Gastroesophageal reflux and microaspiration (MA) of small amounts of gastric juice have been associated with various human respiratory diseases, including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and asthma. MA can be documented by measuring proteins originating from the gastrointestinal tract in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). In this study, bile acids were measured by mass spectrometry in BALF from West-Highland White Terriers (WHWTs) with canine idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (CIPF, n=33), healthy WHWTs (n=13), dogs with bacterial pneumonia (BP, n=11), healthy Irish Wolfhounds (IWHs) with previous BPs (n=8), dogs with chronic bronchitis (CB, n=13), dogs with eosinophilic bronchopneumopathy (EBP, n=9), dogs with laryngeal dysfunction (LD, n=19), healthy English Bulldogs (EBs, n=26) and healthy Beagles (n=6).

Concentrations of 17 different bile acids were determined and total bile acid (TBA) concentration was calculated as a sum of these. TBA was above minimum detection limit in 79% of CIPF (26/33), 45% of BP (5/11), 54% of CB (7/13), 44% of EBP (4/9) and 63% of LD (12/19) dogs. In healthy dogs, bile acids in BALF were detected less commonly in IWHs (0%, 0/8), EBs (8%, 2/26) and Beagles (0%, 0/6) than in healthy WHWTs (54%, 7/13). Results suggest that MA occurs in various canine respiratory diseases. In healthy dogs bile acids were detected only in WHWTs which could be associated to the breed predisposition of CIPF.

Disclosures

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Grants: Finnish Veterinary Foundation 5470 (2016), 5070 (2017); Finnish Foundation of Veterinary Research 4700 (2016).