An Innovative Cardiac Biomarker in Veterinary Medicine

In the past, there were many traditional methods for detection of cardiac injury. These methods includes electrocardiography, echocardiography in association with certain cardiac biomarkers. The serum levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), creatin kinase (CK), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were formerly used as cardiac biomarkers until the identification of creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB), LDH-1 and LDH-2 isomers, which are more specific to cardiac and muscle injury. Recently these enzymes were discovered to be lack of sensitivity and specificity in the presence of either cardiac or muscle injury in human or animals. Therefore, there has been a great interest in human and animal medicine to investigate an innovative heart marker to be used as diagnostic and prognostic tools for human and animal cardiac problems. Cardiac troponin I (cTnI), is an extremely sensitive and precise heart biomarker for diagnosis of myocardial damage in humans and as well as in animals. The cTnI is a regulatory protein that control the calcium mediated interaction between actin and myosin (regulate cardiac contraction). Thetroponin complex consists of three subunits: troponin T,which binds to tropomyosin and facilitates contraction;troponin I, which binds to actin and inhibits actin-myosininteractions; and troponin C, which binds to calcium ions. The amino acid sequences of the cardiac and skeletal isoforms of troponin I and troponin T are satisfactorily different and, consequently, differentially measureable by monoclonal antibody based assays. Troponin C is not used clinically because both the cardiac and skeletal muscle share troponin C isoforms. Cardiac troponin I is 13 times more copious in the heart than creatine kinase.