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Zinc Concentration in Blood Serum of Healthy Dogs

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Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish a reference interval for serum zinc in dogs and to determine the factors that affected it. We collected samples from 197 clinically healthy animals of various breeds and ages and obtained information about their sex, neuter status, age, breed, diet, lifestyle, weight, and body condition score. Serum zinc concentration was measured by a colorimetric method using a clinical chemistry analyzer. We established the reference interval for serum zinc as 4.9–19.7 µmol/L. When assessing the relationship of zinc with various biochemical parameters, we found significant correlation with albumin and triacylglycerols. The only observed factor that significantly influenced serum concentration was sex. Female dogs had higher levels (median 11.0 µmol/L) than males (median 8.9 µmol/L). The difference between intact females and intact males was also significant (medians 11.6 and 9.0 µmol/L respectively), but it was only numerical for neutered animals (median of neutered females 10.7 µmol/L and of neutered males 8.7 µmol/L). Despite the general belief that homemade food for dogs contains a lower amount of zinc than a commercial one, diet did not influence zinc serum levels significantly. There was also no impact of age, breed, lifestyle, weight, or body condition score on serum zinc concentration.

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Funding

This research was funded by University of Veterinary Sciences Brno (Internal Grant Agency 201/2021/FVHE).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal Breeding, Animal Nutrition and Biochemistry, University of Veterinary Sciences, Brno, 61242, Czech Republic

    Viola Zentrichová & Alena Pechová

  2. Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Sciences, Brno, 61242, Czech Republic

    Simona Kovaříková

Authors
  1. Viola Zentrichová
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  2. Alena Pechová
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  3. Simona Kovaříková
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Methodology was prepared by Alena Pechová and Simona Kovaříková, and data collection and analysis were performed by Viola Zentrichová. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Viola Zentrichová and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Viola Zentrichová.

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Ethics Approval

The clinical study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Veterinary Sciences Brno (REFNO: ES_9-2022_Zentrichova). All procedures were following national legislation of the Czech Republic (Act No. 246/1992 Coll., on the Protection of Animals Against Cruelty, as amended) and with EU legislation (Directive 2010/63/EU revising Directive 86/609/EEC on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes, as amended).

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Informed consent was obtained from all owners of animals involved in the study.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Zentrichová, V., Pechová, A. & Kovaříková, S. Zinc Concentration in Blood Serum of Healthy Dogs. Biol Trace Elem Res 201, 3356–3366 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12011-022-03441-x

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