Determination of serum diamine oxidase, zonulin, lactate and D-dimer levels in dogs with gastrointestinal inflammation

Objective: While the intestinal tract acts as a defense barrier against pathogens, it also regulates the metabolism or excretion of essential nutrients, ions and other compounds through selective absorption. The pathological condition, also called leaky gut, is formed when changes in this barrier dysfunction and selective permeability function occur. Death or disease is the result of the systemic effects of toxins or pathogens "leaking" through the intestinal wall and the subsequent immune response, which includes the production of inflammatory mediators. Leaky gut therefore leads to both life-threatening intestinal blockages and chronic diseases that can negatively affect life. Biomarkers used for early diagnosis, prediction of prognosis and complications, and classification of cases into risk categories are very useful in clinical use. Since it is thought that the routine use of diamine oxidase, zonulin, lactate and d-dimer as diagnostic biomarkers in the detection of leaky gut in gastrointestinal inflammation caused by different etiological reasons, it is thought that it will be beneficial for diagnosis and treatment protocols, the evaluation of the analysis results in this context has been the main target of our study. Materials and Methods: Within the scope of the study, 62 dogs who were brought with gastroenteritis symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting for at least 1 day and who did not use antibiotics until at least 1 month before were evaluated. While the cases were not classified in terms of age, race and gender, the etiological classification was taken into account. (Table 8). The healthy control group consisted of 10 dogs that were regularly vaccinated and treated with antiparasitic agents and were found to be clinically healthy. D-dimer and lactate measurements were performed by taking 2 ml of blood from Vena cephalica antebrachii into tubes with anticoagulants for each of the cases in the study group. ELISA tests were carried out in an accredited laboratory. Care was taken to ensure that the samples were not hemolyzed or hyperlipidemic. Results: 72 dogs of both sexes and different breeds, aged 0-5 years, were included in the study. The statistical difference (p<0.0001) between the control group and the parvoviral enteritis group in DAO levels (ng/mL) in terms of mean ± standard error in the analyzed patients was found and evaluated as significant. Again, a statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was found between the control group and the coronavirus group in terms of mean ± standard error in DAO levels (ng/mL), and it was evaluated as significant. In terms of mean ± standard error, zonulin levels (ng/mL) were statistically different between the control group and the distemper group (p<0.001), while there was a statistical difference (p<0.05) between the control group and myxamatous co-infectious group. The statistical difference (p<0.01) between the control group and the parvoviral enteritis group was determined and all of these differences were evaluated as significant. In terms of mean ± standard error in lactate levels (mmol/L), the statistical difference between the control group, noninfectious group and parvoviral enteritis group (p<0.01), the statistical difference between the control group and the distempervirus group was found between the control group and the coronavirus group statistically found difference (p<0.0001) was determined. Again, the statistical difference (p<0.05) between the control group and the giardia group was determined and all of them were evaluated as significant. There was a statistical difference (p<0.01) between the control group and the parvoviral enteritis group, and also between the control group and myxamatous co-infectious group, in the d-dimer levels (mg/dL) in terms of mean ± standard error. difference (p<0.001) was detected and evaluated as significant. The mean and standard error values of DAO, zonulin, lactate and d-dimer data obtained from serum samples of dogs included in the study were tabulated (Table 14). When the homogeneity tests of the data were performed according to the Shapiro-Wilk analysis, it was determined that they were not normally distributed and normality could not be achieved in the transformation processes. In this context, comparisons of the examined parameters were made with the help of Kruskall-Wallis ANOVA, one of the non-parametric test techniques. All analyzes were performed in the Graphpad Prism 9.2.0 (Dotmatics, USA) program, and the cases determined as p<0.05 in the analyzes were considered statistically significant. Conclusion: Significant differences were found between the analyzed patients and the healthy control group. DAO, zonulin, lactate, d-dimer are promising as potential biomarkers of leaky gut in dogs with gastrointestinal inflammation of various etiologies. Keywords: D-dimer, Diamine oxidase, Lactate, Leaky Gut, Zonulin