A histochemical study of mucosubstances in the bovine respiratory tract with special reference to cuffing pneumonia.

The mucosubstances of the bronchial epithelial goblet cells in non-pneumonic calves were almost exclusively sulphomucin; neutral mucin, sialomucin and sulphomucin were produced by the submucosal glands. Calves with lesions of cuffing pneumonia from which M. dispar was frequently cultured had increased numbers of epithelial goblet cells extending into the peripheral airways as far as the bronchioles. These pneumonic animals had epithelial goblet cells, some of which contained sialomucin, while in the gland a switch from neutral to acid mucosubstance in the form of increased sulphomucins and sialomucins was detected.