Veterinary session

The acute phase reaction is a complex, cascade-like procedure, which is a part of adaptive immunity. It consists of several parts such as fever, leucocytosis, altered hormone levels, increased haemostasis and complement system activity, and changes in concentration of plasma proteins and the acute phase proteins. Considering these last ones, we can talk about positive and negative proteins, depending on the direction of the change, and whether the amount of them increases or decreases during the systemic response. In many pathological conditions, it is proven that the severity of their changes can be correlated to the severity of the diseases. This makes them really useful, in establishing the diagnosis of several illnesses and monitoring their progression. Acute pancreatitis is a common disease in dogs, which may have severe consequences, even death of the patients.

The aim of our research was to study the sequential changes of the following acute phase proteins: C-reactive protein, serum amyloid-A (SAA) and haptoglobin during artificially induced pancreatitis in dogs. We induced the disease with cerulein injection in ten experimental beagles, and we monitored the haematological, and biochemical alterations by sampling blood from the dogs for eight days.

Our results supported the adequacy of CRP, as an early diagnostic parameter as well as a good marker for monitoring the progression of canine acute pancreatitis. We have shown that the SAA levels were elevated in the serums with a few days' delay, which is not optimal from the clinical point of view since early therapy is essential for a better prognosis. Furthermore, we could not support other researchers’ findings – that it would have higher sensitivity than CRP. The temporary and minimal elevation of haptoglobin levels during the study suggests that haptoglobin is not suitable in the diagnostic or prognostic work-up of canine pancreatitis cases.