The purpose of the present study was to assess the correlation between the automatic somatic cell count (SCC) and the percentage of neutrophils through cytocentrifugation technique and flow cytometry. Thus, 102 milk samples from 28 Holstein dairy cows were collected and submitted to milk cell isolation procedures, and afterwards, the neutrophils were identified. After cytocentrigugation, the neutrophils were microscopically identified using the rosenfeld dye. The milk neutrophils were recognized by flow cytometry using primary mouse IgM monoclonal antibody (CH138A) and phycoerytrin (PE) goat anti-mouse IgM antibody. This study found a positive correlation between SCC and the percentage of neutrophils through cytocentrifugation (r= 0.267) and flow cytometry (r= 0.625). A positive correlation was also encountered between the percentage of neutrophils through cytocentrifugation and flow cytometry (r= 0.496), although the percentage of neutrophils was higher in samples submitted to cytocentrifugation. In conclusion, flow cytometry can be a useful tool in the diagnosis and control of mastitis.
dairy cows; differential cell count; mammary gland; mastitis; polymorphonuclear leukocytes
