Excessive postpartum body condition score loss coincides with skeletal muscle proteolysis in dairy cows: molecular and biochemical evidence
Saman Chalaki, Essa Dirandeh, Zarbakht Ansari-Pirsaraei, Barry Bradford, William W Thatcher · 2026
Read Excessive postpartum body condition score loss coincides with skeletal muscle proteolysis in dairy cows: molecular and biochemical evidence by Saman Chalaki, Essa Dirandeh, Zarbakht Ansari-Pirsaraei, Barry Bradford, William W Thatcher (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13562725.txt.
Description
Saman Chalaki and four colleagues show that dairy cows which slim down too fast after calving are, at gene level, dismantling their own muscle. The weeks around calving push high-yielding cows into energy deficit, and they raid body reserves to fill the gap. The 2026 study followed 200 multiparous Holsteins giving at least 30 kilograms of milk daily, grouping them by condition-score loss to day 42. Muscle biopsies from 40 cows at days 21 and 42 measured genes for protein breakdown and building, while blood carried the chemical fingerprints of muscle loss.
Cows losing half a condition unit or more switched on the tagging machinery that marks muscle protein for destruction, including MuRF1 and Atrogin-1, and dialled down a synthesis regulator. Their blood held more creatinine and 3-methylhistidine, both in step with how much condition was lost. The authors urge tight condition management across the transition weeks to protect muscle and metabolic health.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Saman Chalaki, Essa Dirandeh, Zarbakht Ansari-Pirsaraei, Barry Bradford, William W Thatcher |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 24552 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |