• Bovine Lactation, Mastitis

Dr. McGuire is the AVS Department Head, as well as a mentor to a Post Doctoral Fellow and a number of graduate students for positions in dairy nutrition and management. Dr. McGuire works closely with the dairy industry conducting research and training students for employment. His research is focused around milk. Alterations in milk composition may enhance nutritional properties of bovine milk for the human consumer and may reduce the risk of mastitis for the cow.

His studies have described nutritional and metabolic means to enrich milk with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and omega-3 fatty acids in both cows and women. Milk lipids, particularly fatty acids, could be involved in protection against pathogens that cause mastitis. Certain fatty acids in milk are bacteristatic or bactericidal toward a major mastitis pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. Milk lipids respond to an infection in ways suggesting they are active components protecting cows from pathogens. Staphylococcus aureus has methods to protect against these changes in milk lipids that might relate to this bacterium’s virulence.

Other work addresses the effect of exotoxins produced by S. aureus on the response by the mammary gland in the battle against infection. Mastitis is also a disease of lactating women, who too commonly contract mastitis due to the similar organisms. Efforts to reduce the risk of mastitis in women would lead to improvements in breast-feeding, a clear choice for the human infant. Milk may also be an important source of healthy bacteria for the nursing infant. Milk from healthy women contains many types of bacteria as determined through pyrosequencing. The importance of the milk microbiome on development of the infant gut and health of the breast are areas under study.  His research is funded by the United Dairymen of Idaho, USDA, NIH and the Gates Foundation.

 

Shields, S.L., P. Rezamand, D.L. Sevier, K.S. Seo, W. Price, and M.A. McGuire. 2011. Effects of increased milking frequency for the first 21 days post partum on selected measures of mammary gland health, milk yield, and milk composition. J. Dairy Res. 78:301-307.

Hunt, K.M., J.A. Foster, L.J. Forney, U.M.E. Schütte, D.L. Beck, Z. Abdo, L.K. Fox, J.E. Williams, M.K. McGuire, and M.A. McGuire. 2011. Characterization of the diversity and temporal stability of bacterial communities in human milk. PLoS ONE 6: e21313. Doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021313.

Rezamand, P., and M.A. McGuire. 2011. Effects of trans fatty acids on markers of inflammation in bovine mammary epithelial cells. J. Dairy Sci. 94:316-320.

Schramm, R.D., P. Rezamand, S.L. Shields, K.S. Seo, M.A. McGuire, and. 2011. Effects of Omnigen-AF on neutrophil gene expression, milk leukocyte populations, and production performance of early lactating dairy cows. J. Anim. Physiol. Anim. Nutr.

Hunt, K.M., J.E. Williams, B. Shafii, M.K. Hunt, R. Behre, R. Ting, M.K. McGuire, and M.A. McGuire. 2011. Mastitis is associated with increased free fatty acids, somatic cell count, and interleukin-8 concentrations in human milk. Breastfeeding Medicine.

2 in review

Peterson, S.E., P. Rezamand, J.E. Williams, W. Price, M. Chahine, and M.A. McGuire. 2011. Effects of dietary betaine on milk yield and milk composition of mid-lactating Holstein dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci.

Autran, C.A., B. Shafii, J.C. Dalton, M.A. McGuire, and A. Ahmadzadeh. 2011. Effect of prostaglandin F2α on growth of Staphylococcus aureus associated with bovine mastitis. J. Dairy Sci.

Mosley, E.E., A.L. Wright, M.K. McGuire, and M.A. McGuire.  2005.  Documentation of trans fatty acid concentration and isomeric distribution in U.S. human milk samples.  Amer. J. Clin. Nutr. (In press).

Jenkins, T.C., and M. A. McGuire.  2005.   Major advances in nutrition: Impact on milk composition.  J. Dairy Sci. (In press).

McGuire, M.A., E.E. Mosley, S.A. Mosley, A. Nudda, and A. Corato.  2005.  Using conjugated linoleic acids for healthier animal products and as a management tool.  Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Production Disease in Farm Animals (T.H. Herdt, ed.). Wageningen Academic Publishers (In press).

Nudda, A.,  M.A. McGuire, G. Battacone, and G. Pulina.  2005.  Seasonal variation in conjugated linoleic acid and vaccenic acid in milk fat of sheep and its transfer to cheese and ricotta.  J. Dairy Sci. 88:1311-1319.

Anderson, N.K., K.A. Beerman, M.A. McGuire, N. Dasgupta, J.M. Griinari, J. Williams, and M.K. McGuire.  2005.  Dietary fat type influences total milk fat content in lean women. J. Nutr. 135:416-421.

Ritzenthaler, K.L., M.K. McGuire, M.A. McGuire, T.D. Shultz, A.E. Koepp, L.O.  Luedecke, T.W. Hanson, N. Dasgupta and B.P. Chew.  2005. Consumption of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) from CLA-enriched cheese does not alter milk fat or immunity in lactating women. J. Nutr. 135:422-430.

Annen, E.L., R. J. Collier, M. A. McGuire, J. L. Vicini, J.M. Ballam and M.J. Lormore.  2004.  Effect of POSILAC Ò (bST) and dry period management strategy on milk yield.  J. Dairy Sci. 87:3746-3761.

Research interests include: 
Lactation in cows and women
Dairy nutrition
Human nutrition
Milk synthesis
Milk fat synthesis
Milk protein synthesis
Role of dairy products in the human diet
Mastitis
Functional genomics of lactation

Richard C. Heimsch Research Award, Outstanding research by a faculty member of CALS, 2007

 U of I Award for Excellence in Research or Creative Activity, 2007

UI Alumni of Excellence Mentorship for Erin Mosley, 2004

Agway Inc. Young Scientist Award, American Dairy Science Association, 2001

Finalist, International Life Sciences Institute North America Future Leader Award, 1996