دکتر داریوش شیرانی

In cats, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) stands out as a prevailing heart disease. The mutations in the gene that encodes cardiac myosin-binding protein C (MYBPC3) have been detected in the Ragdoll and Maine Coon breeds. 

HCM is believed to be hereditary in other breeds, too. 

Blood samples were collected for DNA extraction from 2 unaffected and 7 affected Persian breed cats with HCM. Besides accomplishing conventional polymerase chain reaction, DNA sequencing was performed. The sequence changes were utilized to detect single nucleotide polymorphisms in the MYBPC3 gene and predict amino acid substitutions based on the Acc. No. XM_019812396.1 and comparisons with the literature on identified breed variants and control samples.

Although many single nucleotide polymorphisms were found in the affected and unaffected Persian cats, no causative mutation for HCM was observed.

In this breed, HCM does not seem to be caused solely by mutations in this cardiac gene. Potential cardiac genes should be investigated to uncover other genetic reasons for this cardiac disease in the Persian cat breed.

Right ventricular structural and functional changes result from many cardiovascular disorders in cats. Accordingly, echocardiographic evaluation of the size and function of the right ventricle (RV) provides important prognostic information in many conditions affecting the right heart. Therefore, detection of these changes is clinically important and needs reference values to ease the diagnosis. The present study was designed to calculate structural and fanctional right ventricular variables in 10 apparently healthy cats (six males and four females, averege age 1 year old and body weight 2.70 - 4.80 kg) with no sedation. For this purpose, The minimum, maximum, mean ± standard error of the mean of right ventricle internal dimention in systole and diatole (cm), right ventricle free wall thickness in systole and diastole (cm), fractional shortening (%), right ventricle volume in systole and diastole (mL), right ventricle area in systole and diastole (cm2), ejection fraction (%) and fractional area change (%) were measured and reported. Descriptive statistics were provided for all calculated variables. Statistical correlation of the collected variables with body weight, gender and heart rate were analyzed. Results showed that there is a significant correlation between heart rate with body weight and between systolic and diastolic RV volumes with gender. The results of the present study would help clinicians in the diagnosis of the right heart changes in DSH cats.

Feline mammary carcinoma (FMC) is the third most common cancer in cats. Diagnosis of mammary gland tumors (MGTs) increases every year; this might be due to the rise in occurrence or improvements in methods of detecting MGTs. Determinants associated withtheir occurrence are studied in the present paper.

In this case-series study, 40 queens with FMC were referred to the determined major veterinary hospitals of Tehran for treatment between 2020 and 2022; their mammary carcinoma had been confirmed by the attended pathologist. Different parameters including age of cancer diagnosis, breed, reproductive status, BCS, diet type, parity, tumor size, multiple tumors, ER and PR status, location and type of treatment were recorded on the day of presentation using a checklist.

Domestic short hairs were overrepresented. Also, queens with old age (more than 9 years old), homemade diet, sexually intact status, no parity, obesity, ER and PR positivity had higher frequency towards developing FMC. Imbalanced homemade diet energy is a speculated cause.

Humans and their companion animals share the same environment, thus being exposed to the same environmental risks. Although canine mammary tumors have been the focus of human breast cancer (HBC) modeling, this study also aimed to compare current feline mammary carcinoma determinants with previously defined human breast cancer determinants to produce a model. Based on the results of this study, we concluded that FMCs are a proper model to study HBC.

All organisms need iron for their survival and metabolic activity, and the healing process of patients depends on this element. Hence, its deficiency can negatively affect patients’ quality of life and cause disorders. Although iron deficiency is proven an important comorbidity in human and canine patients with heart failure, no research has been published on the role of iron in feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This research aimed to determine and compare the iron status of cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with and without congestive heart failure. Based on laboratory, radiographic, and echocardiographic findings, 45 client-owned cats were studied and divided into three groups: control, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) without congestive heart failure, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with congestive heart failure. Iron and ferritin concentrations, total iron-binding capacity (TIBC), and serum transferrin saturation (TSAT) percentage were measured and compared in all cats. Statistical nonparametric testing was used to analyze the data. No groups illustrate any statistically significant difference for iron concentration (P=0.3), ferritin concentration (P=0.853), TIBC (P=0.1), and TSAT (P=0.639). The highest iron concentration and the lowest transferrin level and the transferrin saturation percentage were observed in the HCM group with congestive heart failure. Also, cats without congestive heart failure had the lowest TIBC compared to other groups. Unlike previous studies in dogs and humans, our study did not show a significant difference between cats with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy regarding iron status.

