Effect of aging and reproductive condition on dehydroepiandrosterone plasma levels in the bitch

Although biomedical research has devoted much effort on the effect of aging and reproductive condition on plasma concentration of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) in women (Longcope, 1986) these aspects have never been investigated in the bitch. In fact, studies on DHEA plasma levels in the dog have been focused mainly on male reproductive physiology and, as far as we know, only one strudy investigated DHEA plasma concentration in the bitch. This sole paper (Queiroga et al., 2005), focused on the role of different steroids in the pathogenesis of canine mammary tumours, reports mean DHEA levels in plasma samples obtained from both anaestrous and ovariectomized bitches aged between 6 and 14 years. The aim of the present study is to verify whether reproductive condition and aging could affect DHEA plasma concentrations in the bitch, making these parameters important when planning experimental studies on DHEA in this species.