Liver‐related biochemical changes in the serum of dogs being treated with phenobarbitone

Abstract

The concentrations of phenobarbitone, albumin, bile acids and cholesterol, and the activities of alkaline phosphatase (AP), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), gamma glutamyl transferase (GGT) and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH) were measured in the serum of 95 epileptic dogs whose clinical signs were controlled with phenobarbitone. The dogs were divided into groups on the basis of the concentration of phenobarbitone in their serum, the dose administered and the duration of the treatment. The concentration of phenobarbitone in serum was directly related to the activities of ALT, AP, GGT and GLDH and inversely related to the concentration of albumin. There was no significant relationship between the duration of treatment and the serum concentration of phenobarbitone, but there was a significant relationship between the duration of treatment and the activities of ALT, AP and GLDH. Thirty-five of the dogs (37 per cent) had serum activities of AP above the normal range, 19 had abnormally high activities of ALT, and 15 had high activities of GLDH, but these incidences were not related to the serum concentration of phenobarbitone. The dogs receiving higher doses for longer periods had the highest incidence of high activities of AP, ALT and GLDH. The concentration of bile acids in seven of the dogs was above the normal range but there was no relationship between the concentration and either the serum concentration, dose or duration of treatment with phenobarbitone.

Biochemical changes in the blood serum of dogs treated with phenobarbital

“…Similar results were obtained in a study on 95 dogs treated with phenobarbitone doses in a range from less than 2 mg/kg/day up to over 10 mg/kg/day (Aitken et al, 2003). However, in a trial carried out on 10 dogs receiving phenobarbitone 6 mg/kg/day during 12 weeks there was no statistically significant change in total protein and albumin blood concentrations compared to the untreated control (Foster et al, 2000).…”

“…A number of studies carried out on dogs (Dayrell-Hart et al, 1991;Chauvet et al, 1995;Foster et al, 2000;Müller et al, 2000;Aitken et al, 2003;Gaskill et al, 2004;Gaskill et al, 2005) report increased activities of alanine transaminase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (AP). Increased ALT and AP activities were mainly recorded in patients who did not display clinical signs of hepatopaties.…”

Effects of herbal plants (Zingiber officinale and Hibiscus sabdariffa) as dietary additives on serum biochemistry and some metabolites in Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822)

“…Biochemical parameters such as serum enzymes [alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and aspartate amino-transferase (AST)], serum protein, urea and creatinine were determined by Jaffe spectrophotometric method [20]. Analysis was done with the use of semi-automatic biochemistry analyzer (Erba Chem 7, India).…”

To Biopsy or Not to Biopsy: Evaluation of a Large German Cohort of Patients with Abnormal Liver Tests of Unknown Etiology

“…Normal transaminases were no valuable criterion to exclude patients from liver biopsy [24]. In addition to laboratory data, the patient's clinical symptoms, drug history and medical history should be given priority when deciding to perform a liver biopsy [25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33]. …”