Hyperphosphatasemia and concurrent adrenal gland dysfunction in apparently healthy Scottish Terriers.

Objective: To determine causes of hyperphosphatasemia (high serum alkaline phosphatase [ALP] activity) in apparently healthy Scottish Terriers.

Design: Prospective case-controlled study.

Animals: 34 apparently healthy adult Scottish Terriers (17 with and 17 without hyperphosphatasemia).

Measurement of serum carboxyterminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen concentration in dogs with osteosarcoma.

Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of carboxyterminal cross-linked telopeptide of type I collagen (ICTP) concentrations for screening dogs for the presence of osteosarcoma.

Sample Population: 32 client-owned dogs with osteosarcoma (27 dogs with osteosarcoma of the appendicular skeleton and 5 dogs with osteosarcoma of the axial skeleton) and 44 non-tumor-bearing control dogs.

Procedures: Serum was obtained from blood samples collected from dogs with osteosarcoma and from clinically normal dogs.

Comparison of results from the semiautomated serum bone alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme assay with the periosteal alkaline phosphatase assay for use in rat models.

Background: Assessment of bone formation activity is an important component of pharmacologic efficacy and toxicity evaluations for compounds in development for osteoporosis therapies. Antemortem biomarkers of bone formation and remodeling in rodents are uncommon. While the periosteal alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assay is a postmortem and laborious means of testing bone-building activity, the semiautomated ALP isoenzyme assay is an antemortem assay that is performed on an automated chemistry analyzer after 2 simple dilutions of the initial serum sample and a short incubation.

Disrupted bone metabolism in contaminant-exposed white storks (Ciconia ciconia) in southwestern Spain.

In 1998, the Aznalcóllar mine tailings dyke in southwestern Spain broke, flooding the Agrio-Guadiamar river system with acid tailings up to the borders of one of the largest breeding colonies of white storks in the western Palearctic, Dehesa de Abajo. Over the following years, a high proportion of nestlings developed leg defects not seen before the spill, prompting this study. Nestlings with deformed legs had significantly lower plasma phosphorous (P) and higher Ca:P ratios than non-deformed cohorts in the first two years, but in the third year, when more, younger birds were studied, plasma P ranged from much higher to much lower in the affected colony compared with reference birds.

Evaluation of the influence of S-adenosylmethionine on systemic and hepatic effects of prednisolone in dogs.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of a 1,4-butanedisulfonate stable salt of S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe) administered orally on clinicopathologic and hepatic effects induced by long-term administration of prednisolone in dogs.

Animals: 12 healthy dogs.

Procedure: Following a pilot study (4 dogs), 2 groups of 4 dogs received prednisolone (2.

Serum alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme profiles in phenobarbital-treated epileptic dogs.

Background: Serum total alkaline phosphatase (AP) activity commonly is high in dogs receiving phenobarbital. Specific isoenzymes responsible for this increase are not well documented.

Objectives: The purposes of this study were 1) to qualitatively and quantitatively describe serum AP isoenzymes in phenobarbital-treated dogs and 2) to monitor changes in serum AP isoenzyme activities associated with phenobarbital treatment over time.

Kinetics of mRNA expression of alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in hepatic tissues from glucocorticoid-treated dogs.

Objective: To clone segments of the canine liver alkaline phosphatase (LALP) and corticosteroid-induced alkaline phosphatase (CIALP) genes and use those clones to determine the tissue source of CIALP, the kinetics of LALP and CIALP mRNA expression for glucocorticoid-treated dogs, and the correlation between LALP and CIALP transcript concentrations and isoenzyme activities.

Sample Population: Tissues obtained from 7 dogs treated with prednisone (1 mg/kg, SC, q 24 h) for up to 32 days and 1 untreated (control) dog.

Procedure: Gene segments of LALP and CIALP were obtained by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay.

Alkaline phosphatase expression in tissues from glucocorticoid-treated dogs.

Objective: To determine the effect of glucocorticoids on the induction of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzymes in the liver, kidneys, and intestinal mucosa, 3 tissues that are principally responsible for ALP synthesis in dogs.

Sample Population: Tissues from the liver, kidneys, and intestinal mucosa of 6 dogs treated with 1 mg of prednisone/kg/d for 32 days and 6 untreated control dogs.

Procedures: Using canine-specific primers for the ALP isoenzymes, a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay was designed to measure liver ALP (LALP) and intestinal ALP (IALP) mRNA and heterogeneous nuclear RNA (hnRNA) expression in tissues from the liver and kidneys and intestinal mucosa of glucocorticoid-treated and control dogs.

Semiautomated analysis of alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in serum of normal cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis).

Alkaline phosphatase (ALP) isoenzyme analysis, using a combination of wheat germ lectin (WGL) precipitation, levamisole inhibition and an automated p-nitrophenylphosphate assay was validated for use with serum from monkeys (Macaca fascicularis) and used to determine the activities of liver ALP (LALP), bone ALP (BALP) and intestinal ALP (IALP). Based on serial dilution studies and within-run and between-run coefficients of variation, each assay had excellent linearity and acceptable precision. In addition, liver and intestinal mucosa extracts for tissue specific alkaline phosphatases were used to confirm assay validations.

Quantification of bone alkaline phosphatase in canine serum.

An assay was developed and proven accurate and precise for the quantification of canine serum alkaline phosphatase of bone origin (BAP). The assay uses wheat germ lectin (WGL) which selectively precipitates SAP but not liver alkaline phosphatase (LAP) in serum preincubated for 1 hour at 37 degrees C before conducting the assay. Although a large percentage of corticosteroid-induced alkaline phos- phatase (CAP) is also precipitated by WGL, the activity of this isoenzyme can be determined by utilizing the automated levamisole inhibition assay and BAP determined by subtraction except in those cases in which CAP is very markedly increased.