Arteries in horses are blood vessels responsible for carrying oxygenated blood away from the heart to various tissues and organs throughout the body. These vessels are integral to the circulatory system, facilitating the delivery of essential nutrients and oxygen to maintain cellular function and overall health. The structure of equine arteries includes a thick muscular wall that accommodates the high pressure of blood flow, allowing for efficient transport. Research on equine arteries often focuses on their anatomical characteristics, physiological functions, and potential disorders that may affect them, such as atherosclerosis or aneurysms. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that examine the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of arteries in horses.
Freeman DE, Donawick WJ, Klein LV.The effect of a single ligature on back pressure in the internal carotid artery was studied in nine horses. In six anesthetized horses, one internal carotid artery was catheterized 2 cm from its origin and blood pressure was recorded continuously. Then the artery was ligated, pressure was recorded again, and the horses were euthanatized. In another three anesthetized horses, indwelling catheters were placed in both internal carotid arteries and a loose ligature was placed proximal to one catheter. After horses recovered from anesthesia, the ligature was tied and blood pressure was recorded in ...
Obi T, Kabeyama A, Nishio A.Isolated equine coronary arteries responded to 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) with relaxations in both endothelium-dependent and endothelium-independent mechanisms. Experiments were designed to characterize the 5-HT receptor subtype mediating these relaxations. Both 5-HT and alpha-methyl-5-HT (alpha-Me-5-HT; 5-HT2 agonist) produced concentration-dependent relaxations in equine coronary arteries precontracted with a thromboxane A2 derivative (ONO11113). The degree of the maximal relaxation induced by alpha-Me-5-HT was about one-half of that induced by 5-HT. In the coronary arteries without endothel...
King CM, Evans DL, Rose RJ.A standardised incremental exercise test was performed by 9 racehorses with idiopathic laryngeal hemiplegia (ILH), 1 horse with maxillary sinus cysts, 1 horse with epiglottic entrapment, 1 horse with a lesion on the vocal folds, and 1 horse with pharyngitis. Two of the horses with ILH were retested after laryngoplasty and ventriculectomy. The findings were compared with those from 20 normal racehorses. Heart rate, plasma lactate concentration, arterial blood gases, stride frequency, oxygen uptake (VO2) and carbon dioxide production were assessed during treadmill exercise on a +10% slope. The g...
Lowry TF, Forster HV, Korducki MJ, Forster AL, Forster MA.To gain insight into central and peripheral contributions to changes in breathing during hypoxia, we compared effects on breathing of reducing inspired PO2 (hypoxic hypoxia) with reducing arterial O2 content (CaO2) through elevation of carboxy-hemoglobin (COHb) (CO hypoxia). Twelve awake ponies were studied during 1 h of breathing room air followed by 6 h when COHb was increased to 25% and CaO2 was decreased by 17%. When COHb was increased, arterial PCO2 (PaCO2) increased gradually to 1.3 Torr above (P < 0.05) control level between 30 and 45 min of CO exposure. Pulmonary ventilation (VE) de...
Obi T, Kabeyama A, Nishio A.In coronary arterial rings isolated from horse, norepinephrine (NE)(10(-7) - 10(-5) M) induced concentration-dependent contractions which were not influenced by endothelial denudation. Prazosin (alpha 1-antagonist) inhibited the contraction, but yohimbine (alpha 2-antagonist) did not, and propranolol (beta-antagonist) enhanced the contraction. Pretreatment with phentolamine (10(-5) M) (alpha-antagonist) converted the contraction induced by NE to relaxation in coronary rings precontracted with ONO11113 (thromboxane A2 derivative). The relaxation was not influenced by removal of the endothelium,...
