Evaluation of Serum Phosphorylated Neurofilament Subunit NF‐H as a Prognostic Biomarker in Dogs With Thoracolumbar Intervertebral Disc Herniation

Abstract

Serum pNF-H levels might be a biomarker for predicting prognosis of canine SCI.

The developing landscape of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for spinal cord injury in cerebrospinal fluid and blood

“…Nishida et al (2012) demonstrated that in dogs with degenerative disc 298 disease (DDD; n=60), pNF-H levels rose incrementally with the grade of injury severity observed 299 (62). This study also demonstrated that those animals with the highest serum pNF-H levels at veterinary presentation post-SCI were not able to regain the ability to walk following surgery (62). …”

“…SCI has been shown to result in increased levels of pNF-H in the CSF and blood of humans, rats and 289 canines (9,34,61,62), as assessed using ELISA. In rat serum for example, no pNF-H can be detected, 290 using ELISA, in uninjured and sham injured animals, however, severe experimental SCI results in 291 high levels of measurable pNF-H (34).…”

Factors associated with recovery from paraplegia in dogs with loss of pain perception in the pelvic limbs following intervertebral disk herniation

“…[20][21][22] However, neither of those methods alone provides prognostic accuracy superior to that of testing for deep pain perception. Measurement of various biomarker concentrations in serum or CSF [23][24][25][26] holds considerable promise for future prognostication but is insufficiently sensitive and specific at present.…”

Biomarkers of spinal cord injury and ensuing bladder dysfunction

“…In SCI dogs, blood levels of phosphoNFs were positively correlated with the severity of the injury. As an example, animals with higher levels of phosphoNFs in the serum did not regain walking ability even after corrective surgery [37]. In humans, phosphoNFs were detected in the CSF of SCI patients, higher levels being associated with more severe injuries and poorer outcomes [38,39].…”