Zhang X, Geng A, Cao D, Dugarjaviin M. Horses are susceptible to oxidative stress during strenuous endurance exercise, leading to muscle fatigue and damage. Mulberry leaf flavonoids (MLFs) possess significant antioxidant properties. However, the antioxidant efficacy of MLFs can be influenced by the extraction process, and their impact on HO-induced oxidative stress in equine skeletal muscle satellite cells (ESMCs) remains unexplored. Our study employed three extraction methods to obtain MLFs: ultrasound-assisted extraction (CEP), purification with AB-8 macroporous resin (RP), and n-butanol extraction (NB-EP). We assessed the prot...
Determination of morphological and biochemical blood indices facilitates assessment of the health and welfare of horses, their nutrient demand, the effects of training already undertaken, and the horses' suitability for exercise. Identification of the season-dependent components and the effects of sex and exercise on changes in frequently referenced haematological and biochemical parameters was the main goal of the current study. Unassigned: The blood morphology of 21 healthy adult Shetland ponies (11 mares and 10 stallions) aged 6.5 ± 1.4 years from the central Pomeranian region in Poland wa...
Pratt-Phillips S.Obesity is an important health concern in horses, along with humans and companion animals. Adipose tissue is an inflammatory organ that alters the insulin-signaling cascade, ultimately causing insulin dysregulation and impaired glucose metabolism. These disruptions can increase the risk of metabolic disease and laminitis in horses and may also impact energy metabolism during exercise. A single bout of exercise, along with chronic exercise conditioning, increases insulin sensitivity and glucose disposal via both contraction- and insulin-mediated glucose uptake pathways. Regular exercise also in...
Hallman IAM, Raekallio MR, Koho N, Weckman MJ, Karikoski NP.Alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonist detomidine is a commonly used sedative agent in horses. In addition to the sedative effect, detomidine has been reported to elicit changes in energy metabolism such as hypoinsulinaemia and hyperglycaemia. This study aimed to investigate the effects of detomidine with and without peripherally acting alpha-2-adrenoceptor antagonist vatinoxan on insulin and blood glucose (BG) concentrations in horses after a standard dose of oral carbohydrates. Sixteen horses were assigned to four intravenous treatments in a randomised cross-over design: saline (SAL), detomidine (0.02...
Martin A, Lepers R, Vasseur M, Julliand S.Large amounts of high-starch concentrates are traditionally fed to horses in training. However, this has been associated with digestive or muscle diseases and behavioural modifications. In parallel, it has been demonstrated that horses fed high-fibre, low-starch diets achieve the same performance over an exercise test as the ones fed high-starch diets. However, whether the same performance level can be maintained over a longer training cycle is still being determined. This study aimed to compare the evolution in physical performance and cardiorespiratory responses of two groups of French Trott...
Song X, Jiang H, Lv P, Cui K, Liu Q, Yin S, Liu H, Li Z.Oocyte in vitro maturation is necessary for the study and application of animal-assisted reproduction technology in animal reproduction and breeding. The comprehensive transcriptional profile of equine oocyte maturated in vitro has not been fully mined yet, which makes many key transcriptional events still unidentified. Here, Smart-seq2 was performed to analyse the gene expression pattern and the underlying regulatory mechanism of horse germinal vesicle (GV) and in vitro metaphase II (MII) oocytes. The results showed that 6402 genes (2640 up-regulated and 3762 down-regulated in MII samples com...
Lee J, Kang YJ, Kim YK, Choi JY, Shin SM, Shin MC.The influences of diet and environmental factors on gut microbial profiles have been widely acknowledged; however, the specific roles of host genetics remain uncertain. To unravel host genetic effects, we raised 47 Jeju crossbred (Jeju × Thoroughbred) foals that exhibited higher genetic diversity. Foals were raised under identical environmental conditions and diets. Microbial composition revealed that Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Spirochaetes were the predominant phyla. We identified 31 host-microbiome associations by utilizing 47,668 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 734 taxa with...
Ramu00edrez-Agu00e1mez L, Hernu00e1ndez-Avilu00e9s C, Ortu00edz I, Love CC, Varner DD, Hinrichs K.Equine spermatozoa appear to differ from spermatozoa of other species in using oxidative phosphorylation preferentially over glycolysis. However, there is little information regarding effects of different energy sources on measured parameters in equine spermatozoa. Objective: To determine the effect of three individual energy substrates, glucose, pyruvate, and lactate, on motion characteristics, membrane integrity, and acrosomal status of stallion spermatozoa. Methods: Freshly ejaculated stallion spermatozoa were incubated with combinations of glucose (5 mm), pyruvate (10 mm), and lactate (1...
