Comparative Analysis of Acute-Phase Protein Profiles in Cats Undergoing Ovariectomy: Laparoscopic vs. Conventional Surgery in Short Time After Procedure.

Acute-phase proteins (APPs) are biomarkers of systemic inflammation, which allow monitoring the response to surgery and post-operative complications. Ovariectomy (OVE) can be a useful model to evaluate surgical trauma and inflammation in feline species. The objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the acute-phase response (APR) after applying two different OVE techniques by measuring serum levels of serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), total serum proteins (TSPs), albumin (ALB), and paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) during the first 48 h post-surgery (hospital stay).

Can the reduced GH, IGF-1, and ovarian steroids concentrations be considered as suspected biomarkers of age-associated functional deficit in mares?

In humans' and experimental animals' components of the somatotropic axis, such as growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations, decrease with advancing age. Although there is evidence regarding IGF-1, the effect of age on GH in mares, as well as the relationships between both parameters, have not yet been elucidated. On the other hand, although GH and IGF-1 are related to follicular development, it is unknown if they could be correlated with the circulating concentrations of ovarian steroids in mares, as occurs in other species.

Effect of age on amplitude of circulating catecholamine's change of healthy cyclic mares.

Catecholamines (CATs) are neurotransmitters and allostatic hormones whose plasma concentrations are physiologically modified in various species such as human, rats, mice and donkeys, with advancing age. However, currently these mechanisms are less well elucidated in horses and more specifically in mares. The hypothesis of this study was that, as in afore mentioned species, the CATs could experience physiological changes with advancing age.