SERUM NEURO-INJURY AND REDOX MARKERS IN DOGS WITH SUSPECTED DISTEMPER

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate central nervous system damage and oxidative stress in dogs brought to clinics and hospitals in Ankara, Türkiye with suspected distemper using the same sample. 19 dogs confirmed suspected positive Canine Distemper Virus (CDV+) with lateral flow immunochromatographic rapid test kits formed the ‘CDV+’ group, while 23 clinically healthy dogs with negative test results formed the ‘control’ group.  The goal is to identify practical, serum-based markers that can be used for early diagnosis, prognosis determination, and monitoring treatment response in distemper. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels were significantly higher in the CDV+ group compared to the control group (p = 0.011; False Discovery Rate (FDR-p) = 0.025), whereas Total oxidant status (TOS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) were unexpectedly low (FDR-p = 0.011 for both). No statistical differences were found in neurofilament light chain (NFL), myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody (Anti-MOG), total antioxidant status (TAS), and malondialdehyde (MDA). In receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the area under the curve (AUC) for GFAP was 0.73, while TOS and OSI (interpreted inversely as indicating low-value disease) yielded AUC values of 0.78 and 0.79, respectively. At the best thresholds, GFAP ≥ 460 ng/L yielded 68% sensitivity and 74% specificity, while TOS ≤ 333 µmol/L and OSI ≤ 12 au thresholds yielded 91% specificity. The multiple logistic model (AUC = 0.86) increased sensitivity and specificity to 84% and 83%, respectively; however, only GFAP was a significant independent predictor (Odds Ratio (OR) ≈ 4.1; p = 0.048). In conclusion, serum GFAP appears to reflect central nervous system (CNS) involvement in dogs infected with distemper, and the combination of GFAP with low TOS and OSI values may enhance diagnostic specificity. These findings indicate that GFAP-based, oxidative marker-inclusive multi-biomarker panels could hold potential for supporting the early diagnosis and prognosis monitoring of canine distemper, although further validation in larger and longitudinal studies is warranted.