Heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) and thrombomodulin in bovine traumatic pericarditis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomarkers of cardiac damage such as heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP), pentraxin-3 (PTX-3), and thrombomodulin (TM) for the detection and prognosis of bovine traumatic pericarditis (TP). Spontaneous TP was diagnosed on the basis of history, clinical signs, complete blood count, glutaraldehyde test, ultrasonography, and pericardiocentesis findings. H-FABP, PTX-3 and TM levels in serum were compared between 25 Holstein cows diagnosed with spontaneous TP and 10 healthy control cows using bovine-specific ELISA kits. Serum H-FABP in cattle with TP was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in the control group and positively correlated with cardiac troponin-I (cTnI), creatine kinase myocardial band (CK-MB), PTX-3 and TM (r = 0.683, 0.342, 0.448 and 0.424, respectively; P < 0.05). The serum levels of PTX-3 (P < 0.05) and TM (P < 0.05) in cattle with TP were significantly higher than in the control group. Cardiac damage biomarkers H-FABP, PTX-3 and TM may be useful in the diagnosis of bovine TP.