Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Metabolic changes found in blood of phenobarbital-treated dogs
By Ottka, Claudia et al.·Published in Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society·2021·PetBiomics Ltd.·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Serum NMR metabolomics uncovers multiple metabolic changes in phenobarbital-treated dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs being treated with phenobarbital for seizures showed significant changes in their blood chemistry. The study found that certain substances in their blood, like glycoprotein acetyls and fatty acids, were altered compared to dogs not on the medication. These changes could indicate effects on liver function and overall metabolism due to the long-term use of phenobarbital. However, the researchers noted that the level of phenobarbital in the blood did not directly correlate with these metabolic changes, suggesting other factors may also play a role.
People also search for: dog seizures treatment · phenobarbital side effects in dogs · dog blood test results interpretation
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Phenobarbital is a commonly used anticonvulsant for the treatment of canine epileptic seizures. In addition to its central nervous system (CNS) depressing effects, long-term phenobarbital administration affects liver function. However, broader metabolic consequences of phenobarbital treatment are poorly characterized. OBJECTIVES: To identify metabolic changes in the sera of phenobarbital-treated dogs and to investigate the relationship between serum phenobarbital concentration and metabolite levels. METHODS: Leftovers of clinical samples were used: 58 cases with phenobarbital concentrations ranging from 7.8 µg/mL to 50.8 µg/mL, and 25 controls. The study design was cross-sectional. The samples were analyzed by a canine-specificH NMR metabolomics platform. Differences between the case and control groups were evaluated by logistic regression. The linear relationship between metabolite and phenobarbital concentrations was evaluated using linear regression. RESULTS: Increasing concentrations of glycoprotein acetyls, LDL particle size, palmitic acid, and saturated fatty acids, and decreasing concentrations of albumin, glutamine, histidine, LDL particle concentration, multiple HDL measures, and polyunsaturated fatty acids increased the odds of the sample belonging to the phenobarbital-treated group, having a p-value < .0033, and area under the curve (AUC) > .7. Albumin and glycoprotein acetyls had the best discriminative ability between the groups (AUC: .94). No linear associations between phenobarbital and metabolite concentrations were observed. CONCLUSION: The identified metabolites are known to associate with, for example, liver and CNS function, inflammatory processes and drug binding. The lack of a linear association to phenobarbital concentration suggests that other factors than the blood phenobarbital concentration contribute to the magnitude of metabolic changes.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34076758/