Comparison of peripheral blood and uterine-derived polymorphonuclear leukocytes from mares resistant and susceptible to chronic endometritis: chemotactic and cell elastimetry analysis.

The researchers focus on assessing the functional roles of specific white blood cells in acquiring immunity or susceptibility to chronic endometritis in mares. The study uses an experimental model to compare these cells derived from the peripheral blood and uterine region and assess their chemotactic response and deformability under normal and infected conditions.

Objective of the Study

• The study aims to compare functional properties, such as chemotactic responsiveness and deformability, of peripheral blood and uterine-derived polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), a type of white blood cell, in mares deemed resistant and susceptible to chronic endometritis.

Methodology of the Study

• Researchers collected peripheral blood PMNs from control mares and from those experimentally infected through the uterus with a certain dose of the bacterium Streptococcus zooepidemicus.
• A chemotactic chamber assay was used to measure chemotactic responsiveness, essentially how quickly these cells can respond and move towards infection sites.
• Cell deformability, a property which determines how easily a cell can reshape itself, especially important during travel through microcirculations, was measured using cell elastimetry analysis.

Results of the Study

• Peripheral blood PMNs obtained from both control mares and the infected ones showed similar normal chemotactic responsiveness and displayed a high degree of deformability, both before and at 12 hours after inoculation.
• Uterine PMNs obtained 12 hours after infection from mares deemed as resistant, while not as deformable as peripheral blood PMNs, were within normal functional limits. Their chemotactic responsiveness was normal.
• Contrastingly, the uterine PMNs acquired from mares considered susceptible to endometritis did not display chemotactic responsiveness and were found to be non-deformable 12 hours after uterine infection.
• The results reveal substantial differences in the functional competence of uterine PMNs between mares resistant and those susceptible to chronic endometritis.