Plasma nitrateitrite concentrations in dogs with naturally developing sepsis and non-infectious forms of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome

摘要

Sepsis, defined as the systemic inflammatory response to infection, is a serious problem in dogs that is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality often exceeding 50 per cent. Nitric oxide (NO), a ubiquitous, pleiotropic biological messengermolecule, contributes to many of the deleterious sequelae of sepsis, including hypotension, vascular hyporeactivity, myocardial depression, impaired platelet function and immunoparalysis. A previous prospective study in dogs found that NO concentrationswere higher in critically ill dogs compared with non-critically ill dogs and healthy controls, and NO concentrations correlated with survival and severity of illness. In this study, plasma nitrateitrite (the stable end products of NO oxidation) concentrations were evaluated in dogs with naturally developing sepsis, dogs with noninfectious causes of the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and normal healthy dogs.