Objective: To provide values for gastrointestinal permeability and absorptive function tests (GIPFTs) with chromium 51 (51Cr)-labeled EDTA, lactulose, rhamnose, d-xylose, 3-O-methyl-d-glucose, and sucrose in Beagles and to evaluate potential correlations between markers. Animals: 19 healthy adult male Beagles. Procedures: A test solution containing 3.7 MBq of 51Cr-labeled EDTA, 2 g of lactulose, 2 g of rhamnose, 2 g of d-xylose, 1 g of 3-O-methyl-d-glucose, and 8 g of sucrose was administered intragastrically to each dog. Urinary recovery of each probe was determined 6 hours after administration. Results: Mean ± SD (range) percentage urinary recovery was 6.3 ± 1.6% (4.3% to 9.7%) for 51Cr-labeled EDTA, 3.3 ± 1.1% (1.7% to 5.3%) for lactulose, 25.5 ± 5.0% (16.7% to 36.9%) for rhamnose, and 58.8% ± 11.0% (40.1% to 87.8%) for 3-O-methyl-d-glucose. Mean (range) recovery ratio was 0.25 ± 0.06 (0.17 to 0.37) for 51Cr-labeled EDTA to rhamnose, 0.13 ± 0.04 (0.08 to 0.23) for lactulose to rhamnose, and 0.73 ± 0.09 (0.60 to 0.90) for d-xylose to 3-O-methyl-d-glucose. Median (range) percentage urinary recovery was 40.3% (31.6% to 62.7%) for d-xylose and 0% (0% to 0.8%) for sucrose. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Reference values in healthy adult male Beagles for 6 of the most commonly used GIPFT markers were determined. The correlation between results for 51Cr-labeled EDTA and lactulose was not as prominent as that reported for humans and cats; thus, investigators should be cautious in the use and interpretation of GIPFTs performed with sugar probes in dogs with suspected intestinal dysbiosis.

Objective-To measure concentrations of sucrose in the serum of captive dolphins after oral administration of a sucrose solution and determine the suitability of this method for use as a test to detect gastric ulcers. Animals-8 adult captive bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Procedures-Blood samples were collected from the ventral fluke vein of dolphins before and 45 minutes after oral administration of 500 mL of solution containing 25 or 50 g of sucrose; oral administration was achieved by use of gastric intubation. Serum was separated, diluted in a solution of 90% acetonitrile-to-10% water that contained 10 ng of an internal standard (trichlormethiazide)/microliter, mixed, and centrifuged. Supernatant was analyzed by use of liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS). Results-Serum sucrose concentrations of dolphins were at or less than the limits of detection before oral administration. Values after administration of sucrose solution varied among dolphins and were higher and more variable after administration of 50 g, compared with concentrations after administration of 25 g. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-Serum sucrose concentrations in samples collected during routine health evaluations of captive dolphins can be reliably measured by use of LC-MS-MS. Correlating serum sucrose concentrations with endoscopic observations of the gastric mucosa of dolphins will validate this approach for use in screening for the prevalence and severity of gastric ulcers and determining the efficacy of treatment regimens.

