Systemic Inflammation and Endothelial Dysfunction in Dogs with Congestive Heart Failure

Abstract

Background: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is associated with endothelial dysfunction in people and in dogs with experimentally induced CHF, but this is not well characterized in dogs with naturally occurring CHF.Hypothesis/Objectives: To evaluate endothelial function via assessment of reactive hyperemia (RH) in healthy dogs and dogs with CHF, and to assess for relationships with plasma biomarkers of vascular function and clinical markers of disease severity.Animals: Twenty client-owned animals with CHF due to myxomatous mitral valve disease (n = 15) or dilated cardiomyopathy (n = 5) and 17 healthy control dogs.Methods: Prospective case-controlled observational study. Dogs underwent blood sampling, echocardiography, and Doppler assessment of brachial artery velocity (VTI) at baseline and during reactive hyperemia (RH-VTI). RH-VTIs between control dogs and dogs with CHF were compared, and the relationships between RH-VTI, clinical parameters, and plasma biomarkers were assessed.Results: Dogs with CHF (96.5 ± 51.7%) had an attenuated % increase in VTI during RH compared to healthy controls (134.8 ± 58.7%; P = .04). Increasing ISACHC class (R 2 = 0.24; P = .004), plasma NT-proBNP (R 2 = 0.15; P = .03) and CRP (R 2 = 0.2; P = .02) were associated with reduced RH-VTI. Increased plasma CRP, NO x , and NT-proBNP concentrations were found in dogs with CHF (P < .02 for all). No differences were detected in other plasma markers.Conclusions and Clinical Importance: Dogs with CHF have an attenuated RH response, and increased plasma CRP and NO x concentrations. Doppler assessment of RH velocity could represent a novel noninvasive method of evaluating endothelial function in the dog.

Serum C‐Reactive Protein as a Diagnostic Biomarker in Dogs with Bacterial Respiratory Diseases

“…Cunningham et al described mild-to-moderate increases in CRP in dogs with congestive heart failure, which is in accordance with findings in our study. 20 In people, CRP has been shown to increase with increasing severity of congestive heart failure. 40,41 To further understand the interrelationships of CRP, correlations with other clinical parameters were evaluated.…”

Echocardiographic assessment of coronary artery flow in normal canines and model dogs with myocardial infarction

“…In animals with cardiomyopathy [7,9,12,19,32], stenotic disease [4,11,14,23], myxomatous mitral valve disease [8,10,21,28,29], cardiovascular tumors [2], or dynamic changes in coronary flow may be associated with coronary arteriosclerosis and MI. A retrospective study on death caused by heart disease in Swedish dogs reported that 32 cases might be cardiomyopathy which was represented dilated cardiomyopathy or myocardial infarction secondary to arteriosclerosis of coronary artery or thromboembolism [9].…”

“…Endothelial dysfunction of the coronary artery and microthrombosis due to platelet aggregation are the most common factors. Previous studies on dogs with mitral valve disease showed that nitric oxide availability decreases in vessel endothelial cells with mitral regurgitation [8,21]. This results in vascular endothelial dilation impairment in the coronary artery, elevated vascular resistance, and intramural myocardial infarction secondary to insufficient oxygen delivery to the myocardium [8,21].…”

The diagnostic significance of cardiac biomarkers in veterinary medicine

“…In the dog the half life of CRP is short, thus persistently elevated concentrations could be a warning sign in the management of chronic diseases like MVD Tecles et al, 2005). Increased CRP values have been recorded in dogs with acquired (Rush et al, 2006;Cunningham et al, 2012) and congenital (Saunders et al, 2009) cardiac diseases. However other studies failed to demonstrate that CRP could be a sensitive biomarker in MVD (Ljungvall et al, 2010).…”