Serum symmetric dimethylarginine shows a relatively consistent long-term concentration in healthy dogs with a significant effect of increased body fat percentage

Abstract

Symmetric dimethylarginine (SDMA) is a promising renal marker that correlates well with the glomerular filtration rate and could allow earlier detection of impaired renal function. The main objectives of this study were to assess the long-term variability of SDMA in healthy dogs and examine the influence of an increased body fat percentage on the level of SDMA. Sixteen lean Beagles were randomly assigned to the control group or weight-change group in age- and gender-matched pairs. The energy intake of the control group (n = 8) was strictly regulated to maintain an ideal body weight for 83 weeks, while the weight-change group (n = 8) was fed to induce weight gain (week 0–47), to maintain stable excessive body weight (week 47–56) and to lose weight (week 56–83), consecutively. At 8 specified time points, the body condition score, body composition, glomerular filtration rate, serum concentration of SDMA and creatinine were analyzed. In the control group, the within-subject coefficient of variation, between-subject coefficient of variation, reference change value (type I error = 5%) and index of individuality were 0.16, 0.22, 0.43 and 0.73, respectively. The control group and weight-change group did not differ significantly in SDMA concentration. SDMA showed a significant negative association (coefficient = -0.07) with body fat percentage (p<0.01) in the weight-change group and a significant positive association (coefficient = 7.79) with serum creatinine (p<0.01) in the entire study population. In conclusion, SDMA concentration has high long-term stability in healthy adult dogs. For the evaluation of SDMA concentrations, subject-specific reference values are preferred over a population-based reference value seen their higher sensitivity. Moreover, an increased body fat percentage does seem to affect the serum SDMA concentration of otherwise healthy dogs, but its clinical relevance has to be clarified in further research.

Effect of withholding food versus feeding on creatinine, symmetric dimethylarginine, cholesterol, triglycerides, and other biochemical analytes in 100 healthy dogs

“…One disadvantage of this approach is that TEa is only published for a subset of analytes and was not available for SDMA or lipase. Changes in SDMA were therefore compared to preprandial values using RCV reported by 1 study, 20 while changes in lipase activity were compared to the RI.…”

“… 22 Changes in SDMA were compared against a recently reported RCV of 43%, which represents the minimum percent change to consider 2 consecutive measurements different (ie, 43% change between 2 consecutive SDMA measurements cannot be attributed to natural variation alone). 20 The number of postprandial results that moved outside of the RI were also determined.…”

“…These values were determined by the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology and represent quality goals for the maximum tolerable analytical error for each analyte, beyond which clinical decision‐making might be impacted 22 . Changes in SDMA were compared against a recently reported RCV of 43%, which represents the minimum percent change to consider 2 consecutive measurements different (ie, 43% change between 2 consecutive SDMA measurements cannot be attributed to natural variation alone) 20 . The number of postprandial results that moved outside of the RI were also determined.…”

“…Postprandial measurements were compared to preprandial measurements using allowable total error (TEa), a quality requirement based on analytical imprecision and bias along with clinical decision thresholds for each analyte that represents the maximum acceptable analytical error to ensure clinical usefulness. No TEa is reported for SDMA, so change was compared against a recently reported reference change value (RCV), 20 which is the minimum percent change needed to consider 2 consecutive results in an individual to be significantly different.…”

Using bioelectrical impedance analysis for modeling regression and predicting body fat accumulation in dogs in East Thailand

“…Both overweight and obesity in dogs are complex disorders [7,8] and can cause respiratory problems [9]. A recent study determined that overweight and obesity can affect the serum concentration of symmetric dimethyl arginine [10]. Dog obesity causes several health problems and contributes to other disorders, such as musculoskeletal problems, respiratory distress, heart disease, and diabetes mellitus [11][12][13][14][15][16].…”