ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Behav. Neurosci.
Sec. Pathological Conditions
This article is part of the Research TopicNeurobiological insights into healthy brain aging: From molecular markers to behavioral manifestations – A cross-species analysisView all 9 articles
An Exploratory Study of Behavioral, Cognitive, Physiological, and Microbiota Profiles in Senior Dogs
Provisionally accepted
Begum Saral1
Durmus Atilgan2
Deniz Adiay1
Nazlican Filazi3
Gorkem Kismali1Hakan Ozturk1
Gonçalo Da Graça Pereira4Aykut Ozkul2
Yasemin Salgirli Demi̇rbas2,5*- 1Ankara Universitesi, Ankara, Türkiye
- 2Ankara University, Ankara, Türkiye
- 3Hatay Mustafa Kemal Universitesi, Antakya, Türkiye
- 4Instituto Universitario Egas Moniz Centro de Investigacao Interdisciplinar Egas Moniz, Caparica, Portugal
- 5University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada
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Aging in dogs is a multifactorial process involving behavioral, cognitive, immunological and microbiota-related changes, yet distinguishing healthy from pathological aging remains challenging. This exploratory study aimed to evaluate physiological indicators of health by integrating pain evaluation and cognitive testing in senior companion dogs. Accordingly, 18 companion dogs aged ≥8 years underwent standardized behavioral and cognitive evaluations (Mini C-BARQ, DISHAA, object choice test), chronic pain assessment (Helsinki Chronic Pain Index), and quality-of-life (QoL) scoring. Hematological parameters, serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Th1/Th2 ratios were measured as physiological indicators, while fecal samples were analyzed via 16S rRNA sequencing for microbiota profiling. All dogs scored above the chronic pain threshold (mean HCPI: 28.72), although caregiver-reported QoL ratings suggested good overall well-being. Cognitive testing yielded low average scores on the DISHAA (mean: 9.05), with only one dog showing mild cognitive decline; however, mean performance on the object choice test was low (1.94/5). Mean serum BDNF concentration was 0.154 ng/dl (SD: 0.082) and correlated positively with red blood cell (RBC) count and negatively with MCV, MCH, and MCHC (p ≤ 0.05). Immune profiling patterns suggested Th2 polarization. The gut microbiota was dominated by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified two primary dimensions of biological variation: a pain– immune–microbiota axis, defined by higher chronic pain scores, Th2 polarization, increased Prevotella abundance, and higher DISHAA scores, and a second component reflecting microbiota compositional variation. These preliminary findings highlight potential interactions between pain, microbiota composition and immune dysregulation suggesting their possible utility as candidate indicators for differentiating healthy from pathological aging in dogs.
Keywords: Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), canine cognitive decline, C-BARQ, Chronic Pain, microbiota -gut – brain axis
Received: 20 Aug 2025; Accepted: 31 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Saral, Atilgan, Adiay, Filazi, Kismali, Ozturk, Da Graça Pereira, Ozkul and Salgirli Demi̇rbas. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yasemin Salgirli Demi̇rbas
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