Metabolomic Analysis of Blood Plasma after Oral Administration of N-acetyl-d-Glucosamine in Dogs

Integrating (Nutri-)Metabolomics into the One Health Tendency-The Key for Personalized Medicine Advancement

Metabolomics is an advanced technology, still under development, with multiple research applications, especially in the field of health. Individual metabolic profiles, the functionality of the body, as well as its interaction with the environment, can be established using this technology. The body's response to various external factors, including the food consumed and the nutrients it contains, has increased researchers' interest in nutrimetabolomics. Establishing correlations between diet and the occurrence of various diseases, or even the development of personalized nutrition plans, could contribute to advances in precision medicine. The interdependence between humans, animals, and the environment is of particular importance today, with the dramatic emergence and spread of zoonotic diseases, food, water and soil contamination, and the degradation of resources and habitats. All these events have led to an increase in risk factors for functional diseases, burdening global health. Thus, this study aimed to highlight the importance of metabolomics, and, in particular, nutrimetabolomics, as a technical solution for a holistic, collaborative, and precise approach for the advancement of the One Health strategy.

Canine metabolomics advances

INTRODUCTION

Canis lupus familiaris is a domestic dog and many owners consider their pets as a family member. Medical bills with dogs are overcame only by the health care received by humans. Medical care is constantly progressing, and so is veterinary care. Metabolomics is the ''omic" technique aimed to the study of metabolome, low-molecular weight molecules, through biofluids or tissue samples. And it also allows to evaluate disease diagnosis and prognosis, therapeutic evaluation and toxicological studies.

OBJECTIVES

The goal of this paper is to review the current and potential applications of metabolomics in domestic dogs.

METHOD

ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys and PubMed were searched for papers that performed canine metabolomics in any research area.

RESULTS

We analysed 38 papers, published until April 2019 in canine metabolomics approach. Metabolomic research in dogs so far can be divided into three areas: (a) Metabolomics studies in veterinary science, such as improving pet dogs health and welfare. (b) Diet, breeds and species discrimination. (c) Use of dogs as animal model in different diseases and drug development (evaluation toxicity and effect).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this review showed that interest in metabolomics is growing in veterinary research. Several canine diseases have been evaluated with some promise for potential biomarker and/or disease mechanism discovery. Because canine metabolomics is a relatively new area, the researches spread across different research areas and with few studies in each area.