Aqeel I, Khormi IM, Khan SB, Shuaib M, Almusharraf A, Alam S, Alkhaldi NA.The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and its subsequent evolution into the Internet of Everything (IoE) is a result of the rapid growth of information and communication technologies (ICT). However, implementing these technologies comes with certain obstacles, such as the limited availability of energy resources and processing power. Consequently, there is a need for energy-efficient and intelligent load-balancing models, particularly in healthcare, where real-time applications generate large volumes of data. This paper proposes a novel, energy-aware artificial intelligence (AI)-based ...
Gregersen T, Wild TA, Havmu00f8ller LW, Mu00f8ller PR, Lenau TA, Wikelski M, Havmu00f8ller RW.Wildlife tracking devices are key in obtaining detailed insights on movement, animal migration, natal dispersal, home-ranges, resource use and group dynamics of free-roaming animals. Despite a wide use of such devices, tracking for entire lifetimes is still a considerable challenge for most animals, mainly due to technological limitations. Deploying battery powered wildlife tags on smaller animals is limited by the mass of the devices. Micro-sized devices with solar panels sometimes solve this challenge, however, nocturnal species or animals living under low light conditions render solar cells...
Bou T, Ding W, Liu H, Gong W, Jia Z, Dugarjaviin M, Bai D.The proportion of different muscle fibers is essential for the horse breed's aptitude for athletic activities. Adaptation of locomotor muscle is correlated with altered physiologic conditions. To investigate the adaptive changes of muscle fiber phenotype and transcriptome in horse skeletal muscle during dietary restriction (DR). The muscle fiber type distribution and deep RNA-seq analysis of detecting differentially expressed mRNAs (DEGs), miRNA (DEMIRs), lncRNAs (DELs), circRNAs (DECs), and their function analysis were investigated in gluteus medius muscle of Mongolian horses during DR. A tot...
Hallman I, Karikoski N, Kareskoski M.Obesity is a growing welfare concern in modern equine populations and predisposes horses to disturbances in energy metabolism such as insulin dysregulation. However, equine metabolic syndrome has only been recognized in recent decades. Functioning energy metabolism is pivotal to normal body homeostasis and affects essentially all organ systems, including reproduction. Previous literature suggests that obesity has an effect not only on the reproductive processes in mares but also on offspring health, predisposing the offspring to later-onset orthopedic and metabolic problems. This review focuse...
Chaucheyras-Durand F, Sacy A, Karges K, Apper E.Horses are large non-ruminant herbivores and rely on microbial fermentation for energy, with more than half of their maintenance energy requirement coming from microbial fermentation occurring in their enlarged caecum and colon. To achieve that, the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT) of horses harbors a broad range of various microorganisms, differing in each GIT segment, which are essential for efficient utilization of feed, especially to use nutrients that are not or little degraded by endogenous enzymes. In addition, like in other animal species, the GIT microbiota is in permanent interplay with...
Rooney MF, Neto NGB, Monaghan MG, Hill EW, Porter RK.Thoroughbred racehorse performance is largely influenced by a major quantitative trait locus at the () gene which determines aptitude for certain race distances due to a promoter region insertion mutation influencing functional phenotypes in skeletal muscle. To develop an system for functional experiments we established three novel equine skeletal muscle cell lines reflecting the variation in phenotype associated with genotype (CC/II, CT/IN and TT/NN for SNP g.66493737C > T/SINE insertion 227 bp polymorphism). Primary equine skeletal muscle myoblasts, isolated from Thoroughbred horse , we...
Kinsella HM, Hostnik LD, Toribio RE.Most homeostatic systems in the equine neonate should be functional during the transition from intra- to extrauterine life to ensure survival during this critical period. Endocrine maturation in the equine fetus occurs at different stages, with a majority taking place a few days prior to parturition and continuing after birth. Cortisol and thyroid hormones are good examples of endocrine and tissue interdependency. Cortisol promotes skeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, thyroid gland, adrenomedullary, and pancreatic differentiation. Thyroid hormones are essential for cardiovascular, respirator...
