Many cats and dogs are brought to the
hospital by owners with a history of not feeling well, their activity level is
decreased as is their appetite. On examination, there may be apparent cause for
their illness which is not unusual. We recognize these cases as inflammasome
syndromes, and have been studying them for several years.
Inflammasomes
have been a part of illness for as long as man and animals have been getting
sick. But the syndrome is only now being recognized, studied, treated, and
reported in scientific journals. It involves the immune system. Infection,
injury and systemic degeneration can all cause a collection of proteins called
inflammasomes, to form in lymphocytes, a class of white blood cells. The inflammasomes
release cytokines, of which there are about 100 types each with a specific
contribution to inflammation and illness, such as fever, loss of appetite and
malaise. We cannot quantitate cytokines as means of diagnosing the syndrome.
Instead we rely upon the ratio of immature to mature neutrophils, another type
of blood cell, and/or by understanding the pathology of an underlying inflammatory
disease i.e. pancreatitis and infection.
We have
found that certain specific synthetic antibiotics counter cytokine effects and
we use these drugs to treat animals with inflammasomes. Several days of
treatment may be required to show effect, but usually recovers is complete with
no adverse sequelae. Also, animals that have had no trauma to nervous tissue
may produce cytokines in injured nerve tissues which further damages nerve
cells. Treating these trauma cases with the synthetic antibiotics has been
reported to limit cytokine activity and development of further pathology. We
have confirmed this in our treatment of dogs with intervertebral disc
herniation.
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