Aging dogs with clinical signs of dementia accumulate amyloid and phosphorylatede tau protein in their brain. The same proteins can accumulate in the human brain and cause dementia. Interestingly, these proteins also build up in the brain of healthy aged dogs. We compare the brain findings in aged pet dogs, with and without clinical signs of dementia, to find out which brain changes are linked to dementia in dogs. We investigate how these brain changes differ from dementia-related brain changes in humans, to understand why some dogs are protected from dementia even if they accumulate amyloid and tau.
We study the tissue changes of gut biopsies and autopsy samples from horse patients that show signs of pain, discomfort, diarrhoea, intermittend colic, and are suspected to suffer from IBD. Our aim is to determine which tissue changes in a gut biopsy are normal variation and which are linked to IBD. We also investigate if some of the changes can predict how the horse will respond to IBD treatment and how well changes in a biopsy from the large bowel of a horse correlate with the health of the equine small bowel.
We encounter interesting animal patient cases in the routine diagnostic work in veterinary pathology that is done at University of Helsinki. These cases provide material that can give insight into rare, new and emerging animal diseases when investigated further. By making our findings public in collaboration with clinicians and other experts in the field, we help advancing knowledge in broad fields of diagnostic pathology and veterinary medicine.