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. 2023 May-Jun;37(3):910-914.
doi: 10.1111/jvim.16648. Epub 2023 Apr 13.

Plasma and urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine concentrations using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry in healthy cats and in a cat with pheochromocytoma

Maria Teresa Prego  1 , Maria Joana Dias  1   2   3 , Rui Lemos Ferreira  1 , Salomé Gonçalves  2   3 , Tiago Dias Domingues  4 , Greet Junius  5 , Evi Van den Steen  5 , Sara Galac  6 , Rodolfo Oliveira Leal  1   2   3
Affiliations

Plasma and urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine concentrations using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry in healthy cats and in a cat with pheochromocytoma

Maria Teresa Prego et al. J Vet Intern Med. 2023 May-Jun.

Abstract

Background: Pheochromocytoma (PCC) is rare in cats and plasma (PL) and urinary (U) metanephrines (metanephrine [MN]; normetanephrine [NMN]) measurement is rarely described in cats.

Objectives: We evaluated the utility of PL and U MNs measurement in 10 healthy cats and a cat with a confirmed diagnosis of pheochromocytoma (PheoCat), using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS).

Methods: Urine and EDTA PL samples collected from each of the 10 cats and the PheoCat were promptly stored at -80°C and remained frozen until analysis. To evaluate U MNs stability, an additional urine sample collected from the healthy cats was refrigerated for 24 hours before freezing. Urinary creatinine concentration (Creat) was assessed using the same spot urine samples to calculate U MNs-to-creatinine ratios.

Results: The PL-MN and PL-NMN median concentrations of the healthy cats were 2.73 and 7.02 nmol/L, respectively. The median U-MN/Creat and U-NMN/Creat ratios were 70 and 139 μg/g, respectively. The PheoCat had a PL-MN of 3.68 nmol/L, PL-NMN of 66.27 nmol/L, U-MN/Creat of 179 μg/g, and U-NMN/Creat of 1262 μg/g. The PheoCat had markedly increased concentrations of both PL and U MNs when compared to the healthy cats. No significant difference was found between U MNs measured in urine samples that underwent 24 hours of refrigeration in comparison to those that were frozen immediately.

Conclusions: We report preliminary reference intervals for PL and U MNs in cats using LC-MS-MS and the potential clinical applicability of these biomarkers for the diagnosis of PCC in cats.

Keywords: feline pheochromocytoma; healthy cats; liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry; plasma and urinary metanephrines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Boxplot representation of the distribution of plasma metanephrine (PL‐MN) and plasma normetanephrine (PL‐NMN) in 10 healthy cats in comparison to the PL‐MN/NMN values of the PheoCat. (B) Boxplot representation of the distribution of urinary metanephrine‐to‐creatinine (U‐MN/Creat) and urinary normetanephrine‐to‐creatinine (U‐NMN/Creat) ratios in 10 healthy cats in comparison to the U‐MN/Creat and U‐NMN/Creat ratios of the PheoCat.
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