Mach N, Midoux C, Leclercq S, Pennarun S, Le Moyec L, Ruu00e9 O, Robert C, Sallu00e9 G, Barrey E.Emerging evidence indicates that the gut microbiome contributes to endurance exercise performance. Still, the extent of its functional and metabolic potential remains unknown. Using elite endurance horses as a model system for exercise responsiveness, we built an integrated horse gut gene catalog comprising ~25 million unique genes and 372 metagenome-assembled genomes. This catalog represents 4179 genera spanning 95 phyla and functional capacities primed to exploit energy from dietary, microbial, and host resources. The holo-omics approach shows that gut microbiomes enriched in Lachnospiraceae...
Vasanthkumar P, Senthilkumar N, Rao KS, Metwally ASM, Fattah IM, Shaafi T, Murugan VS.The consumption of a significant quantity of energy in buildings has been linked to the emergence of environmental problems that can have unfavourable effects on people. The prediction of energy consumption is widely regarded as an effective method for the conservation of energy and the improvement of decision-making processes for the purpose of lowering energy use. When it comes to the generation of positive results in prediction tasks, the Machine Learning (ML) technique can be considered the most appropriate and applicable strategy. This article presents a Modified Wild Horse Optimization w...
Wen X, Luo S, Lv D, Jia C, Zhou X, Zhai Q, Xi L, Yang C.The horse gut is colonized by a rich and complex microbial community that has important roles in horse physiology, metabolism, nutrition, and immune functions. Fewer across-breed variations in horse gut microbial diversity have been illustrated. In this article, the gut microbiota of Thoroughbred, Mongolian, and Hybrid horses [first filial generation (F1) of Mongolian (maternal) and Thoroughbred (paternal)] were studied by second-generation high-throughput sequencing technology. Differences in gut microbiota composition and function between breeds were determined using diversity and functional...
Miglio A, Maslanka M, Di Tommaso M, Rocconi F, Nemkov T, Buehler PW, Antognoni MT, Spitalnik SL, D'Alessandro A.The use of omics technologies in human transfusion medicine has improved our understanding of the red blood cell (RBC) storage lesion(s). Despite significant progress towards understanding the storage lesion(s) of human RBCs, a comparison of basal and post-storage RBC metabolism across multiple species using omics technologies has not yet been reported, and is the focus of this study. Blood was collected in a standard bag system (CPD-SAG-Mannitol) from dogs (n=8), horses, bovines, and donkeys (n=6). All bags were stored at 4°C for up to 42 days (i.e., the end of the shelf life in Italian vete...
Martu00ednez Maru00edn AL, Valle E, Bergero D, Requena F, Forte C, Schiavone A.Several authors have developed equations for estimating digestible energy in horse feeds as an alternative to the inconveniences of in vivo digestibility assays. We aimed to evaluate two of such equations. A dataset was constructed from the literature with 32 mixed feeds and diets of known proximate composition, whose digestibility was measured in in vivo assays. Then, the digestible energy of the mixed feeds and diets was predicted with both equations from their proximate components. Precision, accuracy, reproducibility, bias, and decomposition of total error of predictions were determined. B...
Nocera I, Bonelli F, Turini L, Madrigali A, Aliboni B, Sgorbini M.The body condition score (BCS) represents a practical but subjective method for assessing body fat reserves. Real time ultrasonography (RTU) has been proposed as an accurate method to objectively measure subcutaneous fat (SF) thickness and predict body fat reserves in cows, horses and donkeys. The aim of the present study was to describe RTU measures of SF thickness during periparturient period in jennies. The present prospective cohort study evaluated six dairy jennies. SF RTU were performed at 15 and 7 days before the presumptive delivery, and 2, 15 and 30 days after delivery. A portable ult...
Carlos-Pinedo S, Wang Z.Long-term sustainable biogas production requires different raw material alternatives, especially when reducing the most desirable organic substrate, food waste, which has been set as a goal in the 2030 Agenda. In Sweden, horse manure (HM) is generated in large quantities, and due to its physical and chemical characteristics, it has the potential to be used as a raw material to produce biogas through anaerobic digestion (AD). In order to investigate the challenges that HM digestion can impose in terms of methane yield and/or digestate quality, the modified ORganic WAste REsearch (ORWARE) AD mod...
