RESUMEN
Despite recent advancements in antibiotics, hygienic measures, and peri-operative systemic antibiotics, post-operative infections in osteosynthesis remain prevalent and continue to be among the most common surgical complications, leading to delayed fracture healing, osteomyelitis, implant loosening, and loss of function. Osteosynthesis implants are routinely utilized in veterinary medicine and the current study investigates the microbial colonization of implants following osteosynthesis in small animals, along with its incidence and influencing factors. The results are analyzed in regard to correlations between infection, patient, disease progression, and radiographic images, as well as other factors that may promote infection. Seventy-one explants from sixty-five patients were examined and evaluated for microbial colonization. Factors like body weight and age, location and type of plate and additional injuries like lung lesions, the surgeon's experience, or the number of people present during the surgical procedure seem to influence the development of an infection. Of the animals, 60% showed osteolytic changes and 73.3% of those with dysfunctional mobility had an implant infection. Microorganisms were detected in almost 50% of the explants, but a clinically relevant infection was only present in five patients (7.3%), suggesting that the presence of microorganisms on an implant does not necessarily lead to treatment complications.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are described as promising non-invasive biomarkers for diagnostics and therapeutics. Human studies have shown that haemolysis occurring during blood collection or due to improper sample processing/storage significantly alters the miRNA content in plasma and serum. Nevertheless, no similar research has been performed in dogs so far. We therefore investigated the effects of different degrees of haemolysis on the levels of selected miRNAs in serum and serum-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) from dogs, by inducing a controlled in vitro haemolysis experiment. RESULTS: The abundance of miR-16, miR-92a, miR-191, miR-451 and miR-486 was significantly sensitive to haemolysis in serum and serum-derived EVs, while other selected miRNAs were not influenced by haemolysis. Furthermore, we found that the abundance of some canine miRNAs differs from data reported in the human system. CONCLUSIONS: Our results describe for the first time the impact of haemolysis on circulating miRNAs not only in whole serum, but also in serum-derived EVs from dogs. Hence, we provide novel data for further analyses in the discovery of canine circulating biomarkers. Our findings suggest that haemolysis should be carefully assessed to assure accuracy when investigating circulating miRNA in serum or plasma-based tests.
