DOI: 10.4231/7dt2-8d82
title: Relationship of cow and calf circulating lipidomes with colostrum lipid composition and metabolic status of the cow

description: &lt;p&gt;Newborn calves rely on lipids in colostrum for energy and immune function. The lipid concentration in colostrum, however, is highly variable and little is known about its composition and maternal factors that influence its composition. The first objective was to measure plasma lipid composition of multiparous cows at 35 d before calving (&lt;strong&gt;BC&lt;/strong&gt;; 35 &plusmn; 3 d; mean &plusmn; SD) and 7 d BC (7 &plusmn; 2 d), their colostrum, and serum lipid composition of calves (24 h postnatal) using multiple reaction monitoring (&lt;strong&gt;MRM&lt;/strong&gt;) profiling, which is an exploratory and highly sensitive lipidomic analysis method that screens lipids based on chemical functionality. Secondly, data were analyzed to determine if there were relationships between circulating lipids in the cow, colostrum lipids, and calf serum lipids. Thirdly, relationships between markers of metabolic status of the cows and circulating and colostrum lipids were analyzed with correlation analysis. Blood was sampled and plasma prepared from multiparous cows (n=16) at 35 d and 7 d BC. Within 3 h of parturition, colostrum was collected from cows and fed to her calf. Calves received another feeding of colostrum within 12 h after birth and a serum sample was collected from each calf 24 h after the first feeding of colostrum. The metabolic status of cows was evaluated using insulin, glucose, and non-esterified fatty acid (&lt;strong&gt;NEFA&lt;/strong&gt;) area under the curve (&lt;strong&gt;AUC&lt;/strong&gt;) in response to an intravenous glucose tolerance test &lt;strong&gt;(IVGTT)&lt;/strong&gt; performed at three wks BC. Lipids were extracted from plasma, colostrum and calf serum and analyzed using MRM profiling. Concentration of lipids were calculated using spiked in standards and expressed as percent of lipids identified. Data were uploaded into MetaboAnalyst 5.0 for multivariate and univariate analysis. Principal component analysis indicated that circulating lipids in the cow and calf were distinct from lipids in colostrum. Phosphatidylglycerol (&lt;strong&gt;PG&lt;/strong&gt;) concentration was greater in colostrum and calf serum (&lt;em&gt;P&lt;/em&gt; &lt; 0.05) than in cow plasma, with 23 of the 24 PGs found in colostrum also found in calf serum. In response to IVGTT in late gestation, NEFA AUC was positively related to total triacylglycerols (&lt;strong&gt;TG&lt;/strong&gt;) lipids in 7 BC plasma (&lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; = 0.63; &lt;em&gt;P &lt;/em&gt;= 0.01) but negatively related to total membrane lipids in colostrum (&lt;em&gt;r&lt;/em&gt; = -0.55; &lt;em&gt;P &lt;/em&gt;= 0.03). Thus, the metabolic status of the dam influences circulating lipids and colostrum lipid content. Moreover, the circulating lipidome of the cow and calf are similar to one another and distinct from the colostrum lipidome, except for PG, where it appears that colostrum serves as the source for PG in the calf&rsquo;s circulation.&lt;/p&gt;
description: Maternal factors that influence the lipidome of colostrum and therefore the lipid intake of the newborn calf.