Background
Two‐dimensional shear wave elastography (2D‐SWE) provides information on hepatic elastic modulus as shear wave velocity (SWV).
Hypothesis/Objectives
To assess SWV using 2D‐SWE in dogs with ...induced volume overload, investigate the relationship between this information and right atrial pressure (RAP) measured by invasive right heart catheterization, and also evaluate the difference in SWV before and after diuretic administration.
Animals
Six healthy beagles.
Methods
Prospective experimental study. Right heart catheterization and 2D‐SWE were performed in 6 anesthetized beagles at baseline and after the induction of volume overload. Volume overload was induced by IV hydroxyethyl starch 70/0.5 infusion (100 mL/kg/h). Furosemide (4‐6 mg/kg, IV) was administered, and the SWVs were measured.
Results
Shear wave velocity showed a significant gradual increase during acute volume overload compared to baseline. SWV was significantly positively correlated with RAP (P < .0001, ρ = 0.9729). The area under the curve of SWV to predict RAP at >10, >15, and >20 mm Hg was 0.9896 (95% confidence interval 95% CI, 0.9690‐1.000), 0.9907 (95% CI, 0.9701‐1.000), and 0.9722 (95% CI, 0.9280‐1.000), respectively. The SWV after diuretic use decreased significantly.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Two‐dimensional shear wave elastography might be useful for noninvasive and reliable estimation of RAP in dogs with acute volume overload and has potential as a quantitative biomarker for evaluating therapeutic response in dogs with right sided congestive heart failure.
To determine repeatability, reproducibility, and reference intervals of indices of right atrial longitudinal strain (RALS) derived from speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) in dogs without heart ...disease.
110 client-owned dogs and 10 laboratory Beagles.
To determine intraobserver within-day (repeatability) and interobserver (reproducibility) coefficients of variation, RALS during ventricular systole (ϵS), ventricular early diastole (ϵE), and atrial systole (ϵA), as derived with STE, were obtained by 2 investigators for 5 randomly selected client-owned dogs and analyzed by linear regression. Reference intervals were estimated from the results of all dogs. Correlations between RALS indices (ϵS, ϵE, and ϵA) and sex, age, body weight, heart rate, and blood pressure were determined.
RALS derived from STE showed good intraobserver within-day repeatability and interobserver reproducibility, with coefficients of variation of < 20%. Both ϵS and ϵE were significantly negatively correlated with age, but ϵA was not correlated with age. Indices were not correlated with sex, body weight, or blood pressure.
RALS indices derived from STE were repeatable and reproducible and were affected by the age of dogs without heart disease. Age should be considered in the interpretation of RALS indices in clinical settings. Further studies are needed to apply RALS indices for assessing dogs with heart disease.
A 12-year and 3-month spayed female mixed cat was presented with severe lumbar pain. Magnetic resonance imaging and postmortem examination revealed a swollen lesion in the spinal cord at L3 level. ...Histologic examination identified extensive neoplastic cell proliferation with massive necrosis in the tumor tissue. Two types of neoplastic cells were recognized. One type of neoplastic cells were large cells characterized by round to polygonal shape and abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm (referred to as “large cells”). The other neoplastic cells were small, densely proliferated, and had round to irregular shape and scant eosinophilic cytoplasm (referred to as “small cells”). Both types of cells were positive for oligodendrocyte transcription factor 2 and SRY-box transcription factor 10. Glial fibrillary acidic protein was positive in large cells but negative in most small cells. Digital analysis for Ki-67-stained tumor tissues found that total 21.1% ± 6.5% of tumor cells were positive for Ki-67. Based on these findings, we diagnosed malignant oligoastrocytoma in the spinal cord.
DNA methylation plays important functions in gene expression regulation that is involved in individual development and various diseases. DNA methylation has been well studied in human and model ...organisms, but only limited data exist in companion animals like dog. Using methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme-based next generation sequencing (Canine DREAM), we obtained canine DNA methylation maps of 16 somatic tissues from two dogs. In total, we evaluated 130,861 CpG sites. The majority of CpG sites were either highly methylated (> 70%, 52.5-64.6% of all CpG sites analyzed) or unmethylated (< 30%, 22.5-28.0% of all CpG sites analyzed) which are methylation patterns similar to other species. The overall methylation status of CpG sites across the 32 methylomes were remarkably similar. However, the tissue types were clearly defined by principle component analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis with DNA methylome. We found 6416 CpG sites located closely at promoter region of genes and inverse correlation between DNA methylation and gene expression of these genes. Our study provides basic dataset for DNA methylation profiles in dogs.
Heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) is a molecular chaperon and an essential component for stage differentiation and intracellular growth inside the host cells of many protozoans. HSP90 of Babesia gibsoni ...(BgHSP90) was suggested to function in the development of diminazene aceturate (DA)-resistance. Therefore, we examined the expression level of BgHSP90 in a DA-resistant B. gibsoni isolate. Transcription of the BgHSP90 gene in the DA-resistant isolate and wild-type B. gibsoni was assessed by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). As a result, the copy number and relative amount of BgHSP90 transcripts in the DA-resistant isolate were significantly lower than those in the wild-type. Moreover, a rabbit anti-recombinant BgHSP90 antibody was developed, and the protein synthesis of BgHSP90 in the DA-resistant isolate was compared with that in the wild-type by Western blot analysis and indirect fluorescence assay. There was significantly less BgHSP90 protein than in the wild-type. Additionally, the relative intensity of BgHSP70 in DA-resistant isolate was also lower than that in the wild-type. This suggested that the expression of BgHSP90 and BgHSP70 in the DA-resistant B. gibsoni isolate was suppressed and that the reduced amount of BgHSP90 and BgHSP70 might cause the weak proliferation of the DA-resistant isolate. Further studies are necessary to elucidate the function of BgHSP90.
Display omitted
•Transcription of the HSP90 gene in diminazene aceturate-resistant Babesia gibsoni isolate was decreased.•A rabbit anti-recombinant B. gibsoni HSP90 antibody was developed.•Protein synthesis of HSP90 in the diminazen aceturate-resistant B. gibsoni was decreased.•HSP90 in B. gibsoni is expressed in both the nuclei and cytoplasm.
Background
Lymphocytic‐plasmacytic enteritis is the common form of idiopathic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in dogs. In human IBD, disturbances of amino acid metabolism have been demonstrated to ...be involved in the pathophysiology of IBD. Therefore, plasma amino acid profile might represent a novel marker of human IBD.
Objectives
To determine the plasma amino acid profiles of dogs with IBD and its usefulness as a novel marker of IBD in dogs.
Animals
Fasting blood plasma was obtained from 10 dogs with IBD and 12 healthy dogs.
Methods
All IBD dogs were prospectively included in this study, and heparinized blood samples were collected. The plasma concentrations of 21 amino acids were determined using the ninhydrin method. The relationships among the plasma amino acid concentrations and plasma C‐reactive protein (CRP) concentration, canine chronic enteropathy clinical activity index (CCECAI), and overall World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) score were investigated.
Results
Median concentration (nmol/mL) of methionine 46.2; range, 30.0‐59.3, proline 119.4; range, 76.7‐189.2, serine 115.1; range, 61.4‐155.9, and tryptophan 17.4; range, 11.9‐56.3) were significantly lower than in control dogs 62.6; range, 51.0‐83.6, 199.1; range, 132.5‐376.7, 164.3; range, 124.7‐222.9, and 68.3; range, 35.7‐94.8, respectively. A negative correlation was identified between the plasma serine concentration and CCECAI (r
s = −.67, P = .03), but there were no correlations between plasma amino acid concentrations and CRP concentration or overall WSAVA score.
Conclusions and Clinical Importance
Plasma serine concentration might represent a novel maker of IBD in dogs.
Dogs with precursor-targeted immune-mediated anemia (PIMA) are commonly treated with immunosuppressive therapy, but information on predictors of treatment response and response time is limited. ...Therefore, we retrospectively investigated predictive factors that influenced the treatment response and duration required to observe a response in dogs with PIMA receiving continuous immunosuppressive therapies for more than 105 days. Of 50 client-owned dogs that developed PIMA, 27 were included in this study, of which 18 were responders and 9 were non-responders to immunosuppressive therapies. Sixteen of the 18 responders responded to treatment within 60 days and the remaining 2 responded at 93 and 126 days, respectively. We found that an erythroid-maturation ratio of <0.17 may be a useful predictor for treatment response. In addition, complications of immunosuppressive therapies were investigated further in 50 dogs. Pancreatitis (n=4) and pneumonia (3) occurred over the entire treatment period, and infections such as abscesses (3) tended to be more common in dogs on an extended period of immunosuppressive therapy. These findings may be helpful when planning for the initial treatment and may provide evidence for informed consent about potential comorbidities throughout the treatment course.
