Which pet is PURR-fect for everyone?
This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science.
Everyone knows cats are better than dogs because they’re so low maintenance… right?
Actually, cats have health issues too. Kidney disease is a big one. Why?
Healthy mammals have a support protein called AIM, which is bound to antibodies. In times of stress, AIM SHOULD be released from the antibodies to remove waste. So what’s amiss for felines?
Enter Toru Miyazaki and their team from the University of Tokyo.
To see if feline AIM is unique, they replaced AIM in mice with feline AIM. Mice with feline AIM had more kidney disease than normal mice. Turns out, feline AIM binds antibodies 1000 times stronger, preventing them from helping the kidneys. Researchers then modified feline AIM to bind antibodies less strongly. After injecting mice with it, kidney disease went down!
This research could help develop vaccines and help cats live longer!
I want to get my cat vaccinated right meow!
Reference: Sugisawa, R., Hiramoto, E., Matsuoka, S., Iwai, S., Takai, R., Yamazaki, T., Mori, N., Okada, Y., Takeda, N., Yamamura, K., Arai, T., Arai, S., & Miyazaki, T. (2016). Impact of feline AIM on the susceptibility of cats to renal disease. Scientific Reports, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep35251