The objective of this study was to describe the kinetics of urinary recovery and to evaluate the effects of postmucosal factors on urinary recovery of 5 intravenously administered saccharides. Ten cats received an isotonic sugar solution containing lactulose, rhamnose, xylose, methylglucose, and sucrose intravenously. These sugars were selected because of their prior use for intestinal permeability and mucosal function testing in humans and dogs. Urethral catheterization with a closed collection system was used for collection of cumulative urine samples prior to and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 24 h after administration of the sugar solution. High-pressure anion exchange liquid chromatography with pulsed amperometric detection was used to measure the concentrations of each sugar in the urine and calculate urinary recovery. Twenty-four hour cumulative urinary recovery for each sugar from the cats, was lower than expected compared to dogs and humans. All 5 sugars had the highest percentage of urinary recovery during the first 2 h after administration. Mean sugar elimination rate constants and half-lives ranged from 0.268/h for methylglucose to 0.415/h for lactulose and 1.67 h for lactulose to 2.59 h for methylglucose, respectively. Metabolism and incomplete urine collection are possible reasons for lower cumulative urinary recoveries of these 5 sugars in cats compared with dogs. Although these 5 sugars are not ideal marker molecules, they may still be useful for intestinal permeability and mucosal function testing in cats.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) are widely used for treatment of people and animals. Their use is limited by frequent side effects commonly involving the gastrointestinal tract, most important of which is development of ulcerating lesions principally in the stomach. Unfortunately, presence of such lesions is often unsuspected because clinical signs may be overlooked until a complication develops. We reported that such damage can be detected by measuring the increase in gastric permeability that is a hallmark of this condition. Sucrose is a novel probe molecule for determination of site-specific gastric permeability. As a disaccharide, it is large enough to be effectively excluded by the intact gastric epithelium, and because it is rapidly digested within the small intestine, absorption of the intact molecule implies damage proximal to this site. Recently, we found that increased sucrose permeability is useful in predicting presence of endoscopically relevant gastric damage in people. We extended these results to the detection of NSAID-induced gastropathy in dogs. Dogs treated with aspirin developed NSAID-induced gastropathy (including gastric ulceration), and the degree of endoscopically detectable damage correlated well with sucrose permeability. Furthermore, healing of these lesions could also be monitored by sequential measurements of sucrose permeability. Sucrose permeability decreased more rapidly than the disappearance of gastric ulcers, suggesting that this technique is more sensitive to generalized mucosal damage than is the presence of discrete, endoscopically visible ulceration. This was confirmed by creating artificial ulcers in the antrum and observing that sucrose permeability was not increased in this setting. We conclude that determination of increased sucrose permeability is a useful, noninvasive means of predicting presence of gastric damage in dogs treated with NSAID.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of cold storage (CS) on immediate posttransplantation function of renal autografts in cats. ANIMALS 15 healthy 1-year-old cats. PROCEDURES Cats were assigned to 2 groups and underwent autotransplantation of the left kidney followed by nephrectomy of the right kidney. The left kidney was autotransplanted either immediately (IT group; n = 6) or after being flushed with a cold sucrose phosphate solution and stored on ice while the implant site was prepared (CS group; 9). Serum creatinine and BUN concentrations were monitored daily and autografts were ultrasonographically examined intermittently for 14 days after surgery. RESULTS Mean duration of CS was 24 minutes for the CS group. Posttransplantation serum creatinine and BUN concentrations for the CS group had lower peak values, returned to the respective reference ranges quicker, and were generally significantly lower than those for the IT group. Mean posttransplantation autograft size for the CS group was smaller than that for the IT group. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Results indicated that immediate posttransplantation function of renal autografts following a short period of CS was better than that of renal autografts that did not undergo CS, which suggested CS protected grafts from ischemic injury and may decrease perioperative complications, speed recovery, and improve the long-term outcome for cats with renal transplants. IMPACT FOR HUMAN MEDICINE Cats metabolize immunosuppressive drugs in a manner similar to humans; therefore, renal transplantation in cats may serve as a desirable model for investigating the effects of renal transplantation in human patients.

OBJECTIVE To determine the tonicity effects of β-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate, and lactate in canine RBCs. SAMPLE RBCs from approximately 40 dogs. PROCEDURES 2 in vitro methods were used to conduct 4 experiments. The modified osmotic fragility assay was used to measure the ability of ketoacid salts added to serial sucrose dilutions to protect RBCs from osmotic hemolysis. In a second assay, a handheld cell counting device was used to measure changes in RBC diameter to assess the tonicity effect of solutions of ketoacid and lactate salts. RESULTS For the modified osmotic fragility assay, all ketoacid salts had an osmoprotective effect, but the effect was determined to be completely attributable to the tonicity effect of added cations (sodium and lithium) and not the ketoacid moieties. However, both the sodium and lithium lactate salts provided osmoprotection attributable to both the cation and lactate anion. For the second assay, RBC diameter was significantly increased with the addition of urea (an ineffective osmole) but did not change with the addition of glucose (an effective osmole), which established the behaviors of ineffective and effective osmoles in this assay. The RBC diameter was significantly increased over that of control samples by the addition of sodium β-hydroxybutyrate, lithium acetoacetate, and lithium lactate but was decreased by the addition of sodium lactate. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE For both assays, β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate acted as ineffective osmoles, whereas lactate acted as an effective osmole in 3 of 4 experiments.

Investigation of the efficiency of ethylene glycol and sucrose application in the capacity of cryoprotectors for cryopreservation of cattle embryos and their thawing in the conditions of application of saline solutions (as their dissolution medium) and nutritive media with a various structure was realized in the conditions of the Republic of Belarus. Research results showed that application of ethylene glycol in concentration 1,5 M and sucrose in concentration 1,0M proved to be the most effective. Regardless of the applied media the average safety of embryos was 93,8-96%, and acceptability - 59,3-62,5%. Peculiar feature of ethylene glycol use as cryoprotector for preservation of cattle embryos was that it could be quickly absorbed by a cell and quickly deduced from it. It made it possible to realize embryo transfer immediately after thawing. Application of ethylene glycol and sucrose as cryoprotectors could considerably simplify the procedure of transplantation of the frozen-thawed embryos, practically reducing it to a procedure of artificial insemination