Reduced serum lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase activity and cholesteryl ester concentration in calves experimentally inoculated with Pasteurella haemolytica and bovine herpes virus-1.

Lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), the enzyme responsible for esterification of cholesterol in plasma, is reported to be implicated in the regulation of inflammation in laboratory animals. The purpose of the present study was to elucidate the possible relevance of LCAT in the pathogenesis of calf pneumonia induced by inoculations of Pasteurella haemolytica and bovine herpes virus-1 into the calf lung. Serum LCAT activity was significantly (P < 0.01) reduced in calves inoculated with Pasteurella haemolytica. The concentration of cholesteryl esters (CE), the product of the LCAT reaction, was also decreased in the inoculated group. Decreases in LCAT activity and the CE concentration were similarly observed in calves in which bovine herpes virus-1 was inoculated. In both bacteria- and virus-inoculated calves, CE concentrations in the high-density lipoprotein fractions were distinctly decreased, whereas those in the low-density lipoprotein fractions were practically unaltered. The acute-phase proteins haptoglobin and serum amyloid A were detected in sera from the bacteria- and virus-inoculated calves; however, the two acute-phase proteins were also found in sera from the control calves. These results suggest that decreases in LCAT activity and the CE concentration are involved in the pathogenesis of pneumonia induced by inoculation of calves with Pasteurella haemolytica and bovine herpes virus-1, and also that the change in the LCAT system is more intimately related to the occurrence of calf pneumonia than the induction of acute-phase proteins such as haptoglobin.