Dockalova H, Baholet D, Batik A, Zeman L, Horky P.Milk thistle (Silybum marianum) provides several possible benefits for horses, namely anti-inflammatory, antioxidant effects, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective effects. Silybin exerts also pronounced effects on energy metabolism, that could be useful for sport horses. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of milk thistle seed cakes (in the form of a granulated mixture with barley) on blood biochemical parameters (total protein, albumin, bilirubin, urea, creatinine, ALT, AST, ALP, GGT, LDH, the total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, TAG, BHB, NEFA, creatine kinase, l...
de Faria DA, do Prado Paim T, Dos Santos CA, Paiva SR, Nogueira MB, McManus C.Since domestication, horse breeds have adapted to their environments and differentiated from one another. This paper uses two methods to detect selection signatures in 23 horse breeds, eight of which are Brazilian (610 animals), both cold-blooded and warm-blooded, from temperate and tropical regions. These animals were genotyped using the GGP Equine BeadChip and we analysed the data by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The samples were separated into groups based on their geographical area of origin and PCA results studied. The genomic regions under selection were detected by hapFLK and PCAd...
Fujimori S.The cell walls of plants are mainly made of cellulose and contain a large number of calories. However, the main component, cellulose, is an indigestible plant fiber that is thought to be difficult for humans to use as energy. Herbivores acquire energy through the degradation of cell wall-derived dietary fiber by microorganisms in the digestive tract. Herbivores, especially horses, have a highly developed cecum and large intestine, and plants are fermented for their efficient use with the help of microorganisms. Humans also have an intestinal tract with a wide lumen on the proximal side of the ...
Bittante G, Amalfitano N, Bergamaschi M, Patel N, Haddi ML, Benabid H, Pazzola M, Vacca GM, Tagliapietra F, Schiavon S.Bovines produce about 83% of the milk and dairy products consumed by humans worldwide, the rest represented by bubaline, caprine, ovine, camelid, and equine species, which are particularly important in areas of extensive pastoralism. Although milk is increasingly used for cheese production, the cheese-making efficiency of milk from the different species is not well known. This study compares the cheese-making ability of milk sampled from lactating females of the 6 dairy species in terms of milk composition, coagulation properties (using lactodynamography), curd-firming modeling, nutrients reco...
Coelho CS, Sodre TDRP, Sousa LN, Siqueira RF, Manso Filho HC, Aragona F, Fazio F.Vaquejada is a high-intensity and short-duration exercise in which helper horses (HH) are responsible to keep a bull running in a line while pull horses (PH) work to put the bull down after 100 m of running. The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare energy expenditures (EE), transport costs (COT) and metabolic energy requirements (Pmet) of horses used in Vaquejada. Thus, eight Quarter Horses, in randomly formed pairs, performed a vaquejada simulation test (VST), which consisted of three races on a sand track (130-150 m), with a 5-min interval between them. All horses used an integr...
Vasco ACCM, Brinkley-Bissinger KJ, Bobel JM, Dubeux JCB, Warren LK, Wickens CL.Rhizoma peanut (RP, Arachis glabrata) hay has the potential to meet horses' crude protein (CP) requirements with less nitrogen excretion than other legumes. This study aimed to evaluate nutrient intake, apparent digestibility, and nitrogen balance of RP "Florigraze" hay compared with alfalfa (ALF, Medicago sativa L. "Legendary XHD") and bermudagrass (BG, Cynodon dactylon L. "Coastal") hays when fed to maintenance horses at 2% body weight/d on a dry matter (DM) basis. We hypothesized that nutrient intake would be comparable between the legume hays and lesser for BG and that RP would result in r...
Rings LM, Kamr AM, Kinsella HM, Hostnik LD, Swink JM, Burns TA, Christie K, David JB, Toribio RE.The enteroinsular axis (EIA) is an energy regulatory system that modulates insulin secretion through the release of enteroendocrine factors (incretins). Despite the importance of energy homeostasis in the equine neonate, information on the EIA in hospitalized foals is lacking. The goals of this study were to measure serum insulin and plasma incretin (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide [GIP], glucagon-like peptide-1 [GLP-1] and glucagon-like peptide-2 [GLP-2]) concentrations, to determine the insulin and incretin association, as well as their link to disease severity and outcome in ho...
