Metabolic variables of obese dogs with insulin resistance supplemented with yeast beta-glucan.

BACKGROUND: Obesity is one of the most common nutritional disorders in dogs and cats and is related to the development metabolic comorbidities. Weight loss is the recommended treatment, but success is difficult due to the poor satiety control. Yeast beta-glucans are known as biological modifiers because of their innumerable functions reported in studies with mice and humans, but only one study with dogs was found. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a diet supplemented with 0.1% beta-glucan on glucose, lipid homeostasis, inflammatory cytokines and satiety parameters in obese dogs. Fourteen dogs composed three experimental groups: Obese group (OG) with seven dogs with body condition score (BCS) 8 or 9; Lean group (LG) included seven non-obese dogs with a BCS of 5; and Supplemented Obese group (SOG) was the OG dogs after 90 days of consumption of the experimental diet. RESULTS: Compared to OG, SOG had lower plasma basal glycemic values (p = 0.05) and reduced serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels. TNF-α was lower in SOG than in OG (p = 0.05), and GLP-1 was increased in SOG compared to OG and LG (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: These results are novel and important for recognizing the possibility of using beta-glucan in obesity prevention and treatment.

Percutaneous ruminostomy guided by rumenoscopy: study in an experimental model in bovine fetus.

BACKGROUND: Endosurgery is a surgical subspecialty that has been widely used in production animals, because it enables good visualization of abdominal organs and the diagnosis and treatment of several conditions in a minimally invasive manner, while preserving the animal's well-being and causing a lower impact on animal production. Rumenostomy is one of the most common surgical procedures in ruminants. This procedure is used to allow access to the rumen for various purposes, especially nutritional and therapeutic studies, and it can be performed either in a conventional way or in a minimally invasive video-assisted manner. Another possibility of access to ruminants is through the rumenoscopy technique. The objective of this study is to describe a minimally invasive technique for rumenostomy using an endoscope, working on a bovine fetal corpse as an experimental model. RESULTS: The execution of the endoscopy-guided rumenostomy technique was simple and did not present major difficulties. The endoscope, its lighting and air pump, and the decubitus used provided a good anatomical visualization of the rumen, and it was possible to evaluate several regions of the organ. The mean duration of the procedure was 11.15 min. CONCLUSIONS: The endoscopic rumenostomy technique using anatomical pieces of calves was shown to be feasible. It was performed in a simple and efficient way, particularly regarding the premise of preserving the animal's well-being, due to its minimally invasive nature.