Serum metabolomic profiles in dogs with chronic enteropathy

Background Metabolic profiles differ between healthy humans and those with inflammatory bowel disease. Few studies have examined metabolic profiles in dogs with chronic enteropathy (CE). Hypothesis Serum metabolic profiles of dogs with CE are significantly different from those of healthy dogs. Animals Fifty-five dogs with CE and 204 healthy controls. Methods A cross-sectional study. The serum concentrations of 99 metabolites measured using a canine-specific proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy platform were studied. A 2-sample unpaired t-test was used to compare the 2 study samples. The threshold for significance was set at P < .05 with a Bonferroni correction for each metabolite group. Results Nineteen metabolites and 18 indices of lipoprotein composition were significantly different between the CE and healthy dogs. Four metabolites were significantly higher in dogs with CE, including phenylalanine (mean and SD) (healthy: 0.0417 mmol/L; [SD] 0.0100; CE: 0.0480 mmol/L; SD: 0.0125; P value: <.001) and lactate (healthy: 1.8751 mmol/L; SD: 0.7808; CE: 2.4827 mmol/L; SD CE: 1.4166; P value: .003). Fifteen metabolites were significantly lower in dogs with CE, including total fatty acids, and glycine (healthy: 0.2273 mmol/L; SD: 0.0794; CE: 0.1828 mmol/L; SD CE: 0.0517; P value: <.001). Conclusions and Clinical Importance The metabolic profile of dogs with CE is significantly different from that of healthy dogs, this opens novel research avenues to develop better diagnostic and prognostic approaches as well as therapeutic trials.