Peculiarities Regarding the Testing of Milk Physicochemical and Cytology at a PIC Sows Sample

Abstract

Testing the main physicochemical and cyto-morphological milk parameters during lactation debut represented the monitoring of breast health at a lot of PIC sows (n = 15) and its impact on health and growth indicators in suckling piglets. Investigations were carried out on samples of milk collected by manual milking, using stimulation of milk ejection by oxytocin injection (n = 10) and by breastfeeding 2-3 piglets (n = 5). Physicochemical tests were performed with semi-automatic EKOMILK analyzer, consisting in determining the main biochemical components (non-fat dry substance - NFS, fat, protein), density, freezing point and water added. Cyto-morphological investigations consisted in making the milk cytograms on the milk sediment smears, defatted with xylene or benzene and panoptic stained (MGG and Dia - Quick panoptic). The evolution of investigated compositional and cytological parameters revealed large variations of individual and average values, grouped in intervals comparable to those reported in consulted studies and with minor deviations and non-pathological connotation. Thus, the test results of milk samples outlined a physicochemical profile, characteristic on lactation debut in the sow, with the following individual oscillations around the average values: 5.37 - 13.3% (7.97%) for protein, 10.8 - 19.9% (13.67%) for non-fat dry substance, 1.71 to 14.5% (8.18%) for fat, 1.028 to 1.076 (1.043) for density, -0.954 to -0.744 °C (0.28 °C) for the freezing point. The cyto-morfological configuration of this sample of sows milk was characterized by increasing the proportion of macrophages with advancing lactation (42.86%, 30-60%), usually associated with PMN leukocytes decreasing (15.8%, 8-43% ) and lymphocytes rarely (31.0%, 11-46%) or epithelial cells (10.4%, 3-20%). We have given a particular character for the onset of lactation in sows to the distribution and morphology of epithelial cells. Regarding the distribution, it was relevant the higher proportion of epitheliocytes (10.4%) in the milk of investigated sows to that found in milk of ruminant species. Most of the observed epitheliocytes had a glandular origin, and morphological were large cells, integral, uni- or binucleate, surrounded by a bulky cytoplasmic mass, low basophilic, with many fat microspheres, often gaining sparkling appearance and rarely ring.