Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
High liver copper linked to hidden hepatitis in Doberman Pinschers
By Mandigers, P J J et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary internal medicine·2004·Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals, Netherlands·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Association between liver copper concentration and subclinical hepatitis in Doberman Pinschers.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 3-year-old Doberman Pinschers was examined for liver issues, and 22 of them were found to have subclinical hepatitis, which means they showed no obvious symptoms but had liver damage. Tests revealed that these dogs had significantly higher levels of copper in their livers compared to healthy dogs. Over time, some of these dogs continued to have liver problems, with copper levels rising even more. This suggests that high copper levels may be linked to liver damage in Doberman Pinschers.
People also search for: Doberman Pinscher liver disease symptoms · high copper levels in dogs · subclinical hepatitis treatment in dogs
Abstract
The prevalence of subclinical hepatitis was investigated in a group of 106 randomly selected 3-year-old Doberman Pinschers. Histopathologic examination of liver samples from 65 dogs (52 dogs with high bile acids, alkaline phosphatase activity, or alanine aminotransferase activity or with copper granules in hepatocytes in a liver aspirate and 13 normal dogs) revealed subclinical hepatitis in 22 dogs (19 females and 3 males). Liver copper concentrations measured by instrumental neutron activation analysis was significantly higher (mean +/- SD; 419 +/- 414 microg/g dry matter) in dogs with hepatitis than those without liver disease (197 +/- 113 microg/g; P = .0008). At 2.6 +/- 0.6 years hepatitis persisted in 5 of 16 dogs available for examination. One dog with a high copper concentration but normal liver subsequently developed subclinical hepatitis after 3 years. During the follow-up period, the average copper concentration of the 6 dogs with persistent subclinical hepatitis was 939 +/- 299 microg/g and had continued to rise significantly (P = .02). The hepatitis in these dogs was associated with apoptotic hepatocytes and copper-laden Kupffer cells in centrolobular regions. The results of this study suggest that there is a relationship among copper storage, hepatocellular damage, and hepatitis in Doberman Pinschers.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15515579/