RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS OF THE 28th ECVIM-CA CONGRESS

Diagnosis of canine chronic enteropathies (CE) is challenging and requires a thorough clinical, laboratory and histological evaluation. Nevertheless, disorders related to CE are further retrospectively classified by their responsiveness to sequential therapeutic trials. Convincing evidence suggests that the endocannabinoid (eCB) system is expressed in the gut and that eCBs can modulate major gastrointestinal functions. The purposes of the study were to estimate plasma levels of 2‐arachidonoylglycerol (2‐AG), arachidonoylethanolamide (anandamide, AEA), palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), and oleoylethanolamide (OEA) in healthy dogs, to ascertain their potential as diagnostic markers of canine CEs. Dogs with CE were divided into 4 groups: Food Responsive (FRE) and Antibiotic Responsive Enteropathy (ARE), Idiopathic Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Protein Losing Enteropathy (PLE). Plasmatic 2‐AG, AEA, PEA and OEA levels were determined by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC‐MS). All data were expressed in pmol/ml as medians (interquartile range), and were compared using non‐parametric tests. The diagnostic accuracy was assessed by a ROC‐curve. P‐values <0.05 were considered significant.