Targeted Metabolomics With Ultraperformance Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-MS) Highlights Metabolic Differences in Healthy and Atopic Staffordshire Bull Terriers Fed Two Different Diets, A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: While anecdotal evidence has long claimed that a raw meat-based diet (RMBD) improves the metabolic health of canines, no rigorous scientific study has clarified this issue. Canine atopic dermatitis (CAD) has also been linked to metabolic health, but its relation to diet remains poorly understood. This study investigates whether dietary choice is linked to metabolic health in healthy and CAD-diagnosed canines via targeted serum and urine metabolomic analysis of polar, non-ionic metabolites, as well as whether the underlying CAD condition modulates the response to nutritional intake. Materials and Methods: Serum metabolites of client-owned Staffordshire bull terriers, divided into CAD-diagnosed (n = 14) and healthy (n = 6) cohorts, were studied. Urine metabolites of a subset of the CAD-diagnosed canines (n = 8) were also studied. The canines were split into two cohorts based on diet. The first cohort were fed a commercially available high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carbohydrate RMBD (n = 11, CAD diagnosed n = 8, healthy n = 3). Those in the second cohort were fed a commercially available moderate-fat, moderate-protein, high-carbohydrate kibble diet (KD) (n = 9: CAD diagnosed n = 6, healthy n = 3). The diet intervention period lasted approximately 4.5 months (median 135 days). Statistical analyses of the serum profiles across all dogs (n = 20) and the urine profiles of the CAD-diagnosed subset (n = 8) were performed. Results and Discussion: The KD cohort was found to have higher concentrations of methionine than the RMBD cohort, both in serum (all dogs, p < 0.0001) and in urine (CAD-only cohort, p < 0.0002), as well as cystathionine and 4-pyridoxic acid. Methionine plays important roles in homocysteine metabolism, and elevated levels have been implicated in various pathologies. The CAD (n = 14) cohort dogs showed starker Moore et al. Canine Targeted Metabolomics Diet Intervention metabolic changes in response to diet regarding these pathways compared to the healthy (n = 6) cohort. However, there was no significant change in CAD severity as a result of either diet. Likely due to the higher meat content of the RMBD, higher concentrations of several carnitines and creatine were found in the RMBD cohort. Citrulline was found in higher concentrations in the KD cohort. Our findings provide insight into the relationship between diet and the serum and urine metabolite profiles of canines. They also suggest that neither diet significantly affected CAD severity.

The impact of high-glucose or high-fat diets on the metabolomic profiling of mice

“…The incidence of obesity and diabetes has also risen in younger individuals with morbidity significantly increasing in children and young people (3,4). To mitigate these Xie et al 10.3389/fnut. 2023.1171806 Frontiers in Nutrition 02 frontiersin.org diseases, dietary education is usually recommended.…”

“…Diets have long been suspected by researchers to have a role in the development of obesity and other metabolic diseases, however, in the last few decades they have been the focus of a comprehensive investigation. To date, most studies that have revealed the intimate interplay between diet style and metabolism have been performed on a limited number of samples or tissues in animal models ( 9 , 10 ). There are few studies to evaluate the metabonomic changes of the main tissues in animal models comprehensively.…”

The effect of puppyhood and adolescent diet on the incidence of chronic enteropathy in dogs later in life

“…In addition, research indicates that dogs intuitively select a dietary macronutrient composition dominated by protein and fat 29,44 . Feeding dogs a NPMD is known to affect serum, urine and fecal metabolite concentrations when compared to feeding an UPCD (dry dog food) diet 45,46 although the meaning of these changes still requires further research.…”