Volume: 56 Issue: 1
Year: 2025, Page: 20-24, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2025.56.1.20-24
Received: Sept. 4, 2024 Accepted: Nov. 6, 2024 Published: March 31, 2025
The skin serves as the primary defense organ against environmental factors and pathogens, maintaining structural and functional stability despite of continuous changes. This study provides insight into the histological differences in the dermis of seven dog breeds (German Shepherd, Labrador Retriever, Dachshund, Beagle, Doberman Pinscher, German Spitz and Pug) and indigenous dogs, which could aid clinicians in tailoring breed-specific treatment protocols. Histological studies were performed on skin samples collected from the ventral abdominal region of 48 dogs (six from each breed) using standard procedures. The dermis was composed of a thin papillary layer and a thick reticular layer. The papillary layer lacked dermal papillae and was composed of closely arranged fine collagen fibres intermingled with a few elastic and reticular fibres. The reticular layer displayed coarser, loosely interwoven collagen bundles, with the presence of elastic fibres around adnexal structures. The dermis was highly vascularised, with numerous capillary loops and displayed abundant fibroblasts, macrophages, mast cells and nerve endings. Micrometrical analysis revealed significant breed-specific differences in dermal thickness. The Labrador Retriever exhibited the thickest papillary layer (308.49 ± 42.27 μm), while the Doberman Pinscher had the thinnest (80.43 ± 2.87 μm). In contrast, the reticular layer was thickest in the Doberman Pinscher (2985.06 ± 114.26 μm) and thinnest in the Labrador Retriever (688.66 ± 73.68 μm). A negative correlation existed between the thickness of epidermis and dermis. Variations in dermal structure were breed-dependent, affecting the mechanical properties, flexibility and susceptibility to dermatological conditions. Distinct differences in the histological structure of the dermis across breeds, emphasises the importance of breed-specific
approaches in veterinary dermatology.
Keywords: Skin, canine, dermis.
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© 2025 Sumena et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 56 (1):20-24