Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Melatonin levels in normal dogs and dogs with seizures
By Thomovsky, Stephanie Ann et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2019·From the College of Veterinary Medicine, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Serum Melatonin Values in Normal Dogs and Dogs with Seizures.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with seizures was studied to see if their melatonin levels were different from those of normal dogs. Researchers found that most dogs in both groups had very low melatonin levels, and there were no significant differences between the two groups. This suggests that low melatonin levels may not be a factor in seizures for dogs, as both normal and epileptic dogs had similar results. The findings indicate that melatonin levels might not be useful for understanding or treating seizures in dogs.
People also search for: dog seizures treatment · low melatonin in dogs · why does my dog have seizures
Abstract
Epilepsy, or recurrent seizures, is reported to be the most common neurologic condition in dogs; 20-30% of epileptic dogs are considered to be pharmacoresistent to one medication. The hormone melatonin has been shown to have significant anticonvulsant effects; epileptic humans have lower serum melatonin levels than unaffected individuals. We hypothesize that serum levels of melatonin will be lower in dogs with seizures as compared with normal dogs. Sixty-two dogs were enrolled in the study: 29 normal dogs (Group 1) and 33 dogs with seizures (Group 2). Blood sampling was done at three separate time points (8:00 a.m., 12:00, and 4:00 p.m.). The majority of dogs in Groups 1 (69%) and 2 (76%) had serum melatonin levels <0.5 pg/mL as measured by radioimmunoassay. There were no significant differences in serum melatonin values between the groups or within groups when time of blood draw, length of sample freezing, time of day/year of sampling, or presence of anticonvulsant therapy were compared. There were no notable differences in daytime serum melatonin values in normal dogs versus dogs with seizures. The majority of daytime serum melatonin levels were <0.5 pg/mL in dogs with and without seizures.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30653360/