Gastroenterology Commons^™

Candidate Circulating Microrna Biomarkers In Dogs With Chronic Pancreatitis, Susan K Armstrong, Robert W Hunter, Wilna Oosthyuzen, Maciej Parys, Adam G Gow, Silke Salavati Schmitz, James W Dear, Richard J Mellanby

Student and Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Pancreatitis is an important cause of disease and death in dogs. Available circulating biomarkers are not sufficiently sensitive and specific for a definitive diagnosis.

HYPOTHESIS: Circulating microRNAs would be differentially expressed in dogs with chronic pancreatitis and could have potential as diagnostic biomarkers.

ANIMALS: Healthy controls (n = 19) and dogs with naturally occurring pancreatitis (n = 17).

METHODS: A retrospective case-control study. Dogs with pancreatitis were included if they satisfied diagnostic criteria for pancreatitis as adjudicated by 3 experts. MicroRNA was extracted from stored serum samples and sequenced. Reads were mapped to mature microRNA sequences in the canine, …

The Role Of Amp-Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) In Regulating The Early Stages Of Acute Pancreatitis, Mohamed Shitia

Honors Scholar Theses

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease that is initiated by the activation and retention of digestive zymogens inside pancreatic acinar cells (acini). It is proposed that adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) regulates early responses of acute pancreatitis in acini. A recent study shows that induction of experimental pancreatitis in isolated rat acini with supraphysiologic cerulein (orthologue of cholecystokinin) increases intracellular zymogen activation, but decreases AMPK levels. Furthermore, in vitro pharmacologic stimulation of AMPK reduces zymogen activation, having a protective effect. In this study, the effectiveness of two AMPK activators was examined in two separate in vivo pancreatitis models. In the …