Comparative quantitation of liver-type fatty acid-binding protein localizations in liver injury and non-pathological liver tissue in dogs

Vet World Vol.17 February-2024 Article-8

Research Article

Veterinary World, 17(2): 313-318

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2024.313-318

Jirapat Arunorat^1,2, Nuttawan Chusakulwong³, Natcha Sakunasing³, and Pitchaya Matchimakul^1,2

1. Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50100, Thailand.
2. Research Center for Veterinary Biosciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
3. Academic Year 2565, Department of Veterinary Biosciences and Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50100, Thailand.

Background and Aim: Liver injury results in the production of free radicals that can lead to hepatocytic degeneration, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Liver-fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) is highly expressed in hepatocytes and is a key regulator of hepatic lipid metabolism and antioxidant characteristics. Interestingly, the increase in L-FABP expression could be used as a novel marker of liver injury. Therefore, this study aimed to use immunohistochemical techniques to investigate the expression of L-FABP in dogs with liver injury compared with dogs with non-pathological liver.

Materials and Methods: Liver tissue samples were collected from dog biopsy specimens at the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Chiang Mai University. The tissues were prepared for immunohistochemistry and the expression and localization of L-FABP were investigated using one-way analysis of variance.

Results: Immunohistochemical analysis showed that L-FABP was strongly expressed in the hepatocytes of dogs with lipidosis and HCC when compared with that in normal liver. Semi-quantitative immunohistochemistry evaluation showed the percentage of protein expression of L-FABP 0.023 ± 0.027 in the non-pathological liver. The percentage of L-FABP protein expression in lipidosis and HCC was found to be 8.517 ± 1.059 and 17.371 ± 4.026, respectively.

Conclusion: L-FABP expression in dogs with liver injuries was significantly higher than that in dogs with non-pathological liver injury (p = 0.05). These results suggest that L-FABP has the potential as a novel marker for specific diagnosis and prognosis of dogs with liver injury. Keywords: canine, hepatocyte, immunohistochemistry, lipidosis, liver injury, liver-fatty acid-binding protein, pathology.

Keywords: canine, hepatocyte, immunohistochemistry, lipidosis, liver injury, liver-fatty acid-binding protein, pathology.

How to cite this article: Arunorat J, Chusakulwong N, Sakunasing N, and Matchimakul P (2024) Comparative quantitation of liver-type fatty acid-binding protein localizations in liver injury and non-pathological liver tissue in dogs, Veterinary World, 17(2): 313-318.

Received: 19-10-2023 Accepted: 11-01-2024 Published online: 07-02-2024

Corresponding author: Pitchaya Matchimakul E-mail: pitchaya.matchi@cmu.ac.th

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2024.313-318

Copyright: Arunorat, 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.