Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How vitamin B6 affects liver enzyme tests in dogs with babesiosis
By Myburgh, E C & Goddard, A·Published in The Onderstepoort journal of veterinary research·2009·Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: The effect of pyridoxal-5-phosphate on serum alanine aminotransferase activity in dogs suffering from canine babesiosis.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with babesiosis, a serious infection caused by parasites, had their liver enzyme levels tested to see if a specific vitamin (pyridoxal-5-phosphate) affected the results. The study found that including this vitamin in the testing method showed slightly higher liver enzyme levels, but the differences were not significant enough to change any diagnoses for liver disease in these dogs. Overall, the dogs' liver health was accurately assessed despite the variations in testing methods.
People also search for: dog liver disease symptoms · babesiosis in dogs treatment · liver enzyme test results in dogs
Abstract
Accurate measurements of serum aminotransferase (ALT) activity in dogs relies on the endogenous pro-enzyme pyridoxal 5-phosphate (P5P). The purpose of this study was to determine whether the exclusion of P5P from the analytical method causes an underestimation of serum ALT activity in dogs suffering from babesiosis and in those manifesting evidence of hepatocellular damage, and to determine if anorexia causes sufficient P5P depletion to affect in vitro serum ALT activity. One-hundred-and-twenty healthy control dogs and 105 Babesia-infected dogs were included in the study. Two methods for ALT measurement were used: Method 1 included P5P, and Method 2 excluded P5P from the reaction mixture. Higher serum ALT activity was measured with Method 1 in the Babesia-infected dogs (P < 0.001), as well as in 14 dogs with suspected hepatocellular damage (P = 0.03). Duration of anorexia had no effect, irrespective of the method used. Although inclusion of P5P to the reaction mixture consistently resulted in higher measured serum ALT activity, the differences were too small to have led to incorrect diagnoses in the Babesia-infected dogs suspected of liver disease.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21105601/