Milk fever and dietary cation-anion balance effects on concentration of vitamin D receptor in tissue of periparturient dairy cows.

Milk fever is the clinical disease associated with severe hypocalcemia in dairy cows. In this experiment, we tested the hypothesis that calcium homeostasis is a result of a decreased concentration of receptors for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D in the tissues of cows that develop milk fever. Samples of colon mucosa were obtained for analysis of vitamin D receptor concentration in a longitudinal study of Jersey cows during the 2 wk before and after parturition. In the first study, 21 cows fed an alfalfa hay diet were biopsied every 3rd d from 2 wk before to 2 wk after calving. The concentration of vitamin D receptor in the colon during late gestation was three- to fourfold higher than the concentration of vitamin D receptor in the colon mucosa in nonpregnant cows (90 +/- 8 vs. 26 +/- 5 fmol/mg of protein). At parturition, colon concentration of vitamin D receptor decreased to 66 +/- 7.5 fmol/mg of protein. During early lactation, concentrations of vitamin D receptor in the colon were similar to precalving concentrations. There was no significant difference of concentrations of vitamin D receptor in the colon prior to calving, at calving, or in early lactation between cows that did develop milk fever and those that did not. Results were similar in a second study, in which 7 cows were fed a high cation alfalfa diet, and 6 cows were fed the same diet with anionic salts added. Those data do not support the hypothesis that decreased concentrations of vitamin D receptor prior to calving is a causative factor of milk fever within the Jersey breed. However, a decline of concentrations of vitamin D receptor in tissue at calving may reduce the ability of all cows to respond to the calcium demands of lactation.