Alpha linolenic acid and linoleic acid and their effects on therapeutic regimen of canine dermatoses

The skin has relatively high dietary requirements and is one of the body's most important immunological structures. Dermatoses refers to skin abnormalities caused by nutritional deficiencies or hormonal imbalance, physical or chemical agents, microorganisms, parasites and immunological factors. For this reason, even minor changes in the skin's nutrition or immune system can have a significant effect on the conditioning of the skin and coat. Nutritional deficiencies resulting into inflammatory skin condition like food allergies, parasitic infestations, bacterial infection, atopic dermatitis, seborrheic dermatitis leads to dull coat with brittle hairs, scaly skin, delayed hair growth, crust, and erythema formation. The therapy of inflammatory skin disease in dogs involves essential fatty acid supplementation. Omega fatty acids mainly alpha linolenic acid (ALA) and linoleic acid (LA) have anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties, offering a great potential as an adjunct therapy and require for normal epidermal lipid barrier function. There is no study on skin diseases in dogs due to deficiency of α-linolenic acid and linoleic acid from North-eastern region of India. In order to fill up this gap this research work is proposed. In this work we attempt to record the incidence of dermatoses presented canine cases in the Veterinary Clinical Complex.