En este paper publicado en el Open Journal of Animal Science presentamos un análisis retrospectivo de la dieta y actividad física de perros de la raza "Perro de Agua Portugués" usando mediciones de isótopos estables (C, N, S) de huesos y dientes y de variables de "robustez" del cráneo. Estas mediciones son evaluadas y correlacionadas con mas 53 variables morfométricas del cuerpo y de los órganos, y con variables histopatológicas de mas de 200 perros fallecidos de forma natural.
Este trabajo se enmarca en un colaboración con el laboratorio del Dr. K. Gordon Lark, quien hace muchos años esta trabajando con perros (de muchas razas) para estudiar las determinantes genéticas y ambientales (incluyendo dieta) de la variabilidad morfométrica y del estado de salud al final de la vida de estos perros. Lark research.
“Alas poor Yorick”: What retrospective analysis of canine skulls can tell us about the impact of environmental factors on health.
Luciano O. Valenzuela, Kevin Chase, Lawrence McGill, Shawn Miller, Mark Nielsen, Karl G. Lark
Abstract: Necropsies and extensive histological evaluation for clinical and sub-clinical disease of approximately three hundred Portuguese Water dogs are available as part of an ongoing study to assess their state of health at the end of life. Throughout life these dogs enjoyed a variety of lifestyles and environments. Here we carry out retrospective quantitative assessments of life-time dietary input and physical activity for each dog. To do this, collagens from skull vault bone and from dentine have been analyzed for ratios of stable isotopes to determine differences in diet that individual dogs experienced during late or early life respectively. Robustness of skull bone (weight/unit of skull size) was used as a relative indicator of the amount of physical activity experienced during a dog’s lifetime. These environmental parameters were correlated with the frequency and severity of specific disease processes determined at necropsy. Both measures were shown to exert significant low-level (r < 25%) differential effects on specific diseases. The value of retrospective analysis of environmental influences is discussed.
Keywords: Portuguese Water Dog; Necropsy; Histopathology; Exercise; Nutrition; Stable Isotope; Skull; Dentine; Collagen
Valenzuela LO, Chase K, Nielsen M, McGill L, Lark KG. (in press). "Alas poor Yorick": What retrospective analysis of canine skulls can tell us about the impact of environmental factors on health. Open Journal of Animal Science. 3:12-18. doi: 10.4236/ojas.2013.33A002.
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