Dairy cattle undergo both metabolic and physiological changes in the early lactation period that result in inflammation and increase their risk of disease. The effects of branched chain amino acids (BCA) and branched chain keto-acids (BCK) on neutrophil phagocytic and oxidative burst function as well as antioxidant defense, toll-like receptor pathways, and adhesion and migration gene expression were determined in one experiment. In this experiment, 36 multiparous dairy cows, enrolled using a randomized block design, were abomasally infused for the first 21 days post-partum with 1 of 3 treatments: 1) CON (saline); 2) BCA, consisting of 67g valine, 50g leucine, and 34g isoleucine; and 3) BCK, consisting of 77g keto-valine, 57g keto-leucine, and 39g keto-isoleucine. No changes in the proportion of neutrophils undergoing phagocytosis or oxidative burst were found between treatments or between days 10 and 20 of lactation. BCA treatment increased neutrophil expression of GPX1 and decreased expression of MPO compared to CON cows. Abomasal infusion of BCK increased neutrophil expression of IRAK1 and IL10RA compared to CON infusion. No changes in neutrophil adhesion and migration gene expression were observed between treatments. I conclude that supplementation of branched chain amino acids alters neutrophil antioxidant defense and lysosomal protein gene expression while branched chain keto-acids alter neutrophil cytokine and toll-like receptor pathway gene expression in early lactation multiparous dairy cows.
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