Association of bovine secretory immunoglobulins with milk fat globule membranes

Milk IgA was seen to be largely associated with milk fat globules ( of the sIgA in whole milk). Isolated fat globules became agglutinated by anti-IgA and to a lesser degree by anti-IgM but not by anti-IgG₁ or anti-IgG₂ (microscopic plate agglutination). Absorption studies using anti-bovine sIgA showed that the cream contained some 16 times more IgA than the repective whey. Isolated milk fat globule membranes released IgA and SC when treated by Triton X 100 as demonstrated by double gel diffusion. IgA was the only membrane-associated component showing cross-reactivity with serum proteins in immunoelectrophoresis. An antiserum prepared against fat globule membranes showed strong anti-IgA activity. IgA from whey became absorbed into washed cream. The specificity of MFGM associated immunity was demonstrated by analysing the capacity of cream, isolated from mastitic cows, to bind homologous labelled bacteria (cream-rising test).