Shar Peis - The Wrinkle Dogs: A Long Held Mystery Unfolded

With just a week or so to go before Mr. Barack Obama to be sworn in, the hype is at its zenith! Today's breaking news is, an incredible number of around four million people, including Bono and Beyoncé is going to be attending the Obama inauguration! Starting this weekend, as many as 10,000 buses, innumerable cabs, trains and air vehicles are going top ferry upwards of this huge volume of mass into Washington DC. The hype is really at it's peak... and Mr. Obama seems to be not paying much attention on the First Dog issue - his commitments to his daughter. I'll write about Obama Dog when he will be up to it again. Until then, I am sure, he's not going to change his focus from Labradoodle or a Portugese Water Hound.

So let's take a turn towards a bit different stuff about dogs. Here's something that most of the dog lovers have been wondering about. Why Shar Peis have so much of wrinkles? The mystery's revealed. The article has been adapted from an extract provided by "Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona" - UAB. A group of scientists at the UAB have been burning their midnight oil to trace out the secret about the heavy wrinkles in SharPei dogs. They discovered the origin of mucinosis - rather dermal mucinosis (broad clinical and histologic category of diseases) that is present in the breed. This is a hereditary health disorder, which is responsible for the characteristic wrinkles of this dog breed. The study was carried out by scientists Lluís Ferrer, Maria José Docampo, Giordana Zanna, Anna Bassols and Dolors Fondevila from the UAB, Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a report of this appeared in the journals Veterinary Dermatology and Journal of Heredity.

In the report the researchers talked about a genetic alteration in Shar Pei dogs, which multiplies the activity of an enzyme that produces excessive hyaluronic acid in abnormally excess amount. Hyaluronic acid is one of the major components found in the space between tissue cells. The excess production hyaluronic acid, gathers under the skin and makes the skin of Shar Pei wrinkled, which is a disease. The age old belief that the wrinkles of Shar Pei skin are a natural charecteristics, has now been proved wrong! According to the scientists its a disease caused by the accumulation of excessive hyaluronic acid in the sub-cutaneous region as well as in their blood stream too. Scientists have isolated fibroblast cell cultures from the Shar Pei's skin, which allowed them to demonstrate how synthesis of hyaluronic acid is produced in high amounts due to an hyper activity of the HAS2 enzyme - one of the three enzymes that encourages the synthesis of acid in mammals.

If this is a disease anyway, the Shar Pei breeders would need to understand the molecular mechanism and have to choose for a more scientific and selective breeding programmes, with a motive to make life better for Shar Pei dogs. I think, happy days for the Shar Peis are not away. Re-designing of Shar Pei breeding program is the only solution to this health disorder in Shar Pei dogs, according to the researchers.

All shar pei photos are taken from net