Plasma Transferrin Concentration as a Nutritional Marker in Malnourished Dogswith Nutritional Treatment

[摘要] References(35)Cited-By(3)Rapid turnover proteins, such as transferrin (Tf), are used as dynamicnutritional assessment proteins in human medicine. However, nutritional status inveterinary medicine is mostly assessed on the basis of classical static factors, such asbody weight, body condition score and plasma albumin level. This study evaluated theclinical usefulness of Tf as a nutritional assessment marker by measuring plasma Tfconcentrations in malnourished dogs before and after nutritional treatment. Posttreatmentplasma Tf concentrations were significantly higher than the pretreatment concentrations,although the albumin concentration did not change significantly. The numbers of dogs thatexhibited increases in plasma Tf concentrations were significantly related to weight gain.Furthermore, the survival rates at day 60 after treatment initiation were significantlyhigher in dogs with plasma Tf concentrations above the reference value (180mg/dl) after the nutritional treatment than in those with a plasma Tfconcentration<180 mg/dl. In conclusion, the plasma Tf concentration isrelated to nutritional condition and would be a candidate for a novel nutritionalassessment marker in dogs.

[学科分类] 兽医学

[关键词] nutritional assessment;rapid turnover protein;transferrin