Baxter G.Endotoxin given in vivo has been shown to inhibit endothelial dependent relaxation, and augment adrenergic (norepinephrine) contractions in isolated palmar digital arteries of horses. A study, using tumor necrosis factor (TNF) in vitro, was performed to determine the possible cause of these vascular alterations. Palmar digital arteries were surgically removed from 6 horses under general anesthesia, cut into 4-mm vascular rings (4 segments/horse), suspended in tissue baths, and attached to force displacement transducers for measurement of vascular tension. Four in vitro treatment groups were ev...
Hunt RJ, Brandon CI, McCann ME.Palmar digital arterial blood flow was measured in 6 conscious, standing horses, using surgically placed perivascular ultrasonic flow probes. The effects of 2 dosages of xylazine (0.55 and 1.1 mg/kg of body weight) and of 3 dosages of acetylpromazine (0.01, 0.02, and 0.04 mg/kg), as well as the effect of vertical load, on digital blood flow were evaluated. Intravenous administration of xylazine induced a significant (P < 0.05), transient decrease in digital blood flow. Intravenous administration of acetylpromazine induced a significant (P < 0.05), prolonged increase in digital blood flow...
Sugar O.Reports of pathologic investigations as to the cause of intermittent claudication in horses were made in France in October, 1831, by veterinarian Jean-François Bouley. Obstructive clots in the femoral arteries were found to be responsible for the muscular changes causing limping. Bouley's work in the horse was used by Charcot in 1858 to understand the mechanism of claudication in the case of a soldier with gunshot wound in whom a traumatic aneurysm, clotting, and ischemia of the legs developed. This was not, however, the first medically reported case of human claudication from vascular occlus...
Miyamoto A, Nishio A.The vasomotor effects of histamine on isolated bovine and equine basilar arteries were examined. Histamine induced contractions in both these preparations. The maximal response to and pEC50 value for histamine of the equine artery were larger than those of bovine tissue. Similar results were obtained with endothelium-denuded basilar arteries. Diphenhydramine (H1-receptor antagonist) inhibited histamine-induced contractions of the basilar arteries from both species in a concentration-dependent manner and its pA2 values (with 95% confidence limits) were 7.61 (7.39-7.83) and 8.15 (8.01-8.29) for ...
Freeman DE, Staller GS, Maxson AD, Sweeney CR.A mare with hemorrhage caused by guttural pouch mycosis was treated by insertion of a balloon-tipped catheter into the left internal carotid artery. During recovery from general anesthesia, the mare had profuse epistaxis, and was anesthetized again to determine the site of hemorrhage. The affected guttural pouch was opened to confirm that hemorrhage was from the left internal carotid artery. The mare was euthanatized, and, at necropsy, the balloon catheter was found in an aberrant branch that arose from the internal carotid artery and joined the basilar artery. The mycotic plaque was on the le...
Oikawa M, Katayama Y, Yoshihara T, Kaneko M, Yoshikawa T.The morphology of the arteries in the uterine wall was studied in three multiparous aged mares that had suffered repeated pregnancy failure. The uterine wall arteries exhibited elastosis of the intima or adventitia, or both, resembling "physiological pregnancy sclerosis". In areas affected by elastosis, degeneration of the pre-existing elastic fibres and increased glycosaminoglycans were frequently observed. Newly formed elastic fibres were not evident. Delayed resorption due to disordered metabolic turnover of the elastin was thought to be an important factor in the pathogenesis of the arteri...
Bergentz SE.Jean Martin Charcot was the first to give a detailed description of intermittent claudication, and a correct interpretation of the mechanism behind the symptoms. He borrowed the name of the syndrome from the veterinarian literature, where it had been described to occur in horses, and caused by inflammatory changes in aorta at the origin of the large vessels to the extremities. The case presented by Charcot was a man with a traumatic pseudoaneurysm in his common iliac artery. He had in addition an arterio-enteric fistula, a condition which probably had not been described before.
