Abstract

“Udderly different?”: A comparative approach to studying the mammary gland in health and disease.

The mammary gland undergoes considerable postnatal development, with epithelial proliferation, and later remodelling, occurring in parallel with pregnancy, lactation, and subsequent post-lactational involution. Remarkably, this cycle of development and regression can occur many times with successive pregnancies. The mammary gland is susceptible to both inflammation (mastitis) and neoplastic transformation, and these pathological processes may intersect with the gland’s postnatal developmental cycle. Much of our knowledge regarding mammary pathology, and particularly the role of the Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) family in coordinating mammary gland development, is derived from the study of laboratory mice. Such studies have resulted in a detailed understanding of the regulation of the mammary postnatal cycle, but to what extent is this knowledge transferable to domestic species, particularly ruminants, and the study of farm animal mastitis?