Jansson A, Harris P, Davey SL, Luthersson N, Ragnarsson S, Ringmark S.Straw's low energy content means it is a roughage option for horses with low energy requirements. Previously, in a field study, straw was associated with an increased risk for gastric ulcers. This study evaluated the effect on gastric ulcers, metabolic profile and behaviour of replacing, in a forage-only ration, 50% of the daily allowance with wheat straw. Six equines were studied in a 2 × 21-day cross-over design. The control diet (CON: 100% grass forage) and the straw diet (S: 50% grass forage and 50% straw [DM basis]) were iso-energetic. Gastroscopy was performed prior to the study and on ...
Heglund NC, Taylor CR.In this study we investigate how speed and stride frequency change with body size. We use this information to define 'equivalent speeds' for animals of different size and to explore the factors underlying the six-fold difference in mass-specific energy cost of locomotion between mouse- and horse-sized animals at these speeds. Speeds and stride frequencies within a trot and a gallop were measured on a treadmill in 16 species of wild and domestic quadrupeds, ranging in body size from 30 g mice to 200 kg horses. We found that the minimum, preferred and maximum sustained speeds within a trot and a...
Minetti AE, ArdigO LP, Reinach E, Saibene F.Three-dimensional motion capture and metabolic assessment were performed on four standardbred horses while walking, trotting and galloping on a motorized treadmill at different speeds. The mechanical work was partitioned into the internal work (W(INT)), due to the speed changes of body segments with respect to the body centre of mass, and the external work (W(EXT)), due to the position and speed changes of the body centre of mass with respect to the environment. The estimated total mechanical work (W(TOT)=W(INT)+W(EXT)) increased with speed, while metabolic work (C) remained rather constant. A...
Reilly SM, McElroy EJ, Biknevicius AR.A reanalysis of locomotor data from functional, energetic, mechanical and ecological perspectives reveals that limb posture has major effects on limb biomechanics, energy-saving mechanisms and the costs of locomotion. Regressions of data coded by posture (crouched vs. erect) reveal nonlinear patterns in metabolic cost, limb muscle mass, effective mechanical advantage, and stride characteristics. In small crouched animals energy savings from spring and pendular mechanisms are inconsequential and thus the metabolic cost of locomotion is driven by muscle activation costs. Stride frequency appears...
Ambruosi B, Uranio MF, Sardanelli AM, Pocar P, Martino NA, Paternoster MS, Amati F, Dell'Aquila ME.Phthalates are ubiquitous environmental contaminants because of their use in plastics and other common consumer products. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is the most abundant phthalate and it impairs fertility by acting as an endocrine disruptor. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effects of in vitro acute exposure to DEHP on oocyte maturation, energy and oxidative status in the horse, a large animal model. Cumulus cell (CC) apoptosis and oxidative status were also investigated. Cumulus-oocyte complexes from the ovaries of slaughtered mares were cultured in vitro in presence of...
Radin MJ, Sharkey LC, Holycross BJ.In addition to its role as an energy storage depot, adipose tissue is now recognized as a complex endocrine organ. Adipose tissue releases a variety of factors, termed adipokines, that regulate energy metabolism, cardiovascular function, reproductive status, and immune function. Some of the better-studied adipokines include leptin, adiponectin, and components of the renin-angiotensin system such as angiotensinogen. The function of more recently discovered adipokines such as resistin are under intense scrutiny. Abnormal production or regulation of adipokines occurs in obese individuals and is i...
Raubenheimer D, Machovsky-Capuska GE, Gosby AK, Simpson S.We apply nutritional geometry, a framework for modelling the interactive effects of nutrients on animals, to help understand the role of modern environments in the obesity pandemic. Evidence suggests that humans regulate the intake of protein energy (PE) more strongly than non-protein energy (nPE), and consequently will over- and under-ingest nPE on diets with low or high PE, respectively. This pattern of macronutrient regulation has led to the protein leverage hypothesis, which proposes that the rise in obesity has been caused partly by a shift towards diets with reduced PE:nPE ratios relativ...
Bertram JE, Gutmann A.Mammals use two distinct gallops referred to as the transverse (where landing and take-off are contralateral) and rotary (where landing and take-off are ipsilateral). These two gallops are used by a variety of mammals, but the transverse gallop is epitomized by the horse and the rotary gallop by the cheetah. In this paper, we argue that the fundamental difference between these gaits is determined by which set of limbs, fore or hind, initiates the transition of the centre of mass from a downward-forward to upward-forward trajectory that occurs between the main ballistic (non-contact) portions o...