Ghazi SR, Tadjalli M.The detailed coronary arterial anatomy of seven camels was studied and compared with that of horses and cattle. In camels, there is a bilateral coronary supply, the right coronary artery being the larger. The left coronary artery follows the same pattern as that in horses. The ramus collateralis proximalis in camels separates off some distance away from the origin of the ramus interventricularis paraconalis, as in horses, whereas it separates of very quickly in cattle. The ramus collateralis distalis has two branches in camels, whereas the left distal ventriculi ramus does not branch. The ramu...
Eades SC, Moore JN.Changes in lateral cecal arterial blood flow, mean internal carotid arterial pressure, and heart rate caused by nasogastric administration of fenoldopam (3, 6, and 9 mg/kg of body weight), a selective agonist of dopaminergic receptors, were recorded in 7 healthy horses. Cecal arterial blood flow was significantly increased within 30 minutes after administration of fenoldopam at all 3 dosages, with the peak increases from baseline (67.8 +/- 17.5 ml/min) being 125 +/- 28, 120 +/- 22, and 153 +/- 32 ml/min for 3, 6, and 9 mg/kg, respectively. Although carotid arterial pressure did not change sign...
Pethick DW, Rose RJ, Bryden WL, Gooden JM.Nutrient uptake by the hindlimb was investigated utilising the arteriovenous difference technique in 5 Thoroughbred horses fed to maintenance a diet of 100% roughage or 52% oat grain and 48% roughage. Arterial blood was obtained from a catheter inserted into the carotid artery while venous blood was simultaneously collected from a catheter placed into the iliac vein via the medial saphenous vein. The arteriovenous difference for glucose was significant and represented a mean extraction of 10 +/- 1% with no effect of diet. If fully oxidised, glucose uptake (corrected for lactate and pyruvate ar...
Boatwright RB, Williams DO, Rugh KS, Sarazan RD, Ross CR, Garner HE, Griggs DM.Coronary collateral growth was stimulated in chronically instrumented conscious ponies by a previously validated intermittent coronary occlusion method. Changes in regional myocardial function (sonomicrometry) and reactive hyperemia (Doppler method) were used to monitor collateral growth and to program measurements of regional myocardial blood flow (microsphere method). A serial analysis of the transmural and lateral distributions of collateral blood flow was performed at the native and three superimposed levels of collateral growth. Results in nine animals undergoing an average of 553 +/- 188...
Kähn W, Palmer J, Vaala W.Various techniques for support and control of respiration in neonatal foals are described. It is crucial to evaluate respiration through frequent arterial blood gas analysis. Details for blood sampling from the metatarsal arteries and interpretation of results are provided. Typical diseases in newborn foals, which cause hypoxemia and/or hypercapnia and can be indications for respiratory support are apnea, hypopnea, pulmonary atelectasis, surfactant deficiency, meconium-, fetal fluid- and milk aspiration, maladjustment syndrome, cardiovascular abnormalities, anemia, airway obstruction, compromi...
Duckworth DH, Madison JB, Calderwood-Mays M, Souba WW.Glutamine has been shown to be an important metabolic substrate of enterocytes in many animals, including cats, dogs, hamsters, human beings, monkeys, rabbits, rats, and sheep. To determine whether glutamine is important in the metabolism of cells of the equine gastrointestinal tract, we examined transintestinal differences in glutamine concentrations in the arterial and venous circulation, and measured activity of the major glutamine catabolizing enzyme, glutaminase. Arteriovenous differences provide an index of the amount of a given substrate removed by the tissue across which the measuremen...
Moore RM, Trims CM.Lumbosacral CSF pressure was measured in 6 horses via a catheter inserted through the lumbosacral space. Heart rate, facial artery pressure, central venous pressure, and CSF pressure were measured before IV injection of a saline solution control, for 15 minutes after saline solution injection, and for 60 minutes after the IV injection of 1.1 mg of xylazine/kg of body weight. Arterial pH and blood gases were analyzed before saline solution injection, 15 minutes after saline solution injection, and at 15, 30, and 60 minutes after xylazine injection. Constant craniocervical posture was maintained...
