Effect of storage and cryopreservation on the lymphocyte responses to polyclonal mitogens in cattle

摘要

Lymphocyte proliferation assay is an important diagnostic tool in laboratory testing of immunological competence. In human medicine samples stored overnight and cryopreserved are used for in-vitro lymphocyte transformation to ensure the correct performance of multicentre clinical trials with collection of samples over many months and from multiple locations (Weinberg et al., 1998, 2000; Reimann et al., 2000). Also in veterinary medicine, because of the difficulty of performing this test in real time on fresh specimens efficiently and reproducibly, the effect of different types of storage on lymphocyte proliferation has been studied (Truax et al., 1990, 1993; Koch et al, 1991; Raj et al., 1997). The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of whole blood storage and mononuclear cells (PBMC) cryopreservation on lympho-proliferative response in cattle, in order to increase the use of functional assays.