Effect of prepartum energy intake and supplementation with ruminally protected choline on innate and adaptive immunity of multiparous Holstein cows

Objectives were to evaluate the effect of prepartum energy intake and peripartal supplementation of ruminally protected choline (RPC) on select indicators of immune status in blood plasma and on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated blood cells ex vivo. At 47 ± 6 d before the expected calving date, 93 multiparous Holstein cows were assigned randomly to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Cows were fed energy to excess [EXE; 1.63 Mcal of net energy for lactation (NEL)/kg of dietary dry matter (DM)] or to maintenance (MNE; 1.40 Mcal of NEL/kg of dietary DM) ad libitum throughout the nonlactating period. The RPC was fed at 0 or 60 g/d to supply 0 or 12.9 g/d of choline ions top-dressed for 17 ± 4.6 d prepartum through 21 d postpartum. After calving, cows were fed the same methionine-supplemented diet, apart from RPC supplementation. During the last 2 wk before calving and during the first 5 wk postpartum, blood was sampled repeatedly and analyzed for cell types, acute-phase proteins, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα), and neutrophil function. Samples of whole blood were collected at 3 and 14 DIM and stimulated with 1 μg/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro for 6 and 24 h. After 6 h of LPS exposure, peripheral blood leucocytes (PBL) were harvested, and relative transcript abundance for select cytokines were measured. Supernatant was analyzed for TNFα after 24 h of LPS exposure. The PBL from cows fed EXE diets during the whole dry period had increased transcripts for the proinflammatory cytokines CXCL8 and TNF, although the plasma concentrations of the acute-phase proteins haptoglobin and fibrinogen, and the killing activity of the blood neutrophils in the postpartum period, were not affected by feeding different energy levels prepartum. Feeding RPC to cows overfed energy prepartum modulated their inflammatory state, as evidenced by decreased IL6 in PBL and reduced mean fluorescence intensity of CD14 during the postpartum period, compared with cows not fed RPC. Feeding RPC also decreased TNFα protein production, abundances of IL1B, CXCL8, and TNF transcripts, and mean fluorescence intensity of CD80 of PBL stimulated by LPS, regardless of prepartum energy intake. In contrast, proportions of blood neutrophils undergoing phagocytosis and oxidative burst were increased at 17 d postpartum in cows supplemented with RPC. Collectively, these data indicate that transition cows supplemented with RPC experienced less inflammation, which may partially explain increased milk production in cows supplemented with RPC.