Vet World   Vol.13   September-2020  Article-12

Interaction between stress hormones and phagocytic cells and its effect on the health status of dairy cows: A review

Background and Aim: Dairy cows are exposed to various stressors during their production cycle that makes them more susceptible to various diseases. Phagocytes (neutrophils and macrophages) are important soldiers of the innate immune system. Neutrophils are the first responders to an inflammatory response and stress and kill pathogens by generating reactive oxygen species and by the release of various antimicrobial peptides, enzymes, neutrophil extracellular trap formation, etc. Macrophages, the other phagocytes, are also the cleanup crew for the innate immune system that removes debris, pathogens, and dead neutrophils later on after an inflammatory response. The neuroendocrine system along with phagocytes exhibits an immunomodulatory potential during stressful conditions. Neuroendocrine system directly affects the activity of phagocytes by communicating bidirectionally through shared receptors and messenger molecules such as hormones, neurotransmitters, or cytokines. Different immune cells may show variable responses to each hormone. Short time exposure to stress can be beneficial, but repeated or extended exposure to stress may be detrimental to the overall health and well-being of an animal. Although some stresses associated with farming practices in dairy cows are unavoidable, better understanding of the interactions occurring between various stress hormones and phagocytic cells can help to reduce stress, improve productivity and animal welfare. This review highlights the role played by various stress hormones in modulating phagocytic cell performance of dairy cattle under inflammatory conditions.

Keywords: dairy cattle, inflammatory diseases, leukocyte trafficking, macrophages, neutrophils.

How to cite this article: Alhussien MN, Dang AK (2020) Interaction between stress hormones and phagocytic cells and its effect on the health status of dairy cows: A review, Veterinary World, 13(9): 1837-1848.

Received: 11-04-2020  Accepted: 22-07-2020     Published online: 10-09-2020

Corresponding author: Mohanned Naif Alhussien   E-mail: mohannadalhussien@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.1837-1848

Copyright: Alhussien and Dang, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.