11 Liver exercises I

Spending some time connecting your physiology to your future practice is always good for brain consolidation. To explore related topics, start with google scholar, wikipedia, and/or merck vet manual!

Challenge Exercises

General

  • Would a compound like amino-pro really work?
  • What diet would you recommend if your favorite species had liver failure?
  • How does ammonia cause hepatic encephalopathy?
  • What happens with high levels of serum bile acids in the body?
  • What proteins are involved in coagulation?
  • How do we use enzyme half lives to determine when liver disease happened? (ALT, AST, ALP)
  • Explain common signs associated with liver disease
  • How does liver disease lead to photosensitization? What is photosensitization?
  • Find and interpret abnormal lab results related to liver function
  • How do antibiotics interfere with the Pill?
  • How do you evaluate the liver ultrasonographically?
  • Create a mnemonic for common causes of liver disease in your favorite species

Dogs

  • What are congenital disorders of the liver (besides shunts)?
  • How does copper affect liver function?
  • Explain 3 toxin (or infection or drug or other) causes of liver disease in dogs
  • How do SAM-E and milk thistle help with liver disease?
  • How would you treat xylitol toxicity?
  • Check out these liver disorders in dogs:
    • copper storage disorders
    • steroid hepatopathy
    • hepatic and biliary neoplasia
    • nodular regeneration
    • Leptospirosis
    • biliary mucocele
    • hepatic amyloidosis
    • primary hypoplasia of the portal vein
    • cholelithiasis
    • hydatid cysts
    • toxins –
      • cycad palms, sago palms
      • mushroom toxicosis
      • blue green algae
      • aflatoxin
      • carprofen
      • phenobarbital

Cats

  • Explain 3 toxin (or infection or drug or other) causes of liver disease in cats
  • What are the most effective tests for liver disease in cats?
  • Explain tylenol toxicity in cats
  • What breeds are prone to liver disease?
  • Check out these feline liver conditions
    • liver flukes
    • neoplasia
    • cystadenoma
    • FIP

Horses

  • Explain 3 toxin (or infection or drug or other) causes of liver disease in horses
  • What are the most effective tests for liver disease in horses?
  • How do choleliths affect horses if they don’t have gall bladders? What does CCK do?
  • How does tetanus antitoxin cause liver disease?
  • Toxic plants in North America include cocklebur, Lantana and Helenium species. What do these do to the liver?
  • Iron injections can kill foals. How and why?
  • Check out these disorders in horses:
    • biliary atresia
    • hyperammonemia of Morgans
    • neonatal isoerythrolysis
    • hepatic torsion
    • portal vein thrombosis
    • right dorsal colon displacements
    • cholelithiasis
    • glycogen branching enzyme deficiency

Ruminants

  • Explain 3 toxin (or infection or drug or other) causes of liver disease in ruminants
  • What are the most effective tests for liver disease in ruminants?
  • How do we treat liver disease in ruminants?
  • How does moldy hay affect ruminants?
  • Farms tend to have lots of chemicals around. Which ones are hepatotoxic?
  • Cattle can get liver abscesses. What are the risk factors?
  • What happens with copper toxicity in sheep?
  • Check out these common liver disorders in cattle:
    • liver flukes
    • black disease
    • bacillary hemoglobinurea
    • pyrrolizidine alkaloid toxicity

Swine

  • What is postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome? What might labwork look like?
  • What are liver milk spots?
  • Farms tend to have more chemicals around. Which ones are hepatotoxic?
  • What are hydatid cysts?

Pocket pets

  • Which pocket pets get fatty liver?
  • What causes liver abscesses in chinchillas? How are they treated?
  • What is Tyzzer’s disease in gerbils and hamsters? How is it treated?
  • What is amyloidosis in hamsters?
  • What kind of liver disease do sugar gliders get? How is it diagnosed?

 

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Vet Med: Applied GI Physiology- Supplemental Notes Copyright © by Erin Malone DVM PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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