Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Early urine test for acute kidney injury in dogs
By Scheemaeker, S et al.·Published in Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997)·2020·Department of Small Animals·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin as an early biomarker for acute kidney injury in dogs.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with acute kidney injury (AKI) was studied to see if a specific urine test could help detect kidney damage earlier than traditional blood tests. The test measured a protein called neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL), which was found to be significantly higher in dogs with more severe kidney injury compared to healthy dogs. This means that uNGAL could be a useful early warning sign for kidney problems, especially in dogs that have been bitten by snakes. The study suggests that using uNGAL could help veterinarians identify kidney issues sooner and provide better care for affected dogs.
People also search for: dog acute kidney injury symptoms · snake bite dog treatment · early signs of kidney disease in dogs
Abstract
Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is used as an early biomarker of renal injury in people. In dogs, increases in urinary NGAL (uNGAL) precede increases in serum creatinine (sCr) in experimental and clinical evaluations of acute kidney injury (AKI) and chronic kidney disease. This study compared uNGAL in two subsets of dogs with AKI and their respective controls. One set included dogs with snake-envenomation at risk for or presenting with International Renal Interest Society (IRIS) grade I AKI; the other group included dogs with AKI, where renal injury was the result of various causes, and IRIS grade was ≥II. Additionally, this study evaluated haemoglobin (Hb) interference during NGAL analysis in Hb spiked urine and plasma from healthy dogs. In both AKI groups, uNGAL was significantly higher than in matched healthy control dogs (P<0.01). Moreover, uNGAL was significantly higher in dogs with IRIS grade ≥II AKI than in dogs at risk of IRIS grade I AKI (P=0.04). In dogs at risk of IRIS grade I AKI, there were no significant differences in uNGAL and uNGAL/uCr between dogs bitten by cytotoxic or neurotoxic snakes (P=0.44). Additionally, Hb did not interfere with the canine NGAL immunoassay. In conclusion, this study confirms the value of uNGAL as a biomarker for early renal damage: uNGAL was significantly increased in dogs with snake-envenomation at risk for or presenting with IRIS grade I AKI, which could be left undiagnosed if evaluated with the traditional renal biomarker sCr. In addition, Hb did not interfere with NGAL measurement in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31982082/