Leishmania donovani
and
Leishmania infantum
are closely related species. However, the former is considered the causative agent for anthroponotic visceral leishmaniasis (AVL), while the latter is ...known to be responsible for zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis (ZVL) with dogs as the main reservoir host. Although molecular detection of
L. donovani
from naturally infected dogs has been reported in AVL endemic areas, the experimental infection of dogs with this species is very limited. Here, we constructed an experimental canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL) model with
L. donovani
infection using beagle dogs. During an observation period of 8 months after parasite inoculation, few clinical symptoms were observed in the three inoculated dogs. The overall hematological and biochemical data of the dogs showed normal levels, and there were no remarkable changes in the peripheral CD4
+
, CD8
+
, CD25
+
, or FoxP3
+
T cell populations. Liver biopsy sampling was conducted to monitor the parasite burden in the liver. A similar pattern of the amount of mitochondrial kinetoplast DNA was observed in the peripheral blood and liver by real-time PCR analysis. In addition, parasite antigens were detected from the liver biopsy sections by immunohistochemical analysis, further supporting the existence of parasites in the liver. These results showed a subclinical CVL model for
L. donovani
in beagle dogs with a similar kinetics of parasite burden in the peripheral blood and liver.
Companion animals are in close contact with the human surroundings, and there is growing concern about the effects of harmful substances on the health of pet cats. In this study, we investigated the ...potential health effects of organohalogen compounds (OHCs) on thyroid hormone (TH) homeostasis and metabolomics in Japanese pet cats. There was a significant negative correlation between concentrations of several contaminants, such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hydroxylated PCBs (OH-PCBs), hydroxylated PBDEs (OH-PBDEs), and THs in cat serum samples. These results suggested that exposure to OHCs causes a decrease in serum TH levels in pet cats.
In this metabolomics study, each exposure level of parent compounds (PCBs and PBDEs) and their hydroxylated compounds (OH-PCBs and OH-PBDEs) were associated with their own unique primary metabolic pathways, suggesting that parent and phenolic compounds exhibit different mechanisms of action and biological effects. PCBs were associated with many metabolic pathways, including glutathione and purine metabolism, and the effects were replicated in in-vivo cat PCB administration studies. These results demonstrated that OHC exposure causes chronic oxidative stress in pet cats. PBDEs were positively associated with alanine, aspartate, and glutamate metabolism. Due to the chronic exposure of cats to mixtures of these contaminants, the combination of their respective metabolic pathways may have a synergistic effect.
Display omitted
•BDE209 was found in the highest proportions in the Japanese pet cat sera.•Negative correlation was shown between thyroid hormones and contaminants.•Various metabolites were identified in both monitoring and in vivo exposure studies.•GSH and GSSG in cat serum samples showed a strong association with PCBs exposure.•Metabolomics suggests a different mechanism of action depending on the pollutants.
To investigate the association between changes in cerebral blood flow and electrographic epileptic seizure in dogs using transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD).
6 healthy Beagle dogs.
Each dog ...was administered pentetrazol (1.5 mg/kg/min) or saline (0.9% NaCl) solution under general anesthesia with continuous infusion of propofol. Both pentetrazol and saline solution were administered to all 6 dogs, with at least 28 days interval between the experiments. Blood flow waveforms in the middle cerebral artery and the basilar artery were obtained using TCD at baseline, after pentetrazol administration, and after diazepam administration. TCD velocities, including peak systolic velocity, end-diastolic velocity, and mean velocity and resistance variables, were determined from the Doppler waveforms.
During ictal-phase of pentetrazol-induced seizures, the TCD velocities significantly increased in the basilar and middle cerebral arteries while TCD vascular resistance variables did not change in either artery. The TCD velocities significantly decreased after diazepam administration. Systemic parameters, such as the heart rate, mean arterial pressure, systemic vascular resistance, cardiac index, end-tidal carbon dioxide, oxygen saturation, and body temperature, did not change significantly during seizures.
This study showed that cerebral blood flow, as obtained from TCD velocities, increased by 130% during ictal-phase of pentetrazol-induced seizures in dogs. The elevated velocities returned to baseline after seizure suppression. Thus, TCD may be used to detect electrographic seizures during the treatment of status epilepticus in dogs, and further clinical studies clarifying the association between changes in cerebral blood flow and non-convulsive seizure cases are needed.
PDF
