Relationship Between Fatty Liver Syndrome in Dairy Cows and Steroid Hormone Concentration in Bile

Abstract

In order to gain indirect insight into steroid hormone metabolism in the liver of dairy cattle with fatty liver syndrome, the concentration of estrogen and cortisol in the bile was measured from cattle with a fatty liver and cattle with a normal liver. Livers and bile were taken from 128 slaughtered Holstein dairy cows. Animals with less than a 10% deposit of fat in the liver were categorized as the normal liver group (n=56), those with at least 10% but less than 30% were categorized as the mild fatty liver group (n=41), and those with 30% or more were categorized as the severe fatty liver group (n=31). Comparison of the normal liver group and fatty liver groups indicated that the values for the three estrogen fractions in the bile showed the highest concentrations in the severe fatty liver group, and that the concentrations were the lowest in the normal liver group. The severe fatty liver group showed high values for cortisol in the bile. The present study confirmed that the steroid hormone concentration in the bile was affected by the severity of fatty liver syndrome in dairy cows.