SORBITOL DEHYDROGENASE OF CATS BLOOD UNDER DIABETES MELLITUS

Diabetes mellitus is one of the most widely spread non-infectious cats and dogs diseases and in modern times it is reaching epidemic levels. The purpose of the research was to determine enzymes activity, which is a marker of liver’s functional activity: alanine aminotransferase, asparagine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and sorbitol dehydrogenase in cats suffering from diabetes mellitus, and another purpose was to study the dynamics of sorbitol dehydrogenase activity. Two groups of cats aged 5–7 years old (males and females) 10 cats in each group were formed for the research. A control group comprised clinically healthy animals, experimental group comprised animals diagnosed with diabetes mellitus. The results of the research showed that in cats of the experimental group the glucose content was 3.31 times as high as in cats of a control group. Fructosamine characterizes the duration of hyperglycemia and in cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus its content overshot the control indices by 32 %, that testifies to a long-standing increase in glucose amount. Because of diabetes mellitus, water-salt metabolism is damaged, for instance blood osmolality is increased. The determination of enzymes activity showed that transaminase activity doubled, whereas the alkaline phosphatase activity increased by 25 %. The concentration of total bilirubin increased more than three-fold as compared to the control. The sorbitol dehydrogenase activity in cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus was in 2.25 times higher as compared to the animals in a control group. The activity of this enzyme, contrary to transaminase activity, is increased during the first days after hepatic dysfunction symptoms. Thus, in cats diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, liver function abnormality is developed which is manifested in activity changes of alanine aminotransferase, asparagine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase in the increase in bilirubin concentration as well as in the increase of sorbitol dehydrogenase activity. This enzyme is a valuable biochemical marker of liver function abnormality on the early stages of pathology development.