Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
2621 MORGAN CIR
KNOXVILLE,TN 37996-4540
Performing Department
Small Animal Clinical Sciences
Non Technical Summary
Alopecia X has been described in many plush-coated dog breeds, including the Pomeranian and the Chow Chow. The dogs are otherwise healthy, but they experience partial hair loss to complete baldness. Treatments have variable success in regrowing hair and some are actually risky for the patient. An old treatment that was fairly successful was administering growth hormone; however, this product is not readily available. This study is designed to investigate whether stimulation of an affected Pomeranian's own growth hormone production can be induced by administering the hormone progesterone at the same dosage regimen that is used to prevent intact females from cycling and if the induction of growth hormone is enough to result in hair regrowth without any adverse effects. If this is the case then this could be an inexpensive method for regrowing haircoats in these dogs.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Alopecia X is a common cause of hair loss in plush coated breeds such as Pomeranians. Several treatment options are described, with variable results. Administration of bovine growth hormone has been successful in the past; however this product is no longer available. Progesterone has been proven in several studies to induce endogenous growth hormone production. To date, no studies have been conducted to evaluate the effects of progesterone on the stimulation of endogenous growth hormone and the induction of hair regrowth in patients with Alopecia X. This pilot study will investigate if the induction of endogenous growth hormone is enough to result in hair regrowth without any adverse effects. Ten dogs with Alopecia X will be recruited for the study. The dogs will receive an injection of medroxyprogesterone at a dose of 10 mg/kg SC (Knottenbelt 2002) and return monthly. If there are no abnormalities in blood or urine, medroxyprogesterone will again be administered. This will be repeated for a total of 4 months. If there is evidence of substantial hair regrowth at one of the visits, a decision as to whether or not to administer the medroxyprogesterone will be made. It is the goal of this study to investigate a successful and safe treatment in patients with Alopecia X. We expect that there will be hair regrowth in at least half of the dogs and this will be associated with increased concentrations of IGF-1. Success of this study will lead to a larger placebo controlled study.
Project Methods
This is a pilot study. Six neutered male and/or female Pomeranians with Alopecia X will be recruited for the study. Dogs will have had Alopecia X diagnosed based on clinical signs and normal thyroid and cortisol values. If thyroid and cortisol evaluations have not been done previously, we will offer those tests at the owners' expense. Animals must be neutered at least 60 days prior to enrollment to avoid hair regrowth in response to neutering affecting our assessment. A chemistry panel and urinalysis will be assessed from each dog at the start of the study. The urinalysis will be obtained by either free catch or cystocentesis. Serum will also be saved for insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) determination. The dogs will receive an injection of medroxyprogesterone (10 mg kg-1 SQ) and return monthly. Blood, urine, and serum for IGF-1 concentration determination will be collected and hair growth will be assessed in monthly intervals. If there are no abnormalities in blood or urine, medroxyprogesterone will again be administered. This will be repeated for a total of 4 months. If there is evidence of substantial hair regrowth at one of the visits, a decision as to whether or not to administer the medroxyprogesterone will be made. Serum will be submitted to the laboratory at the end of the study for IGF-1 concentrations. These values will be statistically analyzed by RM-ANOVA using a statistical software package.