Although not shown, similar results were observed for expression of the gene for lingual antimicrobial peptide, another member of the bovine chromosome 27 β-defensin gene family, which also was induced by intramammary LPS challenge in a previous experiment (Isobe et al., 2009). Expression of DEFB5, on the other hand, decreased at 4 h after LPS challenge, which is similar to the response of monocytes but contrary to the response of mammary epithelial cells and neutrophil cultures (Merriman et al., 2015). Of the β-defensin genes, the response of DEFB10 was most dramatic, increasing more than 200-fold compared with baseline expression.The DEFB10 peptide also was the most abundant β-defensin peptide in milk fat globules from glands infected with Staphylococcus aureus (Reinhardt et al., 2013), highlighting the potential significance in defense against bacterial infection of the mammary gland.