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Have you ever seen guide dogs on the street?
Guide dogs help visually impaired people by avoiding obstacles or
walking on steps. In Japan, 1,000 guide dogs work for people with disabilities.
There are over 20,000 guide dogs around
the world in 31 different countries.
Labrador retrievers are often used as
guide dogs because they are very
friendly and socialize well with both
humans and neighbor dogs. The breeding
colony of Labradors is maintained through strong selective breeding in order to
maintain or even strengthen the ability
for guiding humans. However, such breeding
reduces genetic variation in the dog [population], which sometimes results in a higher risk
of genetic disease. In 2012, the guide dog
breeding organization in Japan
experienced an outbreak of severe
esophagus disease, called mega esophagaus.
In this disease, the esophagus becomes
abnormally enlarged. As a result, food and
water cannot be moved into the stomach and are stuck in the esophagus. Guide dogs
with mega esophagus could not drink nor eat, and bled, and finally died. The aim of my
research is to look for the cause of
mega esophagus in the guide dogs.
First, using a microscope, I found that not only the muscles of the esophagus but also
skeletal muscle of the body were damaged. Second, one specific dog food was
suspected as a potential risk factor. I
saw that there might be other reasons
causing this disease, so I started a
genetic research. Lastly, complete DNA
sequencing analysis identified genetic
folds associated with muscle functions
in the affected guide dogs. In conclusion,
both genetic and dietary factors might
trigger the onset [of disease]. After changing the dog food, the outbreak of mega esophagus
has come to an end. The goal of my research was to help guide dogs,
but this is just the beginning. Dogs are the
first animal to be domesticated and
humans and dogs shared a long history.
During the long history we have created
many dog breeds for the benefit of
ourselves. At the same time, we have
created many breed-specific diseases in
dogs.
My mission is to understand the disease for establishment of treatment. Dogs help us
and we can help them by using
accumulated knowledge of animal sciences.
thank you
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