Estudo da proteína C reativa como biomarcador da obstrução de vias aéreas craniais em cães de raças braquicefálicas

Abstract

Brachycephalic syndrome is described by the difficulty of air passage in the cranial airways of dogs due to anatomical changes. The low recognition of the disease by the owners makes it likely that the syndrome is under diagnosed and the lack of objective data on respiratory function makes it difficult to monitor the presence or progress of the disease. In the present study, 25 brachycephalic dogs were evaluated, using functional grading, and from these animals only 14 dogs were subjected to blood collection for the measurement of CRP (C-reactive protein) by the automated turbidimetry method. The control group consisted of eight healthy dogs with mesaticephalic facial conformation. Another 15 dogs that underwent functional evaluation were referred for endoscopy. The present study aimed to establish the functional graduation system of the University of Cambridge - UK in patients with brachycephalic syndrome selected in the pug, French bulldog and English bulldog breeds. In addition to visually inspecting anatomical changes in the cranial airways through the endoscope and measuring CRP as a biomarker of cranial airway obstruction and inflammation. The data were analyzed using the non-parametric statistical test (Mann-Whitney) to compare the group of brachycephalic dogs with the control group and descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation of the data were used. Based on the results, CRP was not able to act as an inflammatory biomarker in the respiratory tract of brachycephalic dogs, making new studies on the biomarkers of inflammation in BOAS relevant.