Hoch DH, Salazar AM, Cabin HS, Young LH.Angiography in a 30-year-old man revealed the unique combination of aortic coarctation and an unusual arch anomaly. Proximal to the coarctation, a single arch vessel trifurcated into the brachiocephalic, left common carotid and left subclavian arteries. This anomalous arch vessel is a normal equine variant.
Light GS, Hellyer PW, Swanson CR.We investigated the influence of parasympathetic tone on the arrhythmogenicity of graded dobutamine infusions in horses anesthetized under clinical conditions. Six horses were used in 9 trials. Two consecutive series of graded dobutamine infusions were given IV; each continuous graded dobutamine infusion was administered for 20 minutes. The dobutamine infusion dosage (5, 10, 15, and 20 micrograms/kg of body weight/min) was increased at 5-minute intervals. Isovolumetric saline solution vehicle (v) or atropine (A; 0.04 mg/kg) was administered IV, or bilateral vagotomy (VG) was performed as a tre...
Dart AJ, Snyder JR, Julian D, Hinds DM.The microvascular anatomic features of the small intestine was described by correlating results of microangiography, light microscopy, gross studies, and scanning electron microscopy of vascular replicas in 14 horses. After heparinization, the horses were euthanatized, a length of jejunum was transected, and blood was flushed free of the circulation, using isotonic NaCl solution. In six horses, the circulatory system was perfused with a modified radiopaque medium and evaluated radiographically. These sections were then evaluated by standard histologic methods. Sections from 8 horses were perfu...
Erickson BK, Erickson HH, Coffman JR.Intravenous frusemide (1.0 mg/kg bwt) or phentolamine (0.33 mg/kg bwt) was given to 7 horses 1 h before exercise and their effects on pulmonary artery and aortic pressure changes during strenuous exercise were examined. Short-term near-maximal treadmill exercise (10 m/sec, 3 degrees incline) produced increases in heart rate, mean pulmonary artery pressure (PAP), mean aortic pressure (AP), and packed cell volume (PCV). Frusemide did not affect heart rate, PAP or PCV during exercise. Frusemide significantly decreased mean AP by 10 to 15 mmHg during exercise. Phentolamine produced an increase in ...
Luna SP, Beale NJ, Taylor PM.Atipamezole antagonism of xylazine sedation was evaluated in six ponies. Atipamezole (0.15 mg/kg) or saline was injected intravenously 15 minutes after the ponies had been sedated with xylazine (1.0 mg/kg). Arterial blood pressure and gases, pulse and respiratory rates, the electrocardiogram, nose-to-ground distance and a subjective sedation score were recorded. The pretreatment nose-to-ground distance and PaO2 returned to normal sooner after atipamezole than after saline and the ponies' appetite and normal locomotion also recovered sooner. No significant differences were observed between the ...
Nakamura T, Kiryu K, Machida N, Iwata T, Oikawa M, Kaneko M.The common, external, and internal carotid and occipital arteries were examined histologically at the trifurcation of the common carotid arteries in 13 Thoroughbred foals (0 to 30 days old) and 64 Thoroughbred adults (2 to 4 years old). Calcification in the media of the common carotid and external carotid arteries was observed in 3 of the 13 foals and in 30 of the 64 adult horses. Calcification resembled that seen in Mönckeberg's arteriosclerosis in human beings, the cause of which is unknown.
Rodgerson DH, Belknap JK, Fontaine GL, Kroll DL.To develop methods to isolate, culture, and characterize smooth muscle cells (SMC) from equine palmar digital arteries. Methods: Segments of the medial or lateral palmar digital arteries from the forelimbs of 6 horses. Methods: To obtain smooth muscle explants, arterial segments were incised longitudinally. The tunica intima was gently scraped from the underlying tunica media, and explants were obtained from the tunica media. Approximately 18 to 24 explants were obtained from each palmar digital arterial segment. A substrate-attached technique was used to initiate primary culture of SMCCulture...