Porter RK, Brand MD.Resting O2 consumption of hepatocytes isolated from mammals ranging in mass from 20-g mice to 200-kg horses decreases with increasing body mass. The substrate oxidation system increases in activity with increasing body mass and mitochondrial proton leak and phosphorylation system decrease in activity, resulting in a higher mitochondrial membrane potential in hepatocytes from larger mammals. The absolute rates of O2 consumption due to nonmitochondrial processes, substrate oxidation, mitochondrial proton leak, and the phosphorylation system decrease with increasing body mass. These decreases are...
Arnold W, Ruf T, Kuntz R.Many large mammals show pronounced seasonal fluctuations of metabolic rate (MR). It has been argued, based on studies in ruminants, that this variation merely results from different levels of locomotor activity (LA), and heat increment of feeding (HI). However, a recent study in red deer (Cervus elaphus) identified a previously unknown mechanism in ungulates--nocturnal hypometabolism--that contributed significantly to reduced energy expenditure, mainly during late winter. The relative contribution of these different mechanisms to seasonal adjustments of MR is still unknown, however. Therefore,...
Davila MP, Muu00f1oz PM, Bolau00f1os JM, Stout TA, Gadella BM, Tapia JA, da Silva CB, Ferrusola CO, Peu00f1a FJ.To investigate the hypothesis that oxidative phosphorylation is a major source of ATP to fuel stallion sperm motility, oxidative phosphorylation was suppressed using the mitochondrial uncouplers CCCP and 2,4,-dinitrophenol (DNP) and by inhibiting mitochondrial respiration at complex IV using sodium cyanide or at the level of ATP synthase using oligomycin-A. As mitochondrial dysfunction may also lead to oxidative stress, production of reactive oxygen species was monitored simultaneously. All inhibitors reduced ATP content, but oligomycin-A did so most profoundly. Oligomycin-A and CCCP also sign...
Fedak MA, Heglund NC, Taylor CR.This is the second paper in a series examining the link between energetics and mechanics of terrestrial locomotion. In this paper, the changes in the kinetic energy of the limbs and body relative to the centre of mass of an animal (EKE, tot) are measured as functions of speed and body size. High-speed films (light or X-ray) of four species of quadrupeds and four species of bipeds running on a treadmill were analysed to determine EKE, tot. A mass-specific power term, EKE, tot/Mb was calculated by adding all of the increments in EKE during an integral number of strides and dividing by the time i...
Darr CR, Varner DD, Teague S, Cortopassi GA, Datta S, Meyers SA.Stallion sperm rely primarily on oxidative phosphorylation for production of ATP used in sperm motility and metabolism. The objective of the study was to identify which substrates included in Biggers, Whitten, and Whittingham (BWW) media are key to optimal mitochondrial function through measurements of sperm motility parameters, mitochondrial oxygen consumption, and cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. It was expected that mitochondrial substrates, pyruvate and lactate, would support sperm motility and mitochondrial function better than the glycolytic substrate, glucose, due to d...
Griffin TM, Kram R, Wickler SJ, Hoyt DF.We studied nine adult horses spanning an eightfold range in body mass (M(b)) (90-720 kg) and a twofold range in leg length (L) (0.7-1.4 m). We measured the horses' walk-trot transition speeds using step-wise speed increments as they locomoted on a motorized treadmill. We then measured their rates of oxygen consumption over a wide range of walking and trotting speeds. We interpreted the transition speed results using a simple inverted-pendulum model of walking in which gravity provides the centripetal force necessary to keep the leg in contact with the ground. By studying a large size range of ...
Andersson L.The melanocortin system is of considerable interest in domestic animals because their energy metabolism and pigmentation have been under strong selection. This article reviews our work on MC1R variants in horse, pig, and chicken, as well as a study on MC4R polymorphism in the pig. The chestnut coat color in horses is caused by an MC1R missense mutation (S83F). In the pig, we have described seven MC1R alleles controlling four different coat color phenotypes (wild type, dominant black, black spotting, and recessive red). The most interesting allele is the one causing black spotting because it ca...
