Serum hepcidin measurements in healthy dogs using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry.

Background: Hepcidin is a key regulator of iron homeostasis. The measurement of this hormone is essential for the diagnosis of iron deficiency anemia and might be useful as a prognostic factor in many diseases. Serum hepcidin levels have been infrequently evaluated in dogs.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to measure serum hepcidin in a population of healthy dogs using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), considered the gold standard assay for measuring hepcidin like in human medicine.

Methods: Blood samples from 86 healthy dogs of 25 different breeds were measured with the LC-MS/MS method. Synthetic canine hepcidin was used as the standard reagent. Reference values were calculated based on the results.

Results: The mean hepcidin concentration of the study population was 16.6 ± 7.7 ng/mL. There reference interval (RI) was defined as 5.3-36.4 ng/mL. No significant difference was found between male and female dogs, or between different age and body weight groups. Hepcidin concentrations did not correlate with red blood cell counts, hemoglobin concentrations, iron levels, iron-binding capacities, and C-reactive protein concentrations in this healthy population. A weak negative correlation was found between hepcidin and the mean corpuscular volume.

Conclusion: LC-MS/MS proved to be a reliable and time-effective method for the detection of canine hepcidin. The RI was similar but narrower compared with that of human studies.