2017 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

The CE group was comprised of seven dogs (3 females and 4 males, median: 7 years, range: 6 months to 10 years) with a history of gastrointestinal signs for more than three weeks, mild to moderate inflammatory infiltration of the colonic mucosa, and no other identified cause for gastrointestinal (GI) inflammation. The control group consisted of six adult dogs (3 females and 3 males; median: 4 years, range: 1 to 13 years) that were humanely euthanized due to causes not related to this study. These dogs did not have any GI signs or histopathologic lesions. None of the dogs in this study received antibiotic or corticosteroid therapy within 3 weeks of colonic and fecal sampling. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections of colon were used for immunohistochemistry. Heat-induced antigen retrieval was performed and after blocking, tissues were incubated with a polyclonal TGR5 antibody (directed against amino acids 264-330 of human TGR5) that was diluted 1:100 or rabbit IgG as a negative control for 1 hour at room temperature. Concentrations of fecal bile acids were measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test for statistical significance (P < 0.05).