Department of Specialty Medicine, Midwestern University College of Veterinary Medicine, Glendale, Arizona, United States of America.
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary Health Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Dec 16;15(12):e0244102. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0244102. eCollection 2020.
Gallbladder mucocele (GBM) is a common biliary disorder in dogs. Gallbladder hypokinesia has been proposed to contribute to its formation and progression. The specific cause of gallbladder stasis in dogs with GBM as well as viable treatment options to resolve dysmotility remains unknown. Vitamin D deficiency is one of the many potential causes of gallbladder hypokinesia in humans and repletion results in complete resolution of stasis. Improving our understanding of the relationship between serum vitamin D and GBM could help identify dogs as a model for humans with gallbladder hypokinesia. Furthermore, this relationship could provide insight into the pathogenesis of GBM and support the need for future studies to investigate vitamin D as a novel treatment target. Therefore, goals of this study were i) to determine if serum 25-hydroxyvitamin(OH)D concentrations were decreased in dogs with GBM, ii) if serum 25(OH)D concentrations were different in clinical versus dogs subclinical for GBM, and iii) to determine if serum 25(OH)D concentrations could predict the ultrasonographic type of GBM. Sixty-two dogs (clinical, n = 26; subclinical, n = 36) with GBM and 20 healthy control dogs were included in this prospective observational study. Serum 25(OH)D concentrations were measured with a competitive chemiluminescence immunoassay. Overall, dogs with GBM had lower serum 25(OH)D concentrations than control dogs (P = 0.004). Subsequent subgroup analysis indicated that this difference was only significant in the subclinical group compared to the control dogs (P = 0.008), and serum 25(OH)D concentrations did not significantly differ between dogs clinical for GBM versus subclinical or control dogs, indicating that inflammatory state in clinical dogs was not the major constituent of the observed findings. Decreasing serum 25(OH)D concentrations, but not clinical status, was associated with a more advanced developmental stage of GBM type determined by ultrasonography. Our results indicate that vitamin D has a role in dogs with GBM. Additional studies are needed to assess if reduced vitamin D in dogs with GBM is a cause or effect of their biliary disease and to investigate if vitamin D supplementation could be beneficial for dogs with GBM.
胆囊黏液囊肿（GBM）是犬常见的胆道疾病。胆囊运动功能低下被认为是其形成和发展的原因之一。导致 GBM 犬胆囊淤滞的确切原因以及可行的治疗方法以解决运动功能障碍仍不清楚。维生素 D 缺乏是人类胆囊运动功能低下的众多潜在原因之一，补充维生素 D 可完全解决淤滞问题。深入了解血清维生素 D 与 GBM 之间的关系有助于将犬作为人类胆囊运动功能低下的模型进行识别。此外，这种关系可以深入了解 GBM 的发病机制，并支持未来研究将维生素 D 作为一种新的治疗靶点。因此，本研究的目的是：i）确定 GBM 犬的血清 25-羟维生素 D（25(OH)D）浓度是否降低，ii）GBM 临床和亚临床犬的血清 25(OH)D 浓度是否不同，以及 iii）确定血清 25(OH)D 浓度是否可以预测 GBM 的超声类型。本前瞻性观察性研究纳入了 62 只 GBM 犬（临床组，n = 26；亚临床组，n = 36）和 20 只健康对照犬。使用竞争性化学发光免疫分析法测定血清 25(OH)D 浓度。总体而言，GBM 犬的血清 25(OH)D 浓度低于对照组犬（P = 0.004）。进一步的亚组分析表明，与对照组相比，仅在亚临床组中差异具有统计学意义（P = 0.008），而 GBM 临床犬与亚临床犬或对照组犬之间的血清 25(OH)D 浓度无显著差异，表明临床犬的炎症状态不是观察到的发现的主要组成部分。血清 25(OH)D 浓度的降低，而不是临床状态，与超声检查确定的 GBM 类型的更高级发育阶段相关。我们的结果表明维生素 D 在 GBM 犬中起作用。需要进一步研究以评估 GBM 犬中维生素 D 减少是其胆道疾病的原因还是结果，并研究维生素 D 补充是否对 GBM 犬有益。