Moore RM, Trims CM.Lumbosacral CSF pressure was measured in 6 horses via a catheter inserted through the lumbosacral space. Heart rate, facial artery pressure, central venous pressure, and CSF pressure were measured before IV injection of a saline solution control, for 15 minutes after saline solution injection, and for 60 minutes after the IV injection of 1.1 mg of xylazine/kg of body weight. Arterial pH and blood gases were analyzed before saline solution injection, 15 minutes after saline solution injection, and at 15, 30, and 60 minutes after xylazine injection. Constant craniocervical posture was maintained...
Wyn-Jones G, Jones RS, Church S.One of the major obstacles to successful intranasal surgery in the horse is haemorrhage, even minor interferences causing profuse bleeding. Conventional techniques for haemostasis are ineffective or inhibit the progress of the surgery. Temporary bilateral occlusion of the common carotid artery resulted in a substantial reduction in haemorrhage during intranasal surgery in five horses, with much improved visibility and facility of operation. The large contribution to the circle of Willis by the ventral spinal artery is believed to prevent cerebral ischaemia during this procedure. This paper des...
Hackett RP, Ducharme NG, Gleed RD, Erb HN, Mitchell LM, Soderholm LV.We hypothesised that 22.5 mg of oral nitroglycerin would cause pulmonary vasodilation and therefore decrease pulmonary capillary pressure in horses during strenuous exercise. Six horses were assigned to exercise twice, once with no medication (control) and once with nitroglycerin (22.5 mg orally) in random order. Horses were exercised for 3 min each at 75, 90 and 100% of maximal heart rate (HRmax) with a 2 min period of walking between each period of exertion. Pulmonary artery and oesophageal pressures were recorded continuously. Subsequent analysis was carried out on the pulmonary arterial pr...
King CM, Evans DL, Rose RJ.A standardised incremental exercise test was performed by 9 racehorses with idiopathic laryngeal hemiplegia (ILH), 1 horse with maxillary sinus cysts, 1 horse with epiglottic entrapment, 1 horse with a lesion on the vocal folds, and 1 horse with pharyngitis. Two of the horses with ILH were retested after laryngoplasty and ventriculectomy. The findings were compared with those from 20 normal racehorses. Heart rate, plasma lactate concentration, arterial blood gases, stride frequency, oxygen uptake (VO2) and carbon dioxide production were assessed during treadmill exercise on a +10% slope. The g...
Light GS, Hellyer PW, Swanson CR.We investigated the influence of parasympathetic tone on the arrhythmogenicity of graded dobutamine infusions in horses anesthetized under clinical conditions. Six horses were used in 9 trials. Two consecutive series of graded dobutamine infusions were given IV; each continuous graded dobutamine infusion was administered for 20 minutes. The dobutamine infusion dosage (5, 10, 15, and 20 micrograms/kg of body weight/min) was increased at 5-minute intervals. Isovolumetric saline solution vehicle (v) or atropine (A; 0.04 mg/kg) was administered IV, or bilateral vagotomy (VG) was performed as a tre...
Pandey VS.Between August 1978 and July 1979 the anterior mesenteric artery and its branches were collected regularly from adult horses and examined for Strongylus vulgaris larvae. The incidence of infection varied from 55 to 100% (annual mean 80%). The mean monthly number of larvae ranged form 3 to 22 with an annual overall mean of 13. The arterial infection was at its minimum in December to January, rose gradually to attain the peak in June and declined thereafter. These observations indicated that S. vulgaris is an annual species in Morocco, infection occurring during the rainy season (November-April)...
Young SS.The cardiovascular and respiratory responses to electrical stimulation of the buccal mucosa under general anaesthesia in ponies were measured in order to provide some insight into the cardiorespiratory effects of anaesthesia in equidae. This knowledge may be useful for reducing morbidity during clinical anaesthesia in horses. Anaesthesia was induced with intravenous thiopentone and maintained with 1.3 per cent inspired halothane in oxygen. Arterial blood pressure, heart rate, minute volume, tidal volume, respiratory rate, arterial blood gas tensions and clinical signs of anaesthetic depth were...
