Plasma paraoxonase, health, inflammatory conditions, and liver function in transition dairy cows

Paraoxonase (PON) is a liver protein with hydrolase activity that is released into the blood stream. Paraoxonase may serve as an index of liver function because it is drastically reduced in chronic liver damage. Sixty-seven periparturient dairy cows were used to evaluate the relationship between plasma PON, health problems, inflammatory conditions, and liver function. Baseline plasma PON concentrations during the first 30 d in milk (DIM) were retrospectively used to group cows into quartiles. Metabolic profile, lipid metabolites (e.g., nonesterified fatty acids, beta-hydroxybutyrate), inflammatory indices (haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin), low and high density lipoprotein cholesterol, vitamin A, vitamin E, reactive oxygen metabolites, total antioxidants, and PON in plasma were measured 2 wk before to 8 wk after calving. Weekly milk yield, body condition score, and all health problems were recorded. After parturition (7 DIM), cows in the lower PON group had the lowest plasma concentrations of negative acute phase proteins compared with the higher PON group for retinol binding protein (23.2 +/- 2.86 vs. 36.0 +/- 2.96 mu g/dL of vitamin A), albumin (31.6 +/- 0.73 vs. 33.9 +/- 0.75 g/L), total cholesterol (2.04 +/- 0.30 vs. 2.45 +/- 0.42 mmol/ L), and the highest concentrations of haptoglobin (0.67 vs. 0.24 +/- 0.03 g/L; positive acute phase protein) and globulins (37.2 vs. 32.3 +/- 1.4 g/L). Plasma bilirubin was highest in the cows (10.1 vs. 6.2 +/- 0.6 mu mol/L) in the lowest PON quartile. Plasma PON was negatively correlated with haptoglobin (r = -0.39) and bilirubin (r = -0.42) and positively correlated with retinol binding protein (r = 0.54), albumin (r = 0.38), and cholesterol (r = 0.55) fractions. A total of 82.3% of cows in the lower quartile and no cows in the upper quartile experienced serious inflammation. Lower quartile cows produced 28.1 +/- 10.3 kg of milk/d; whereas upper quartile cows produced 38.3 +/- 7.7 kg of milk/d during the first 30 DIM. A reduction in the ability of the liver to cope with the increased metabolic demand near parturition in dairy cows can be diagnosed using changes in baseline plasma PON.