Evaluation of Serum Proteins in Cattle with Liver Abscess

To evaluate the serum protein electrophoresis in cows with hepatic abscess and to investigate the correlation of changes in the serum proteins and the severity of hepatic involvement in affected cows, the liver of 435 randomly selected cattle were examined after slaughter. Liver abscesses were diagnosed in 20 cows. The size of hepatic abscesses (in diameter) had a significant correlation with serum concentration γ-globulin (r=0.498, P=0.05), and had marginally significant correlations with serum total protein (r=0.487, P=0.056) and total globulin (r=0.438, P=0.09). There were also significant correlations between the number of hepatic abscesses and serum concentration of β-globulin (r=0.506, P=0.032) and β-globulin percent (r=0.463, P=0.05). Also, cows with hepatic abscess on left lobe of the liver had a higher β-globulin percent than the cows with hepatic abscess on diaphragmatic surface (P=0.013). Cows with diffused tiny hepatic abscesses had a significantly higher β- globulin concentration than the cows with hepatic abscess on diaphragmatic surface (P=0.036), and a marginally significant less serum β-globulin concentration in comparison to cows with hepatic abscess in left lobe of the liver (P=0.07). Age revealed a significant correlation with the β-globulin percent (r=-0.219, P=0.047), and had a marginally significant correlation with the serum concentration of β-globulin (r=-0.194, P=0.07). The results of the current study showed that the serum protein electrophoresis may be useful in evaluation of the severity of hepatic involvement and abscess location in cows suffering from hepatic abscess.