Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Saliva and blood enzyme changes in dogs with pyometra
By Tecles, F et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2018·Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Analysis of the University of Murcia (Interlab-UMU), Spain·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: Evaluation of adenosine deaminase in saliva and serum, and salivary α-amylase, in canine pyometra at diagnosis and after ovariohysterectomy.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of 26 female dogs diagnosed with pyometra (a serious infection of the uterus) had their saliva tested for a substance called adenosine deaminase (ADA). The results showed that these dogs had much higher levels of ADA in their saliva compared to healthy dogs, indicating inflammation. After undergoing surgery to remove the infected uterus (ovariohysterectomy), the levels of ADA did not change significantly in a small group of dogs tested afterward. This suggests that elevated ADA in saliva could be a useful marker for diagnosing pyometra in dogs.
People also search for: dog pyometra symptoms · elevated saliva ADA in dogs · ovariohysterectomy recovery in dogs
Abstract
An assay for adenosine deaminase (ADA) was validated in serum and saliva in dogs. Changes in ADA and salivary α-amylase activities were analysed in 26 bitches diagnosed with pyometra and compared with activities in 19 healthy bitches. All animals were classified according to the American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) scoring for physical status. In the validation study, the ADA assay had an imprecision<12% and determination coefficients>0.90 in linearity under dilution experiments, with recoveries of 99.2-114.4%. On the day of presentation, salivary ADA activity was significantly higher in dogs with pyometra than in healthy dogs (median values 7.1IU/L vs. 0.8IU/L, respectively; P<0.01). ADA had a moderate positive correlation with leucocyte and band neutrophil counts, haptoglobin, salivary α-amylase and ASA score, and a low positive correlation with C-reactive protein. There were no significant differences in salivary α-amylase activity between dogs with pyometra and healthy dogs (57.3IU/L vs. 27.4IU/L, respectively). Salivary α-amylase had a low correlation with ASA grade, and leucocyte and band neutrophil counts. In 7/26 bitches with pyometra that were sampled 3 and 10days after ovariohysterectomy, there were no significant changes in α-amylase or ADA activities. These results indicate that ADA activity is increased in the saliva of bitches with pyometra, probably related to systemic inflammation.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29871742/