Local and systemic effects of brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome in French Bulldogs and Pugs

• Grant number: 21/04147-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Paola Castro Moraes
• Grantee: Andréia Coutinho Facin
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome (BOAS) is one of the most common conformational disorders and has received public attention in the last years as a matter of animal well-being. This syndrome is directly compared to the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and it is caused by obstructive components present in the upper respiratory tract. The aim of this study is to evaluate the BOAS respiratory obstruction effects on the upper respiratory tissues as well as the systemic effects of it in French Bulldogs and Pugs, aiming to correlate these results with the severity grade of BOAS. For the purposes of the study, it will be selected 44 patients of the cited breeds, between 1 and 8 years old, healthy and that would not be previously surgically treated for BOAS and 15 Beagles, healthy, with similar range of body stature and maximum weight of 15 kilograms. The patients will be clinically evaluated for classification of BOAS by a tolerance exercise test already validated and by oxygenation evaluation by automatic blood gas analysis. The laryngeal collapse will be evaluated by the presence of clinical sings related to it and laryngeal ultrasonographic evaluation. The respiratory obstruction local effects will be studied by the evaluation of the laryngeal tissues elasticity measured by ARFI elastography. The systemic effects will be evaluated by the inflammatory profile of these patients using the leucogram and acute phase proteins (C reactive protein, haptoglobin, ceruloplasmin, alfa 1 glicoprotein and fibrinogen). The results will be compared and correlated with the BOAS severity grades and breeds, with a significance level fixed at 95% (p<0,05) for all statistics tests.