Right ventricular parameters change in many cardiovascular diseases; so, the presence of normal right ventricular parameters is necessary to diagnose these diseases. Ten clinically healthy adult domestic short-haired cats including six males and four females in the range of 2.70 to 4.80 kg were studied using echocardiography without sedation. The speed and pressure of blood flow through the tricuspid and pulmonary valves, speed of the movement of tricuspid valve and tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) were recorded using conventional pulsed-wave (PW) Doppler, tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and M-mode, respectively. No significant statistical differences were observed between the measured values and sex, heart rate and body weight. A positive correlation was observed between the maximum velocity of the right ventricular outflow tract and heart rate and also between TAPSE slope and body weight. With determining the normal values of PW-TDI of the right ventricle in apparently healthy domestic short-haired cats, it is expected that with providing normal reference values, the diagnosis of heart diseases especially asymptomatic heart disease be achieved as soon as possible to provide the best appropriate therapeutic management and monitoring decision about them.

The severity of congenital heart disease can range from trivial to life-threatening conditions, and clinical signs might have no specific manifestation prior to sudden death. Radiographic and echocardiographic examinations of all kittens early in their lives are advisable due to the difficulties of diagnosis based on physical examination alone.

The current study aimed to evaluate echocardiographic and radiographic findings in a group of cats with atrial septal defect (ASD) and compare their LV-study with another group of cats with normal cardiac indices.

In the group of cats with ASD, medical records were reviewed for signalment, clinical findings, and echocardiographic data, as well as measurements in B-mode, M-mode, and color Doppler. In the normal heart group, all radiographic and echocardiographic findings were normal and echocardiographic data were compared with the same data in the group of cats with ASD.

We found that the shunt direction in all cats with ASD was left-to-right. The mean left atrial (LA)/aortic diameter (Ao) and IVSd were the only two LV-study parameters that were significantly higher in the group of patients than the control group. However, other LV-study parameters showed non-significant differences between these two groups. The mean IVSs, EF%, and FS% in the patients were higher than the control group, while the mean LVIDs in the group of patients was lower than the control group and the mean LVIDd, LVPWd, and LVPWs were almost the same in the two groups.

The results of this study showed that despite the defect in the interatrial septum of the patients, most of their left ventricular echocardiographic parameters showed no significant differences with normal refer-ences.

Diagnosis of Echinococcus granulosus in the definitive host particularly in dog is the significant complication in the endemic area.
The aim of this study is serological detection of E. granulosus in the infected dogs.
Dot-ELISA based on the copro-antigen and recombinant EPC1 antigen (rEPC1) for antibody detection was performed. Blood and fecal samples were collected from eleven treated poppies with 90000–100000 protoscoleces (90% viability) and four treated poppies with distilled water as controls, on day before challenge and 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 days post challenges. Furthermore, the blood and fecal samples were collected from 35 naturally infected dogs.
In terms of experimentally infected dogs, sensitivity and specificity of Dot- ELISA were close for both antigens (copro- antigen, rEPC1) that were determined to be 100%, 88% for copro–antigen, and 100 and 94% for rEPC1, respectively. In the context of naturally infected dogs, our findings showed similar sensitivity in Dot –ELISA based on the anti-body detection (using rEPC1), and antigen detection (using copro–antigen), (100%), while these methods provided different specificity about 75% for rEPC1 and 58% for copro–antigen.
Our findings indicated that both antigens are qualified. REPC1 antigen is not capable to detect the infection during the first 15 days post-infection, whereas the antibody cannot be detectable. REPC1 protein may work for screening of E. granulosus, while copro-antigen can be useful for diagnosis of current acute infection. However, both methods are recommended for screening of sheepdog, guard dogs and police dogs.

Clinical prostatic diseases occur in 80% of dogs over 5 and 95% over 9 years of age. . It seems that benign prostatic hyperplasia) BPH) affect Scottish terriers more severely than the other breeds.
This study aimed to evaluate the changes of biochemical and hematological parameters in BPH dogs.
Blood samples were collected from 10 male dogs older than five years suffering from BPH which referred to Small Animal Hospital of the Veterinary Faculty of Tehran University. The diagnosis of BPH was based on clinical, laboratory surveys and ultrasonography. 10 normal male dogs with same age, breed and weight were selected as control group. Then serum acid phosphatase (TAP and PAP), CRP, urea, creatinine, total protein, albumin, globulins and hematological parameters were assayed and the results were analyzed by Independent student T-test. Also Pearson’s linear correlation test was used to determine the correlation between TAP, PAP, CRP and ESR with length and width of prostate.
The length(p=0.008 (, width (p= 0.01)of prostates were significantly higher in dogs suffering from BPH compared to the healthy dogs .TAP and PAP levels significantly elevated in all dogs in BPH group (approximately 6 times) compared to the controls (P=0.001). Moreover, serumic CRP concentration was elevated in some of BPH dogs (approximately 6 times) (p=0.001). While there were significant ESR elevation in some of dogs in disease group compared to the normal dogs, no significant difference was observed in other biochemical and hematological parameters between two groups (p>0.05). There were a highly significant correlation btween serum TAP and PAP (p≤ 0.01) with prostate’s length and width which was more than CRP.
The serum acid phosphatase, CRP and ESR were elevated in BPH dogs but the increase in serum acid phosphatase was more important than the others. It is recommended that each laboratory should use its own values of acid phosphatase in dogs.