title: Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein as a diagnostic biomarker in dogs with progressive myelomalacia.
abstract: In humans, increased levels of GFAP in the CSF and blood have been reported with various neural diseases. However, there has been no study describing the usefulness of GFAP in the blood for disease of the spinal cord in dogs. The aim of this study was to describe the utility of GFAP in serum for a diagnosis of progressive myelomalacia. Fifty-six dogs with acute thoracolumbar IVDD diagnosed by computed tomography with myelography or MRI were included. Serum specimens were collected at initial presentation from all cases and at follow-up examinations from some cases. Serum samples were assayed for GFAP concentrations using a commercially available GFAP ELISA Kit. Progressive myelomalacia was the final diagnosis in 8/51 cases (15.6%). Eight dogs had clinical signs suggestive of progressive myelomalacia, of which 6 were positive and 2 were negative by GFAP. Seven dogs had a detectable level of serum GFAP, of which 6 had the onset of progressive myelomalacia. The sensitivity and specificity of the GFAP to progressive myelomalacia were 75% and 97.7%, respectively. The results suggest the utility of GFAP in serum in the diagnosis of progressive myelomalacia.
authors.affiliation: Division of Small Animal Internal Medicine, Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, Iwate University, Morioka 020-8550, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasunori
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shimamura
authors.forename: Tadahisa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mashita
authors.forename: Saori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Yasuhiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Masaaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katayama
authors.forename: Hiroaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kamishina
authors.forename: Reeko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Uzuka
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yasuda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004285:Dogs; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000097:blood; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000662:veterinary; D013118:Spinal Cord Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000662:veterinary*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000662:veterinary
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein