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Serum triglyceride concentrations increase in dogs with obesity, which is typically assessed by body condition score (BCS), however little is known about changes that take place in non-obese dogs in overweight condition. Further, the associations of triglyceride levels with other markers of energy homeostasis are poorly characterised in healthy animals. The present study aimed to evaluate associations between both BCS and triglyceride concentrations with other markers of lipid and glucose metabolism in healthy, non-obese dogs, as well as to assess whether these markers change significantly in non-obese dogs with overweight as compared to their lean counterparts. Serum concentrations of cholesterol, free fatty acids, triglycerides, insulin, glucose and fructosamine were measured in 532 healthy, client-owned dogs, assigned either to 'lean' (BCS: 3-5) or 'overweight' (BCS: 6-7) categories. Generalised linear mixed models were used to assess associations between BCS categories, triglyceride concentrations and other variables, correcting for the effect of breed. Compared with lean dogs, overweight dogs had a greater serum cholesterol concentration (95% CI, 5.3-6.2 mmol/L or 205-237 mg/dL versus 5.1-5.4 mmol/L or 198-210 mg/dL, p  = 0.0032), insulin concentration (95% CI, 17.5-22.1 μU/ml versus 16.7-18.0 μU/ml, p  = 0.0374) and were older (95% CI, 4.0-5.3 versus 3.4-3.7 years, p  = 0.0005). Triglyceride concentrations were positively associated with fructosamine ( r 2  = 0.31, p  = 0.0012), cholesterol ( r 2  = 0.25, p  < 0.0001), insulin ( r 2  = 0.14, p  = 0.0030) and glucose ( r 2  = 0.10, p  = 0.0014) concentrations, and negatively associated with free fatty acid concentrations ( r 2  = 0.11, p  < 0.0001). However, there was no association between triglyceride concentrations and age. In conclusion, both BCS and triglyceride concentrations were associated with other markers of glucose and lipid metabolism in non-obese healthy dogs, amongst which those with overweight showed metabolic changes as compared to their lean counterparts. Triglyceride concentrations were associated with an increase in insulin and fructosamine concentrations that might reflect an early-phase impairment in glucose tolerance which, surprisingly, was concurrent with lower basal free fatty acid concentrations., Competing Interests: AG is an employee of the University of Liverpool, but his post is financially supported by Royal Canin. AG has also received financial remuneration for providing educational material, speaking at conferences, and consultancy work from this company; all such remuneration has been for projects unrelated to the work reported in this manuscript. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Gomez-Fernandez-Blanco, Peeters, Farnir, Höglund, Gouni, Wiberg, Lundgren Willesen, Hanås, McEntee, Tiret, Häggström, Lohi, Chetboul, Fredholm, Seppälä, Lequarré, German and Merveille.)

Background: Markers of lipid and glucose metabolism are used in both clinical practice and research. Detection of abnormal laboratory results often relies on species-specific reference intervals, but interbreed variation can also affect data interpretation., Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to compare concentrations of selected biochemical variables among different dog breeds., Methods: We analyzed a database containing information on biochemical variables from 534 dogs belonging to nine different breeds. All dogs were confirmed to be healthy based on history, physical examination, and ancillary tests. Concentrations of glucose, fructosamine, insulin, cholesterol, triglycerides, fatty acids, and C-reactive protein were compared using the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and Dunn's tests., Results: All variables tested showed significant interbreed differences, although all breeds remained within the previously established RIs for dogs. Fructosamine, insulin, and cholesterol showed a wide interbreed variation that could affect the interpretation of results., Conclusions: Breed is an important factor to consider when assessing energy metabolism in dogs, especially for markers like fructosamine, insulin, and cholesterol, which vary considerably among breeds., (© 2018 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.)

Diabetes mellitus is a serious health problem in both dogs and humans. Certain dog breeds show high prevalence of the disease, whereas other breeds are at low risk. Fructosamine and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) are two major biomarkers of glycaemia, where serum concentrations reflect glucose turnover over the past few weeks to months. In this study, we searched for genetic factors influencing variation in serum fructosamine concentration in healthy dogs using data from nine dog breeds. Considering all breeds together, we did not find any genome-wide significant associations to fructosamine serum concentration. However, by performing breed-specific analyses we revealed an association on chromosome 3 (pcorrected ≈ 1:68 × 10-6) in Belgian shepherd dogs of the Malinois subtype. The associated region and its close neighbourhood harbours interesting candidate genes such as LETM1 and GAPDH that are important in glucose metabolism and have previously been implicated in the aetiology of diabetes mellitus. To further explore the genetics of this breed specificity, we screened the genome for reduced heterozygosity stretches private to the Belgian shepherd breed. This revealed a region with reduced heterozygosity that shows a statistically significant interaction (p = 0.025) with the association region on chromosome 3. This region also harbours some interesting candidate genes and regulatory regions but the exact mechanisms underlying the interaction are still unknown. Nevertheless, this finding provides a plausible explanation for breed-specific genetic effects for complex traits in dogs. Shepherd breeds are at low risk of developing diabetes mellitus. The findings in Belgian shepherds could be connected to a protective mechanism against the disease. Further insight into the regulation of glucose metabolism could improve diagnostic and therapeutic methods for diabetes mellitus.