Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Measuring C-reactive protein in dog saliva for disease detection
By Parra, María Dolores et al.·Published in Journal of veterinary diagnostic investigation : official publication of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, Inc·2005·Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Spain·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: C-reactive protein measurement in canine saliva.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study found that measuring C-reactive protein (CRP) in saliva can help identify inflammation in dogs. Researchers tested saliva from healthy dogs and those with various health issues, discovering that higher CRP levels in saliva matched those found in blood samples. This method is less stressful for dogs since it can be done outside of a vet clinic. The results suggest that saliva testing could be a useful tool for vets to assess inflammation in dogs without needing a blood draw.
People also search for: dog saliva test for inflammation · C-reactive protein in dogs · non-invasive dog health tests
Abstract
An established time-resolved immunofluorometric assay designed for measurement of C-reactive protein (CRP) in canine blood was evaluated and validated for use in canine saliva. C-reactive protein was measured in saliva specimens from 5 healthy dogs before and after the injection of casein and in 37 dogs with different disease conditions. The analytical and functional limits of detection were 0.000053 microg/ml and 0.0091 microg/ml, respectively, and intra- and interassay coefficients of variation ranged between 6.7-9.9% and 8.5-16.5%, respectively. A recovery experiment showed no significant disagreement between detected values and expected ones, and saliva CRP concentration was measured in a linear and proportional manner. A positive correlation was found between CRP levels obtained in saliva and serum samples in the experimental (R2 = 0.76) and clinical studies (R2 = 0.70). The assay was able to detect significant differences between salivary CRP levels in healthy dogs and dogs with inflammatory processes. These results suggest that saliva can be used for CRP measurement in dogs. The use of saliva presents the advantage of an easier and less stressful sampling method for the animals, which might be performed outside of hospital environments.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15825494/