Cell death and CD14 expression in resident and inflammatory polymorphonuclear leukocytes from virgin bovine mammary gland

This paper investigates the association between expression of CD14 and occurrence of apoptosis in blood, resident (RESPMN) and inflammatory (INFPMN) polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) from heifer mammary glands. The fresh population of RESPMN contained a statistically significant higher proportion of CD14+, apoptotic and necrotic cells than did populations of INFPMN and blood PMN. In vitro cultivation of RESPMN, INFPMN and blood PMN led to concurrent increase of apoptotic, necrotic and CD14+ cells. A positive correlation was found between the proportions of both apoptotic and necrotic PMN and CD14+ PMN as determined by three-color flow cytometry analysis. Our study confirmed that expression of CD14 in blood PMN, RESPMN and INFPMN from heifer mammary glands was accompanied by apoptosis and necrosis.