• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.190-195
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• 2019

We aimed to identify genomic variations as well as the marker genes related with chronic mitral valve disease (CMVD) in Canis lupus familiaris using whole genome resequencing, which provides valuable resources for further study. Two ten-year old female Canis lupus familiaris English cocker spaniels were used for this study, one control and one who had been diagnosed as CMVD. For the whole genome resequencing, muscles from the left ventricular wall were collected from each dog. With the HiSeq DNA Shotgun library and $HiSeq^{TM}$ 2000 platform, whole genome resequencing was performed. From the results, we identified 5 million and 6 million variants in gene expression in the control and CMVD-diagnosed subject, respectively. We then selected the top 1,000 genes from the SNP, INS, and DEL mutation and 675 genes among them were overlapped for every mutation between the control and CMVD-diagnosed patient. Interestingly, in both groups, the intron variant (91.16 and 91.18%) and upstream variant (3.10 and 3.08%) are most highly related. Among the overlapped 675 genes, gene ontology for intracellular signal transduction is highly counted in INS, and DEL, and SNPs (35, 33, 31, respectively). In this study, we found that the COL and CDH gene families could be key molecules in identifying the difference in gene expression between control and CMVD-diagnosed dogs. We believe further studies will prove the importance of variants in key molecule expression and that these data will serve as a valuable foundation stone the study of canine CMVD.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.163-169
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• 2014

Glucose metabolism abnormalities secondary to heart failure, including insulin resistance (IR) and impaired fasting glucose, have been gradually recognized as important prognostic factors in disease progression. However, to date, no study has investigated glucose abnormalities in dogs with chronic mitral valve insufficiency (CMVD). Thus, we hypothesized that glucose metabolism abnormalities due to heart failure may develop in dogs with CMVD. A prospective study was performed on 113 client-owned dogs with variable CMVD severities. Serum insulin, glucagon, fructosamine, and glucose concentrations were measured, and insulin resistance was determined using the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) score. The serum insulin concentration had a significant inverse association with the heart failure severity. However, there was no significant association between the heart failure severity and fructosamine, HOMA score, and fasting blood glucose. Insulin, fructosamine, and HOMA had a significant positive association with body condition scores (BCS), whereas glucose had no association. This study found that insulin secretion in dogs with naturally occurring heart failure due to CMVD might be compromised as the disease worsens.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.35-38
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• 2018

Recently assessment of suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (ST2) level has become a useful cardiac biomarker in human medicine. This study compared serum ST2 levels and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels between healthy dogs and dogs with chronic mitral valve disease. Twenty client-owned dogs were investigated. Dogs were divided into normal, asymptomatic, and symptomatic groups. Serum samples were used to measure levels of NT-proBNP and ST2. Samples for NT-proBNP were sent to IDEXX laboratory for analysis while ST2 levels were measured by using a canine interleukin 33 receptor ELISA kit. There was a significant difference in NT-proBNP levels between asymptomatic and symptomatic groups (P < 0.01), and between normal and symptomatic groups (P < 0.01). In contrast, ST2 levels were not relatively different between asymptomatic and symptomatic groups (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference was observed among all groups in ST2 study. The usefulness of measuring NT-proBNP level as a cardiac biomarker in dogs with chronic mitral valve disease was confirmed, but usefulness of the ST2 level was not observed. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the potential usefulness of ST2 level as a cardiac biomarker in canines.