Prevention studies for diabetic complications based on antioxidative proteins specifically expressed in cats with Diabetes.

2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23658259
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Clinical veterinary science
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: MATSUKI Naoaki 東京大学, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 教授 (40251417)
• Project Period (FY): 2011 – 2012
• Keywords: 猫 / 糖尿病合併症 / 抗酸化物質 / ハプトグロビン

Research Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is an well described endocrine/metabolic disease. In cats, it is also well known that diabetic complications including cataract, vasculopathy and neuropathy are very mild compared to those in humans and dogs. To elucidate the reason for the mild diabetic complications in cats, endogenous antioxidative activities were examined. Blood plasma from DM cats (n=17) possessed higher hydroxyl radical-scavenging activities than those from age- and body weight-matched healthy controls (n=16). When the blood plasma from DM cats (n=3) and controls (n=3) were fractionated with dialysis columns, the hydroxyl radical-scavenging activity was found in the MW > 10kDa fraction. Differential plasma protein electrophoresis and mass spectrometry (TOF-MS) revealed haptoglobin as a candidate of hydroxyl radical-scavenger. Moreover, plasma haptoglobin concentrations and hydroxyl radical-scavenging activities showed positive correlation. Hence, haptoglobin may work as an antioxidant in DM cats, which may preventive to diabetic complications in part.