Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

2 Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

3 Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

The purpose was to identify differentially expressed plasma microRNAs (miRNAs) in cows with clinical and subclinical endometritis. In this study clinical endometritis (CE; n = 23) based on vaginal discharge score (VDS), subclinical endometritis (SCE; n = 17) based on VDS (0), and endometrial cytology (the presence of 8.00% polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) on days 21-31 and 5.00% on days 41-51 days in milk (DIM) and healthy cows (n = 21) based on vaginal discharge score (0), and endometrial cytology (< 5.00% PMN on days 21 - 31 and < 5.00% on days 41 - 51 DIM) were selected. The results showed that the expression level of miR-146a was significantly higher in the CE (19.17-fold), and SCE (6.22-fold) groups than those of healthy cows. The relative transcript abundance of miR-223 was considerably down-regulated in the CE (0.26-fold) and SCE (0.06-fold) compared to the healthy cows. The expression levels of miR-146a and miR-223 were significantly higher in the CE group which could be caused by Gram-negative bacterial infection. Our results showed that the expression level of plasma miRNAs postpartum could be used as a reliable marker to distinguish between SCE, CE and healthy cows.

Keywords

Main Subjects

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