bgdavis
07-30-2013, 04:12 PM
http://www.bestinshowdaily.com/blog/2013/07/dogs-hair-gives-quick-cushings-diagnosis/
A surprisingly large number of dogs suffer from hyperadrenocorticism. The symptoms are caused by excessive amounts of hormones – glucocorticoids – in the body. Unfortunately, though, diagnosis of the disease is complicated by the fact that glucocorticoid levels naturally fluctuate and most methods for measuring the concentration of the hormones in the blood provide only a snapshot of the current situation. Recent research at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, has shown that glucocorticoids accumulate in the animals’ hair and that analysis of a dog’s hair can provide quick and reliable preliminary diagnosis. The results are published in the current issue of the journal Veterinary Dermatology.
Claudia Ouschan and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, decided to look for a way to monitor the long-term levels of glucocorticoids. As the hormones are known to be present in hair, at least in humans, Ouschan reasoned that measuring glucocorticoid concentrations in dog hair might represent a way of diagnosing Cushing’s disease without causing the animals unnecessary distress. She thus compared the levels of cortisol, corticosterone and cortisone in the hair of 12 dogs with hyperadrenocorticism and 10 healthy dogs. The results were striking: all three hormones were found at far higher levels in the hair of dogs with Cushing’s disease than in the control group, with the increase in cortisol particularly pronounced.
The importance of the finding is clear. As Ouschan says, “We have shown that the level of cortisol in dogs’ hair is much higher when the animals have hyperadrenocorticism. Measuring cortisol in hair is so much easier and less painful to the animal than other tests for the disease, and we think it has real promise for use as a rapid and non-invasive method to diagnose hyperadrenocorticism.”
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Bonnie and Angel Criss Ann
A surprisingly large number of dogs suffer from hyperadrenocorticism. The symptoms are caused by excessive amounts of hormones – glucocorticoids – in the body. Unfortunately, though, diagnosis of the disease is complicated by the fact that glucocorticoid levels naturally fluctuate and most methods for measuring the concentration of the hormones in the blood provide only a snapshot of the current situation. Recent research at the Institute of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, has shown that glucocorticoids accumulate in the animals’ hair and that analysis of a dog’s hair can provide quick and reliable preliminary diagnosis. The results are published in the current issue of the journal Veterinary Dermatology.
Claudia Ouschan and colleagues at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, decided to look for a way to monitor the long-term levels of glucocorticoids. As the hormones are known to be present in hair, at least in humans, Ouschan reasoned that measuring glucocorticoid concentrations in dog hair might represent a way of diagnosing Cushing’s disease without causing the animals unnecessary distress. She thus compared the levels of cortisol, corticosterone and cortisone in the hair of 12 dogs with hyperadrenocorticism and 10 healthy dogs. The results were striking: all three hormones were found at far higher levels in the hair of dogs with Cushing’s disease than in the control group, with the increase in cortisol particularly pronounced.
The importance of the finding is clear. As Ouschan says, “We have shown that the level of cortisol in dogs’ hair is much higher when the animals have hyperadrenocorticism. Measuring cortisol in hair is so much easier and less painful to the animal than other tests for the disease, and we think it has real promise for use as a rapid and non-invasive method to diagnose hyperadrenocorticism.”
************************************************** **
If this news item is in the wrong forum, please move.
Bonnie and Angel Criss Ann