Evidence of obesity-induced inflammatory changes in client-owned cats

Vet World Vol.17 August-2024 Article - 5

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(8): 1685-1692

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.1685-1692

Steffi L. Araujo¹, Patricia L. Martins¹, Thyago H. de Souza Pereira², Tiago L. Sampaio³, Ramon R. Paula Pessoa Bezerra de Menezes³, Mac D. Rodrigues da Costa³, Alice M. Costa Martins³, Isaac Neto Goes da Silva⁴, Glayciane Bezerra de Morais¹, and Janaina Serra Azul Monteiro Evangelista¹

1. Laboratory of Comparative Experimental Morphology, Faculty of Veterinary, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, 60714-903, Ceará, Brazil.
2. Animal Physiology Laboratory, Federal Rural University of the Amazon, Pará, 66077-830, Belém, Brazil.
3. Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analysis, Faculty of Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, Federal University of Ceará, Fortaleza, 60430-275, Ceará, Brazil.
4. Laboratoy of Veterinary Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary, State University of Ceará, Fortaleza, 60714-903, Ceará, Brazil.

Background and Aim: Insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus are common health issues in obese (OB) cats. In humans, obesity leads to alterations in adipokine and proinflammatory cytokine secretion, causing persistent inflammation. The inflammatory impact of obesity in cats remains unproven. This study investigated associations between obesity and inflammatory and metabolic changes in three groups of client-owned Brazilian domestic shorthair cats: naturally lean, overweight (OW), and OB.

Materials and Methods: Cats from the Veterinary Hospital of Professor Sylvio Barbosa e Cardoso (FAVET/UECE) were clinically evaluated. Blood samples were collected for hematological and biochemical profile measurements, and part of the serum was used for measuring adipokine and inflammatory cytokines using sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Results: In both the OW and OB groups, serum cholesterol and insulin concentrations increased, while triglyceride concentrations were notably elevated in the OB group. In the OW and OB groups, serum adiponectin, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β levels were elevated, and leptin levels were significantly higher in the OB group.

Conclusion: This study is the first in Brazil to reveal increased serum levels of inflammatory markers in OW and OB client-owned felines. OW cats exhibited higher proinflammatory marker levels, implying obesity-induced inflammation.

Keywords: adipokines, cytokines, feline, obese.

How to cite this article: Araujo SL, Martins PL, Pereira THS, Sampaio TL, de Menezes RRPPB, da Costa MDR, Martins AMC, da Silva ING, de Morais GB, and Evangelista JSAM (2024) Evidence of obesity-induced inflammatory changes in client-owned cats, Veterinary World, 17(8): 1685–1692.

Received: 2024-03-30 Accepted: 2024-07-08 Published online: 2024-08-04

Corresponding author: Steffi L. Araujo E-mail: steffi.araujo@hotmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.1685-1692

Copyright: Araujo, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.