Biochemical and hematological blood parameters in dogs with epilepsy differentiated by the level of neuroinfectious antigenic pressure

In recent decades, researchers have established that the altered status of trace elements plays an important role in epilepsy in both humans and dogs. Scientific reports have confirmed that metabolic disorders in the body during epilepsy may also be influenced by neurotropic infections, such as canine distemper virus and Toxoplasma. The aim of this study was to assess the biochemical parameters of blood serum and the levels of hemoglobin and erythrocytes in dogs with epilepsy depending on seropositivity to neuroinfections. In the authors’ study, dogs (n=23) with a confirmed diagnosis of “epilepsy” were included. For the study, stabilized blood collected from the subcutaneous vein of the forearm was used. After conducting laboratory analyses of blood parameters, the dogs were divided into four groups depending on the presence of antibody titers against the canine distemper virus and toxoplasmosis in the blood serum. Analysis of such a biochemical biomarker as the albumin content in blood serum showed that in cases of seropositivity for canine distemper virus, this parameter was lower in both the fourth and second groups of the studied dogs. That is, under viral antigenic load, an unreliable decrease in the albumin content in blood serum was recorded. When assessing the content chloride in blood serum, it should be noted that in all experimental animal groups, its amount was above physiological limits. In the fourth group of animals, under double seropositivity, the chloride content was significantly (p<0.05) higher and amounted to 148.5±4.93 mmol/L. The parameters investigated in this scientific study can be attributed to prognostic biomarkers that will aid in forecasting or in the probable prediction of the disease outcome. Our study has shown that in dogs with epileptic disorders, it is necessary to exclude metabolic, toxic disturbances and the presence of neuroinfections when planning a treatment protocol.