Dogs suffering from epilepsy may soon benefit from a treatment to address the anxiety and cognitive dysfunction symptoms common to the condition.
Researchers from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) and the Center for Systems Neuroscience in Hannover, Germany, have found fecal microbiota transplants (FMT), can help alleviate behavioral comorbidities in dogs with epilepsy, particularly those resistant to the usual drug therapies.
Nine dogs with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) and behavioral issues. The fecal donor was a dog with epilepsy but normal behavior, which had fully responded to phenobarbital and remained seizure-free long-term.
“Each patient in the study received FMT three times over a period of several weeks, and was monitored during follow-up appointments,” says Jan Suchodolski, MedVet, DrVetMed, Ph.D., AGAF, DACVM, the associate director of research and head of microbiome sciences at the Texas A&M Gastrointestinal Laboratory. Comprehensive behavioral analysis was conducted after the treatment, and researchers report “improvement in ADHD-like behavior, fear- and anxiety-like behavior, and quality of life.”
FMT is a noninvasive procedure administered through enema.
The study published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science and investigates evidence of how the gut microbiome may influence other parts of the body, particularly the brain axis. “The gut has a far more central role in overall health than most people realize,” says Dr. Suchodolski. “We talk about the gut-brain axis, but there is also the gut-kidney axis, the gut-liver axis, and others.”
“While we don’t yet understand the mechanism causing these behavioral improvements, we hope to continue developing new ways to help patients with drug-resistant diseases using microbiome science,” says Suchodolski. “Research in this field is highly translational, meaning it is helpful to both human and veterinary medicine.”
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