00906-A: Development of Pharmacogenetic Markers for Refractoriness to Phenobarbital in Treatment of Canine Epilepsy
Grant Status: Closed
Abstract
Epilepsy is the most common neurological disease in dogs. It has a significant impact on quality of life for dogs and owners alike. The majority of dogs respond well to treatment with Phenobarbital and/or potassium bromide, but according to the breed, somewhere between 10 and 20 percent of dogs do not respond to Phenobarbital. If we knew the genetic basis for this refractoriness, we might be able to help veterinarians adjust the dosage or select an alternative prescription for each individual patient. It is also possible that selective breeding may be used to reduce the incidence of refractoriness in just a few generations. It is likely that the genetic basis of drug response is much more straight forward to study than the factors that cause the disease in the first place. We have developed a way to study 30 genes that may be involved in drug response and will test whether preliminary indicators of involve ment for a handful of these genes holds up in a large sample of 300 epileptic dogs.
Publication(s)
Help Future Generations of Dogs
Participate in canine health research by providing samples or by enrolling in a clinical trial. Samples are needed from healthy dogs and dogs affected by specific diseases.
