| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺灣大學 === 獸醫學研究所 === 98 === Allergy has always played an important role in canine skin related diseases. The prevalence of canine allergic dermatitis (CAD) in the canine population was also estimated to be around 3-15%. The purpose of this study is to analyze and understand the type of allergens causing CAD in Taiwan. We analyzed 505 results from Excelsior bio-system’s protein chip microarray 62 item canine allergy test collected from May of 2006 to February of 2008. The result showed 80% of the cases had at least one positive result to the 62 items tested, and 54.06% of the dogs had at least one positive result in the mites group. Our finding shows that mites are the most important group of allergens responsible for CAD in Taiwan. Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus is the top allergen associated with CAD in Taiwan, having a positive rate of 29.50% (149/505), followed by Tyrophagus putrescentiae (24.55%, 124/505)、Aspergillus fumigates (18.02%, 91/505)、Blomia tropicalis (17.82%, 90/505)、and brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae 17.43%, 88/505). In most countries, Dermatophagoides farinae is more commonly associated with CAD than Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus; however, our protein chip microarray showed that although Dermatophagoides farinae had a high positive rate (17.3%, 86/505), it is still significantly lower than that of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus (p<0.0001). Other than identifying important allergens causing CAD in Taiwan, we also took brewer’s yeast, the only food allergen that made it to the top five lists further for western blot analysis. Brewer’s yeast is a common food supplement in which it serves rich vitamin B source; its presence is even common in hypoallergenic diets. With western blot analysis, we were able to identify the major proteins responsible for the positive results obtained from protein chip microarray such as triosephosphate isomerase, phosphoglycerate mutase 1, enolase 2, enolase 1 and alpha-glucosidase. Such information may be provided as valuable reference when pet owners choose the right diet for their pets, or manufacturers selecting ingredients for hypoallergenic diets.
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