Total and Lipid-Bound Serum Sialic Acid and Hematological-Biochemical Gas Changes in Dogs With Dirofilariosis

Abstract

The measurement of serum sialic acid concentration is of importance to indicate damage in cells or tissues. Dirofilaria immitis causes cardiovascular, pulmonary, hepatic and kidney lesions. Therefore, present study was planned to investigate the potential changes in the levels of serum total sialic acid (TSA), lipid-bound sialic acid (LSA) and hematological-biochemical parameters in the dogs naturally infected by Dirofilaria immitis.The patient group included the 7 dogs clinically and parasitologically (Modified Knott and PCR) diagnosed with Dirofilaria immitis while 7 healthy dogs were assigned as the control group. The biochemical parameters, blood gas parameters and hematological parameters were tested in the blood samples taken properly according to the guidelines from all the study animals using automated biochemistry analyzer, blood gas analyser and automated hematology analyzers, respectively. Serum TSA and LSA levels were measured spectrophotometrically using Sydow and Katapodis methods, respectively. Compared with the healthy group, the dogs diagnosed with dirofilariosis were found to have significantly increased levels of serum cardiactroponin, triglycerides, VLDL, LDL, BUN, urea and creatinine and enzymatic activities of CK-MB, ALT, AST, ALP and LDH, and statistically significantly decreased levels of cholesterol and HDL (p<0.05). A significantly decreased level of RBC and a significantly increased level of WBC was determined in the dogs with dirofilariosis (p<0.05). The differential leucocyte count test of the dogs with dirofilariosis indicated statistically significantly increased eosinophil count (p<0.05). In the dogs with dirofilariosis, the decreases in the levels of pCO(2), HCO3 and BE in venous blood were statistically significant (p<0.05). The levels of serum TSA and LSA of the dogs with dirofilariosis were found statistically significantly higher than the healthy group (p<0.05). As a conclusion, statistically significant differences were identified between the dogs with dirofilariosis and healthy dogs in terms of sialic acid levels and certain biochemical, venous blood gas and hematological parameters. On the other hand, the present study is the first to investigate the serum sialic acid levels in the dogs with dirofilariosis.