Characterisation of the Inflammatory Response of a Canine Intestinal Epithelial Cell Line Challenged with Lipopolysaccharides and/or Butyrate

Lay Summary A lot is known about how diet affects gut health in humans, but much less is known about how it impacts dogs. This study assessed whether a laboratory cell model of the dog gut, that mimics the small intestine, could support efforts to understand these effects. To achieve this, cells were exposed to either lipopolysaccharide and/or butyrate, compounds known to promote or reduce inflammation respectively. The dog cells model responded reacted in a similar manner to known human gut cells models in terms of gut barrier strength, but however, expression of proteins involved in maintaining the gut barrier differed as did signaling molecules that mediate communication between gut epithelial and immune cells involved in the inflammatory response. Further studies are required to better understand the contrasting response, however insights into the value of studying dog-specific models rather than relying on human data are demonstrated.