Effects of Staphylococcus aureus on bovine mononuclear leukocyte proliferation and viability: modulation by phagocytic leukocytes.

In vitro effects of killed Staphylococcus aureus cells on bovine blood mononuclear leukocytes from uninfected cows or cows with chronic staphylococcal mastitis were assessed using a lymphocyte proliferation assay and a [51Cr] release cytotoxicity assay. Killed S. aureus cells cultured with mononuclear leukocytes caused a concentration-dependent decrease in lymphocyte proliferation that was associated with a concomitant decrease in mononuclear leukocyte viability. Responses of mononuclear leukocytes from uninfected and infected cows to killed S. aureus were similar, indicating effects were independent of the infection status of the animal. Addition of blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes to blood mononuclear leukocyte cultures without S. aureus cells did not alter mononuclear leukocyte viability but suppressed lymphocyte proliferation at the highest polymorphonuclear leukocyte:mononuclear leukocyte ratios (4:1 and 8:1) tested. When S. aureus cells and polymorphonuclear leukocytes were cultured with mononuclear leukocytes, both blood and milk polymorphonuclear leukocytes protected against the loss of viability compared with leukocytes cultured with S. aureus cells alone but did not consistently restore proliferative responses of the lymphocytes. These observations demonstrate that lymphocyte proliferation and mononuclear leukocyte viability are detrimentally affected by S. aureus cells, an effect that can be modulated by blood or milk polymorphonuclear leukocytes.