Genome-wide expression of liver and udder tissue in response to E. coli treatment in early lactation dairy cows. Bos taurus

We performed a global gene-expression analysis of mammary gland and liver tissue collected from dairy cows that had been exposed to a controlled E. coli infection. Overall design: At time = 0, each of the periparturient dairy cows received 20-40 colony-forming units of live E. coli in one front quarter of the udder. Biopsy samples of healthy and infected udder tissue were collected at T = 24 h post-infection (p.i.) and at T = 192 h p.i. to represent the acute phase response (APR). A time series of liver biopsies was collected at -144, 12, 24, and 192 h relative to time of inoculation. Hf=right forward teat Vf=left forward teat