Neonatology in calves: the importance of colostrum

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Guilherme Alves Guerra
Elaine Maria Seles Dorneles
Fernando Nogueira Souza
Adriana Cortez
Camila Freitas Batista
Sandra Gesteira Coelho
Andrey Pereira Lage
Alice Maria Melville Paiva Della Libera
Marcos Bryan Heinemann

Abstract

Neonates are able to respond to infectious agents by their innate and acquired immune responses, however, they are slow, produced in small-scale and have low antibody concentrations. Thus, maternal immunity transference is critical to calf initial survival, since it provides antibodies to the neonate bovine, cells of the immune system, as well as other essential elements to its survival, as nutrients, components of the complement system, growth factors, hormones, cytokines, oligosaccharides, gangliosides, reactive oxygen molecules, acute phase proteins, immunomodulatory factors, enzymes, ribonucleases, nucleotides, polyamines, peptides and proteins with antimicrobial activity, antioxidants and trypsin inhibitors. This review presents a discussion of different aspects and characteristics of immune transference in postcalving and neonatology to calves, emphasizing the colostrum feeding importance.

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How to Cite
GUERRA, G. A.; DORNELES, E. M. S.; SOUZA, F. N.; CORTEZ, A.; BATISTA, C. F.; COELHO, S. G.; LAGE, A. P.; DELLA LIBERA, A. M. M. P.; HEINEMANN, M. B. Neonatology in calves: the importance of colostrum. Revista de Educação Continuada em Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, v. 15, n. 3, p. 32-41, 1 Mar. 2017.
Section
ANIMAL PRODUCTION