Assetto endocrino - metabolico, profilo bioumorale e valutazione cardiovascolare in cani affetti da obesità

Obesity is the most common form of malnutrition occurring in dog; it have an prevalence estimated between 24 % and 44 %, with a range of age between 5 and 10 years. Health risks associated with obesity in dogs are similar to those occurring in humans, and include various disease as well as compromised immune function. The aim of this study is to evaluate and correlate the cytokine network, cardiovascular parameters, metabolic panel, morphometric measurements, fat measurement obtained with radiology, ultrasound and impedenziometric assessment in obese dogs, in order to develop new tools to determine the overweight status in this species. This study was carried out between january 2011 and december 2012 and 175 dogs have been enrolled. 40 dogs of them were selected and divided in 21 (group obese -ob) and 19 animals (controls group -np); on each animal a biochemical panel, complete blood cell count, blood gas analysis, ultrasound and x-ray of lumbar and sacral spine (L6- S1), ECG, echocardiography, leptin, adiponectin, TNF-alpha and IL-6, morphometric measurements and bioelectrical impedance were performed. A brief questionnaire about diet was obtained by owners of the 40 dogs. The result of this study demonstrate that on the dogs enrolled the modification endocrine-metabolic are similar to that reported in human medicine as regards the values of adipokines, which have proved to be excellent indicators of obesity in dogs. Among the techniques objective evaluation of the degree of lipid infiltration, the radiological seems to be able to provide the best results. It hoped that as well as bioelectrical impedenziometria althought future studies are necessary to confirm the usefulness of this last diagnostic method.