Remodeling of mammary tissue and lactation persistency

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The long range objective of this research program is to develop an economically viable and consumer acceptable technology that would improve lactation persistency and enable longer lactation in dairy cows. From a mammary gland perspective, milk production is simply a function of the number of secretory cells and the secretory activity of these cells. In goats, it is the loss of secretory cells which accounts for the decrease in milk yield during declining lactation. It is now well established in rodents and ruminants that mammary cell loss during involution (termination of lactation) occurs through programmed cell death (apoptosis). Apoptosis also occurs in late lactation and accounts for the progressive loss of secretory cells in declining lactation. Therefore, there are considerable incentives to identify the factors that regulate mammary apoptosis, in particular during these early stages of gradual involution.