Abstract
Ophthalmic disease is one of the most common diseases of both wild dolphins and those in managed care.1-3 Predisposing factors are not defined, although environmental factors including water quality or UV exposure are implicated.1,2 Ocular secretions may represent a minimally invasive route for diagnosis of dolphin ophthalmic disease. Changes in the expression of ocular secretion proteins can be associated with ophthalmic diseases and its evaluation has been explored in human medicine for diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases.4,5 There is a need to better understand dolphin ocular secretions to identify biologic markers that may be used as markers for severe ophthalmic disease when more invasive diagnostics are precluded. Proteomic analysis of veterinary species is lacking, and general information on the composition of dolphin ocular secretions are further limited.6-9
Ocular secretions were opportunistically collected from bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) at the Navy Marine Mammal Program. Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to determine the proteomic profile of normal bottlenose dolphin ocular secretions. These dolphins did not have significant ocular disease at the time of presentation. The results were analyzed and compared to the proteomic profile of dolphins with significant ophthalmic disease. The normal proteomic profile of dolphins at the Navy Marine Mammal Program was established. Future studies should include specific characterization of proteomic profiles of the ocular secretions during different stages of various disease processes with the creation of a short list of molecular candidates of greater diagnostic potential for further research.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the involvement of U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program dolphins, civil service training staff, scientists, and managers, as well as the National Marine Mammal Foundation and Science Application International Corp trainers, veterinary, and medical records staff who facilitated this study.
*Presenting author
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