Avaliação clínica e laboratorial do tratamento com lactulose de cães com doença renal crônica

Abstract

Prebiotics, such as lactulosis, may favor the switch on the fermentative pattern of the colonic microbiota from proteolytic to saccharolytic, which allows bigger assimilation of nitrogenous compounds by the microrganisms of the colon. The present study aimed to evaluate, in dogs with CKD, the effect of the continued orally use of lactulosis over the nitrogenous compounds metabolisms’, the iron metabolism and on serum levels of albumin, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus. Twenty-one animals with CKD in IRIS II and III stages, under normal handling and feeding, were clinically and laboratorially evaluated by a 28 days period; divided in three groups according to treatment: T1 – lactulosis + therapeutic diet, T2 – lactulosis + standard treatment + therapeutic diet, T3 – standard treatment + therapeutic diet . For the three groups (T1, T2 and T3), clinical parameters indicated anaemia and body score from regular to bad, according to the disease’s degree, during the hole treatment. The haematological and biochemical’s averages are consistent with common laboratorial findings in nephrophatic patients, with high levels of urea and creatinine; and low leves of haematocrit. For all the evaluated parameters in this study, the averages’ variations during the period didn’t show any significant difference between times and treatments, with the exception of the calcemia averages that were greater for T1 group; which may indicate that for this animals’ group the monotherapy with lactulosis could have increased the absorption of this mineral in those patients. With regard to iron metabolism, this study’s data revealed that the anaemia found in the dogs throughout the experimental period presented chronicity features, since the groups’ means remained within the iron and transferrin references, besides high ferritin averages, without significant differences between groups and moments. The obtained data allowed to conclude that there was no difference between the proposed treatments in relation to clinical state and the biochemical and mineral profiles, such as iron metabolism; which justifies that the action mechanisms of prebiotics in nephrophatic patients should be evaluated with more details.