Research Communications of the 27(th) ECVIM-CA Congress: Intercontinental, Saint Julian's, Malta, 14th to 16th September 2017

Canine gastric mucosa was collected immediately post-mortem from random-source dogs scheduled for euthanasia by an animal control facility. Acidic Ringer's solution (pH 1.2) was applied to the mucosa for 45-min. Tissue from each dog was also maintained at neutral pH Ringer's solution as control. GMBF was assessed using TER. Age, gender, neuter status, breed (large vs. small breed) and presence/degree of Helicobacter infection were correlated with baseline TER, change in control TER over time, change in TER with acid injury, and recovery of TER after acid injury. T-tests or Mann-Whitney Rank Sum tests were used to compare gender, neuter status, breed (large vs. small) and presence of Helicobacter with TER based on normality. Helicobacter infection was correlated with TER using Spearman rank correlation. Age was compared to TER using linear regression. Multiple linear regression identified predictive factors. Significance was set at P < 0.05.