Hsp70 is differentially expressed in cattle and sheep leukocytes

Flow cytometry is a rapid and quantitative method of determining intracellular heat shock protein (hsp) 70 expression in individual cells from a heterogeneous population such as peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Hsp70 expression is induced in vivo in a range of leukocyte types in response to a variety of stressors. The application of a mild, transient, non-lethal, in vitro heat shock is a technique that allows the researcher to examine the cellular stress response which is a highly conserved defence mechanism. Thus constitutive and in vitro induced leukocyte hsp70 expression may be a useful indicator of an organism's adaptation to environmental/physiological stress. In the current studies, flow cytometric methods were used to demonstrate that hsp70 is constitutively expressed in ovine and bovine leukocytes but that the level of expression varies considerably between different leukocyte types and between species. ... These studies demonstrate that evaluation of leukocyte hep70 expression by flow cytometry is a robust, reproducible method for use in the evaluation of stress responses in livestock species.