STUDY: What Is Living Inside Felines?

Holly Ganz, a researcher at University of California, Davis said, "Like us, animals are enveloped in a cloud of microbes. We're really interested in them because they influence health and behavior. The gut microbiome is really important, and it's also very diverse and complicated." Felines are known as obligate or true carnivores and are healthiest on high-protein diets. Many commercial diets however tend to be carbohydrate heavy. Ganz and a team of researchers have set out to discover the microbiome of domestic and wild felines. Microbiomes are the bacteria and microorganisms that inhabit a body.

Unsurprisingly, people do not know much about the microbiome of a feline. This gap in our knowledge however could have consequences for felines; microbes can affect digestion and the immune system and also influence obesity, diabetes, and irritable bowel diseases. Ganz’s study is the first one to closely examine the feline microbiome. The study will compare feral, domestic, and shelter cat microbiomes. By examining a wide population the research team can learn about how diet, the environment, and age can affect the feline microbiome.

The research is funded by crowdfunding as according to Ganz, "The money for studying companion animals is devoted to pressing things, like cancer." The project has already reached their minimum funding goal. Anyone interested in funding the study or having their cat participate may do so here.

In exchange for a feline fecal sample people will receive information about what is found in that sample and what that means to them. Ganz said, "We want to make it interesting to people." For people that are interested but do not have a cat they may sponsor a wild or shelter cat.

Ganz said, "We're committed to studying the cat microbiome for the next 10 years. And we can all have a little bit of fun with it."

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How Similar Are Canine and Human Diabetes?

Both dogs and humans are susceptible to developing diabetes. Diabetes in dogs presents itself similarly to type 1 diabetes in humans. While the disease appears similar on the surface there are some key differences between canine and human diabetes.

Researchers have been examining pancreatic tissue from 23 diabetic dogs and 17 unaffected dogs. The pancreas contains islet cells which contain beta cells. Beta cells produce insulin which turns sugar into useable energy for the body. Diabetic dogs and humans with type 1 diabetes all show a loss in beta cells and therefore their bodies cannot produce enough insulin. The diseases still appear quite similar however Dr. Jake Kushner (Chief of Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology at Baylor College of Medicine) said "There were some real surprises. Dogs had very few islets. In man and mouse, there are often residual islets, but these dogs had very little left. It suggests some sort of really aggressive process destroying those cells."

The method in which these islets are destroyed are not yet known. The researchers did not see evidence of inflammation or autoimmune problems. Type 1 diabetes in humans is caused by the immune system attacking islet cells. Kushner believes that the dogs included in the study may have been in such an advanced state of disease that an autoimmune attack was no longer occurring.

Dr. Kushner found that the composition of islet cells is different in dogs than in humans. In healthy humans islet cells consist of approximately 50% of beta cells compared to 80% in dogs. It is possible that this is why diabetic dogs are typically older since they have more cells to die. Dr. Kushner said, "Dogs get diabetes at a pretty significant rate, about the same rate that humans get type 1 diabetes. But, they get it later in life." Chief of Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Rebecca Hess said, "If they're starting with a larger supply of beta cells, it may give them a longer time before they develop the disease."

Montefiore Medical Center’s Director of Clinical Diabetes, Dr. Joel Zonszein said, "Although diabetes in the dog resembles type 1 in humans, they don't have the same inflammatory process we see in type 1 in humans. In dogs, we don't understand what triggers it yet. And, the anatomy of the islets is completely different in dogs. This is a nice study, but we still have to learn more."

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Veterinary Researchers Discover New Technique For Blood Glucose Testing

Owners of diabetic pets often use a glucometer (a device that measures blood glucose levels) to monitor their pet’s disease. Glucometers will quickly measure blood glucose with a minimal amount of blood. Having ready access to a glucometer is often a matter of life or death for the affected pet. While they are highly convenient, glucometers are not as accurate as other methods.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered that blood glucose measurements are much more accurate when blood plasma/serum is used instead of whole blood. Blood plasma/serum may be used with a glucometer. The research article is entitled Correlation between glucose concentrations in serum, plasma, and whole blood measured by a point-of-care glucometer and serum glucose concentration measured by an automated biochemical analyzer for canine and feline blood samples and was published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (Volume 246, Number 12). This new discovery may spark some research in human medicine to determine if human blood plasma/serum can be as accurate as a dog or cats.

80 dogs and 65 cats were included in the study. Typically, glucometers determine glucose levels from whole blood however the researchers wanted to determine the glucose levels in blood plasma and blood serum. Blood plasma is the fluid remaining when red and white blood cells have been removed. Blood serum is the fluid remaining from blood plasma once the clotting factors are removed. Both are easily obtained by spinning blood in a centrifuge.

Each sample was testing in a glucometer and in a biochemical analyzer. The biochemical analyzer is the current most accurate machine for testing blood glucose. Blood serum and blood plasma tested in a glucometer provided results that were very similar to those obtained by the biochemical analyzer. Both serum and plasma were more accurate than whole blood.

Senior author, Rebecka Hess said, "It's a simple study, but it has changed the way we do things. It's widely known that glucometer readings come with a degree of inaccuracy, and until now we've just lived with it. With technology becoming cheaper and smaller all of the time, I can easily envision people purchasing centrifuges to use at home for this purpose," Hess said

Ryan Hospital Director of Emergency Services and Chief of Critical Care, Kenneth Drobatz said, "The plasma and serum results were very tightly clumped with the results from the gold standard machine. That gives us a lot of confidence in this method."

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TELUS AND SANOFI LAUNCH WEB BASED DIABETES MANAGEMENT

TELUS Health has partnered with Sanofi Canada to launch STARsystem, a private Web-based platform that gives diabetics free anywhere, anytime access to personalized education and self-management health tools. The STARsystem platform is available to diabetics who purchase BGStar and iBGStar blood glucose monitors, both developed by Sanofi Canada. Following a simple, user-friendly format, users answer a series of preliminary questions to determine their level of knowledge about diabetes. This “triage” process then allows the system to suggest relevant and current content based on each patient’s preferences and expertise.


Why is this important?  It is yet another example of how web based services and cloud computing will be used to deliver personalized health services in the human area. Diabetes is becoming a significant issue as the average age of pets increases. Will consumers clamor for similar services to protect their companion animals? What will be the impact for Health Services in the companion animal industry? 


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