Comprehensive phenotyping of peripheral blood monocytes in healthy bovine.

Monocytes are bone marrow derived innate myeloid cells that circulate in the blood and play important roles in infection and inflammation. As part of the mononuclear phagocytic system, monocytes provide innate effector functions, support the adaptive immune response, and play a role in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. In addition to their role in sensing pathogen-associated molecular patterns using several pattern recognition receptors, monocytes are characterized by their ability to ingest and kill microbes, to produce cytokines and chemokines, and to present antigens to T cells. For a long time, monocytes have been considered as a homogenous cell population, characterized by the expression of CD14, the receptor of lipopolysaccharide. Studies in several species have shown that the monocyte population consists of phenotypically and functionally different cell subsets. In this review, we report a comprehensive phenotyping of monocyte subsets in cattle. In addition, the most characterizing cell markers and gating strategies for detailed immunophenotyping of bovine monocyte subsets are discussed.