The influence of sex and age on bone turnover markers in the adult to geriatric Kangal shepherd dogs
Abstract
Objectives: The objective of this research was to learn more about bone metabolism
in intact female and male Kangal shepherd dogs during the aging process following
skeletal maturity. It also evaluated the potential application of biochemical bone indicators
in veterinary clinical practice.
Methods: Bone markers were determined as bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP), osteocalcin
(OC), C-terminal
telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX), and cross-linked
C-telopeptide
of type I collagen (ICTP) in this study. Kangal shepherd dogs of different
age (adult, senior, and geriatric) and sex (male and female) groups were split into six
groups of equal numbers (n = 8/group).
Results: In this study, the effect of age was observed on serum BALP, OC, CTX, and
ICTP concentrations. Specifically, BALP was highest in geriatric female Kangal shepherd
dogs, while serum OC, CTX, and ICTP concentrations were highest in geriatric
male Kangal shepherd dogs. However, no effects of sex and age–sex
interactions
were identified. Moreover, the effects of age, sex, and age–sex
interactions had no
significant effect on serum creatinine, CK, LDH, Mg, and P concentrations or ALT
activities. However, only sex was found to affect serum AST activities and gradually
decreased with age in females. The effect of age and age–sex
interactions on serum
Ca concentrations was significant (the lowest serum Ca concentrations were in geriatric
females), but the effect of sex was not.
Conclusions: These results show the effect of age and sex on bone turnover in Kangal
shepherd dogs and provide information about bone biomarkers.