The study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary administrations of four nutraceuticals in dogs. Seventy
four dogswere enrolled in the trials, 24 healthy dogs were fedwith a control diet (CT) and the experimental
groups received for 60 days the same diet supplemented with nutraceuticals, namely Echinacea angustifolia (EA,
0.10 mg/kg live weight as echinacoside; 14 dogs), Vaccinium myrtillus (VM, 0.20 mg/kg live weight as
anthocyanidin, 13 dogs), Curcuma longa (CL, 6.60 mg/kg live weight as curcumin, 18 dogs with arthrosis), and
Sylibum marianum (SM, 1.5 mg/kg live weight as sylibin, 8 dogs with hepatopathy). Dogs were weighted at the
beginning of study and blood samples were collected at the beginning (T0) and at the end (T60) of the study.
VM significantly down regulated TNF, CXCL8, NFKB1 and PTGS2 and decreased plasma ceruloplasmin (CuCp).
The activity of EA was evidenced by the significant decrease of TNF and NFKB1 expression and CuCp levels and
by the increase of plasma Zn. Administration of CL caused a significant decrease of CuCp and increase of Zn
and a down regulation of TNF, CXCL8, NFKB1 and PTGS2, corroborating the anti-inflammatory action of curcuminoids.
After 60 days of treatmentwith SM, plasma ALT/GPT activitywas reduced and paraoxonase was increased,
supporting the antioxidant activity of silymarin, also confirmed by the significant up regulation of SOD2. Results
indicated that nutraceutical administrations in dogs can be an interesting approach to modulate immune response
in order to improve health condition of animals