FEATURES OF HOMEOSTASIS OF THE MASS COMPONENTS OF UTEROVAGINAL MUCUS CONDITIONALLY HEALTHY AND SICK COWS

Visual assessment of the physical parameters of the uterine-vaginal mucus (UVM) of experimental cows (with inflammation of the cervix and uterus), the average volume of which is 1.4 times less than that of the control (conditionally healthy), showed that the selected samples, depending on the degree of development of the pathological process, during the first – third day of estrus have a milky-white (33%) and gray-yellow-green (25%) color. They contain impurities of blood and pus (42%). Its density in such cows is very rare. But the samples of 80% of the animals of the control group are transparent-glassy; 20% are light gray without impurities. The density and fluidity are high. The differences found may be the reason that the percentage of fertilization of sick cows after their first insemination is 1.79 times less than that of conditionally healthy cows (42 versus 75%). The difference in body weight of born calves (27 kg versus 30 kg) is respectively defined as p < 0.05. Gravimetric quantitative and qualitative analysis of the distribution of H2O content and organic (OS) and inorganic (IS) substances of dry residue (DR) of the UM of sick cows compared to control cows showed that the absolute indicators of the amount of these components do not undergo significant changes. However, the difference in their relative values is 99.9% (p ˂ 0.001). The determined mass fraction of flammable (OS1) and heat-resistant organic (OS2) and heat-resistant and insoluble in distilled water inorganic substances (IS) of the DR showed that it is 1.6 times (49 versus 30%) greater than the content of substances of the OS1 group, which were burned on an open flame of a gas burner at low temperature (520–530°C), but 1.6 times (37 versus 58%) less than the number of components of the IS group in sick cows versus conditionally healthy ones. The mass fraction of substances of the OS2 group, which were burned in a muffle at 650°C, in control and experimental animals coincide, which is on average 12%, respectively. The ratio of the content of H2O, OS and IS in samples of conditionally healthy cows is: H2O:OS2 (492:1) > H2O:OS1 (205:1) > H2O:IS (107:1); in sick cows – H2O:OS2 (287:1) > H2O:OS1 (85:1) > H2O:IS (112:1). Powdered samples of the DR of UVM contain less flammable (8.2 versus 6.9:1) and heat-resistant (3.3 versus 2.0:1) OS and more heat-resistant OS than heat-resistant IS. The studied changes in physical characteristics, the volume of secreted mucus and the ratios of the content of the components (H2O, OS, IS) suggest that the detected differences in the mass of born calves may be a consequence of the long-term harmful effect of inflammation products on the intensity of the processes of synthesis of OS and IS.