Bovine leukocytes in mammary secretions during involution: surface protein changes.

Changes in surface proteins of leukocytes in bovine mammary secretions were examined during mammary involution. Leukocytes were collected from mammary secretions from involution days (ID) 1 to 36 and were labeled with biotin. Labeled proteins were separated by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis, transferred to nitrocellulose by protein blotting, and detected with avidin-peroxidase and color reagent. The population of leukocytes in mammary secretions changed during involution from predominantly polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) at ID 1 to predominantly mononuclear leukocytes by ID 36. The gel profile of surface proteins also changed during involution, and some of those changes may have been caused by shifts in leukocyte populations. Profiles of surface proteins of leukocytes from mammary secretions containing predominantly PMN (ID 1) were different from profiles of PMN from blood. A distinctive change in the pattern of surface proteins on the leukocytes occurred between ID 1 and 3, even though the proportion of PMN did not change appreciably between those days.