2015 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

A total of twenty-two biopsy-confirmed canine IBD patients received either a placebo (group A; n = 12) or the oral supplement (group B; n = 10) orally once daily for six months. During the study, all dogs were given the same special hypoallergenic diet. Pre and post treatment serum biochemical markers, histopathology and CIBDAI scores were compared. Biopsies were scored based on the WSAVA guidelines for the assessment of endoscopic intestinal biopsy samples. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) of repeated measures and an uncorrected Fisher's Least Significant Difference (LSD) test were used to compare the values in each group at different times before and during treatment. Unpaired t test was performed to compare pretreatment values between groups. Analytes that did not follow a parametric distribution were log transformed before applying the test. Dogs in group B showed increased serum concentrations of cholesterol and paraoxonase-1 (PON1) after one month of treatment compared with pretreatment values (median: 242.9 mg/L vs 163.3 mg/L; P = 0.0094 for cholesterol and median: 2.7 UI/ml vs 2.0 UI/ml; P < 0.0001 for PON1) and increased serum concentrations of triglycerides after three months of treatment (median 82.38 mg/L vs 42.91 mg/L; P = 0.034). These changes were not seen in the placebo group, and could indicate an improvement in intestinal absorption and a decrease in oxidative damage associated with IBD in the supplemented group. Group B showed a 1.6-fold decrease (P = 0.0011) in mean histologic severity score at the end of the follow-up. A limitation of the study was that before initiating the treatment this parameter was significantly higher in the supplemented group (P = 0.01), compared to the placebo group. Initially, there were no significant differences (P = 0.53) in mean CIBDAI between groups (median group A: 6.5; group B: 7). A significant reduction in mean CIBDAI was observed in both groups after six months, which might be due to the special diet. However, the supplemented group experienced a faster clinical improvement, as shown by a more pronounced decrease in mean CIBDAI especially after one (1.75-fold; P = 0.003) and two months (3.5-fold; P = 0.0002) of treatment, compared to the placebo group (1.62-fold and 2.6-fold; P = 0.04 and P = 0.01, respectively). No side effects related to the treatments were reported in any of the groups.