Inflammatory and oxidative biomarkers of disease severity in dogs with parvoviral enteritis

OBJECTIVESTo study changes in serum C-reactive protein, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin and albumin concentration, total anti-oxidant capacity and paraoxonase-1 and butyrylcholinesterase activity in dogs with parvoviral enteritis of different degrees of clinical severity. METHODSProspective study of 9 healthy and 43 dogs with parvoviral enteritis that were classified into mildly, moderately and affected groups. RESULTSDogs with parvoviral enteritis had a significant increase in C-reactive protein compared with healthy dogs, with an increase of higher magnitude in animals with more severe clinical signs. All dogs with parvoviral enteritis had a significant increase in haptoglobin concentration compared with healthy dogs, but with no difference according to disease severity. There was a decrease in paraoxonase-1 activity in parvoviral enteritis. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCEMajor increases of C-reactive protein concentrations in dogs with parvoviral enteritis are a marker of disease severity. In addition, higher values for anti-oxidants in severe cases compared with mild and moderate cases suggest a possible compensatory anti-oxidant mechanism.