Untargeted metabolomic profiling of urine from healthy dogs and dogs with chronic hepatic disease

Chronic hepatic disease can present a diagnostic challenge with different etiologies being associated with similar clinical and laboratory findings. The histopathological assessment of a liver biopsy specimen is usually required in order to make a definitive diagnosis and the availability of non-invasive prognostic biomarkers is limited. The emerging science of metabolomics is used to detect changes in endogenous low molecular weight metabolites in biological samples and offers the possibility of identifying noninvasive markers of disease. The objective of this study was to investigate differences in the urine metabolome between healthy dogs, dogs with chronic hepatitis, dogs with hepatocellular carcinoma, and dogs with a congenital portosystemic shunt. Stored urine samples from 10 healthy dogs, 10 dogs with chronic hepatitis, 6 dogs with hepatocellular carcinoma, and 5 dogs with a congenital portosystemic shunt were analyzed. The urine metabolome was analyzed by gas chromatography – qu...