several methods have been developed for cytokine detection, such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), enzyme-linked immuno spot assay (ELISPOT), bioassays, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and intracellular staining [1]. Recently, multiplex cytokine assays have been developed, which measure several cytokines simultaneously in the same sample. In a study by [2], 15 human cytokines were measured simultaneously in the same sample with a multiplex particle based flow cytometric method, the LabMAPˋ-assay (Luminex Corporation, Austin, TX, USA). Simultaneous quantification of several substances in a sample makes it possible to calculate the cytokine ratio. An altered cytokine ratio in an individual is considered a marker of disease state such as asthma and atopy [7].Studies on cytokines in ruminants are limited by a lack of species-specific reagents. However, as cytokines have remained conserved during evolution, cross-reactivity between animal species may occur. In support for this contention, [9] found that an antibody against ovine TN