Gay CC, McCarthy M, Reynolds WT, Carter J.A method using the Doppler ultrasound principle for indirect determination of arterial blood pressure in the horse is described. The method is simple and suitable for field situations. Validation studies show that systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements bear a close relationship to true values obtained by direct measurement.
Yanai T, Masegi T, Ishikawa K, Sakai H, Iwasaki T, Moritomo Y, Goto N.Cerebral vascular mineralization was found in 12 (60%) of 20 3- to 10-year-old healthy horses collected at an abattoir. It was variable in degree and occurred mostly in the pallidal arteries showing two types of lesions; small globoid bodies along capillaries, and amorphous deposits in the wall of arterioles, small- or medium-sized arteries and veins. Both types were strongly positive for periodic acid-Schiff reaction, and weakly positive for von Kossa's and Berlin blue stains. Elemental analysis of the deposit revealed the presence of large amounts of aluminum, moderate amounts of phosphorus,...
Milne DW, Muir WW, Skarda RT.Blood pressure recordings were made from right atrium, right ventricle, pulmonary trunk, and pulmonary arterial "wedge" positions in the standing, resting, adult horse. Similarly, comparisons were made of blood samples collected from these vascular positions, as well as from jugular vein and carotid artery. A consistently lower partial pressure of carbon dioxide and a greater partial pressure of oxygen and pH were found in blood samples from pulmonary arterial wedge than from carotid artery. A technique for safe and rapid collection of pulmonary trunk and pulmonary arterial wedge blood gases, ...
Forster HV, Murphy CL, Brice AG, Pan LG, Lowry TF.The major objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that in ponies the change in plasma [H+] resulting from a change in PCO2 (delta H+/delta PCO2) is less under acute in vivo conditions than under in vitro conditions. Elevation of inspired CO2 and lowering of inspired O2 (causing hyperventilation) were used to respectively increase and decrease arterial PCO2 (Paco2) by 5-8 Torr from normal. Arterial and mixed venous blood were simultaneously sampled in 12 ponies during eucapnia and 5-60 min after Paco2 had changed. In vitro data were obtained by equilibrating blood in a tonometer at f...
Guglielmini C, Bernardini D.A seven-month-old male Standardbred was referred with a 4-month history of left jugular groove distension. On physical examination severely dilated left maxillary, linguofacial and jugular veins were appreciable. Blood gas analysis results indicated higher degree of oxygenation in the left jugular vein. Bi-directional flow signals, with normal systolic and early diastolic flow, and late diastolic retrograde flow, were noted on pulsed-wave Doppler interrogation and color flow mapping of the left jugular blood flow. A systolic-diastolic signal with spectral broadening was detected when positioni...
Sleeper MM, Palmer JE.The clinical and echocardiographic findings in a 19-h-old female foal with a ventricular septal defect, patent foramen ovale, patent ductus arteriosus, and complete transpositon of the great vessels are described. Clinical signs were suggestive of complex congenital heart disease and echocardiography of the foal allowed definitive diagnosis prior to postmortem.
Nanda BS, Getty R.The consistent presence of the caroticobasilar artery was observed and discussed in view of the anatomical normalities in the horse. The persistence of the above vessel was correlated with the developmental changes in the cranial and cerebral arteries.
Dixon PM.LARYNGEAL paralysis is a common, usually subclinical
disease in horses (Cole 1946; Gunn 1972). More severely
affected animals, clinically termed roarers, are frequently
alleged to have reduced exercise tolerance (Argyle 1933; Cook
1965). This could most readily be attributed to exercise related
hypoxaemia caused by a reduced airflow and/or airflow
turbulence at the reduced rima glottidis. It could also be
conjectured that a rider would demand less of a horse making
loud and possibly distressing respiratory noises. Although
there has been much recent research into the pathology of
equ...