Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How liver copper levels relate to dog liver disease tests
By Gupta, Ashish & Al-Dissi, Ahmad·Published in Canadian journal of veterinary research = Revue canadienne de recherche veterinaire·2022·Department of Veterinary Pathology, Canada·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Correlation of hepatic copper levels, rhodanine scores and histological diagnosis in archived canine liver samples.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A study looked at liver samples from dogs to understand how copper levels relate to liver disease. Excess copper can lead to chronic hepatitis, a serious liver condition. Researchers found that higher rhodanine scores (a staining method to assess copper) were linked to chronic hepatitis, even when the actual copper levels varied. This means that rhodanine scores can help predict which dogs might develop chronic hepatitis based on their liver copper levels.
People also search for: dog liver disease symptoms · chronic hepatitis in dogs · high copper levels in dog liver · rhodanine staining in dogs
Abstract
The liver is the main storage site for copper. Excess copper accumulation, however, is a risk factor for the development of chronic hepatitis in dogs. Mass spectrometry or rhodanine staining are frequently used methods to assess copper levels in the liver. The association was studied between analytic hepatic copper levels and rhodanine scores in archived canine formalin-fixed-paraffinembedded liver sections from 2014 to 2021 with various diagnoses. Thirty-six (N = 36) liver samples with analytic interpretation of toxic (= 12), high normal (= 17), and normal (= 7) copper levels were selected for the study. Rhodanine staining for each of these samples was graded (scale: 1 to 5), and the association was determined between actual liver copper levels and rhodanine scores and histological diagnoses (chronic hepatitis or other diagnoses). The analytic copper level and rhodanine scores were significantly higher (< 0.05) in samples designated as toxic compared to normal. There was a significant association between hepatic copper levels and rhodanine scores (< 0.05). Rhodanine score, but not the actual liver copper levels were significantly (< 0.05) associated with chronic hepatitisother diagnoses. Rhodanine scores of ≥ 1.89 were statistically significant predictors of chronic hepatitis. It was concluded from this study that actual liver copper levels are positively associated with rhodanine scores and rhodanine scores can be a useful predictor of chronic hepatitis.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36237829/