Ning T, Xiao H, Li J, Hua S, Zhang YP.Mitochondria play a crucial role in energy metabolism through oxidative phosphorylation. Organisms living at high altitudes are potentially influenced by oxygen deficits and cold temperatures. The severe environmental conditions can impact on metabolism and direct selection of mitochondrial DNA. As a wide-ranging animal, the domestic horse (Equus caballus) has developed various morphological and physiological characteristics for adapting to different altitudes. Thus, this is a good species for studying adaption to high altitudes at a molecular level. We sequenced the complete NADH dehydrogenas...
Kuntz R, Kubalek C, Ruf T, Tataruch F, Arnold W.Large ruminants respond to changing plant phenology during winter by decreasing voluntary food intake, increasing gut passage time and utilizing body fat reserves. It is uncertain, however, how other large mammals with a non-ruminant digestive physiology cope with winter forage conditions. Therefore, we investigated seasonality of energy intake in a large herbivorous wild mammal, the Przewalski horse (Equus ferus przewalskii). Throughout all seasons we used the n-alkane method to measure daily dry matter intake (DMI), diet composition and digestion, and determined an index of gut passage time ...
McGibbon NH, Andrade CK, Widener G, Cintas HL.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of an 8-week program of hippotherapy on energy expenditure during walking; on the gait dimensions of stride length, velocity, and cadence; and on performance on the Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) in five children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). A repeated-measures within-subjects design was used consisting of two baseline measurements taken 8 weeks apart, followed by an 8-week intervention period, then a posttest. After hippotherapy, all five children showed a significant decrease (X2(r)=7.6, P<0.05) in energy expenditure during walk...
Pfau T, Witte TH, Wilson AM.During locomotion cyclical interchange between different forms of mechanical energy enhances economy; however, 100% efficiency cannot be achieved and ultimately some mechanical work must be performed de novo. There is a metabolic cost associated with fluctuations in mechanical energy, even in the most efficient animals. In this study we investigate the exchanges between different forms of mechanical energy involved in high-speed gallop locomotion in Thoroughbred race horses during over-ground locomotion using innovative, mobile data collection techniques. We use hoof-mounted accelerometers to ...
Dolan E, O'Connor H, McGoldrick A, O'Loughlin G, Lyons D, Warrington G.In this study, we describe diet and lifestyle practices of professional jockeys. Participants completed a 59-item nutrition, lifestyle, and health questionnaire (n = 21) and a 7-day estimated food diary (n = 18). Acute weight loss strategies included the use of saunas (86%), exercising to induce sweating (81%), and restricted energy intake (71%). Of the smokers (38%), 56% used smoking to control weight. Most (86%) jockeys reported attaining a 2-kg weight loss for racing (if required) 24-48 h before or on the designated race-day. Mean daily energy intake (1803 ± 564 kcal) was low and appeared ...
Mach N, Ramayo-Caldas Y, Clark A, Moroldo M, Robert C, Barrey E, Lu00f3pez JM, Le Moyec L.Endurance exercise in horses requires adaptive processes involving physiological, biochemical, and cognitive-behavioral responses in an attempt to regain homeostasis. We hypothesized that the identification of the relationships between blood metabolome, transcriptome, and miRNome during endurance exercise in horses could provide significant insights into the molecular response to endurance exercise. For this reason, the serum metabolome and whole-blood transcriptome and miRNome data were obtained from ten horses before and after a 160 km endurance competition. We obtained a global regulatory ...
Goodson J, Tyznik WJ, Cline JH, Dehority BA.Microbial numbers, pH, fluid volume, and turnover rate in the pony cecum were measured during an abrupt change from an all-forage to an all-concentrate diet, both fed at maintenance energy levels. Concentrate feeding resulted in increased (P less than 0.01) numbers of total viable anaerobic bacteria. The numbers of organisms growing on selective starch medium increased (P less than 0.01) when concentrate was fed, while numbers on xylan and pectin media decreased (P less than 0.025). Seven days after the diet change to concentrate, the number of bacteria growing on lactate medium increased (P l...
Swegen A, Curry BJ, Gibb Z, Lambourne SR, Smith ND, Aitken RJ.Stallion spermatozoa continue to present scientific and clinical challenges with regard to the biological mechanisms responsible for their survival and function. In particular, deeper understanding of sperm energy metabolism, defence against oxidative damage and cell-cell interactions should improve fertility assessment and the application of advanced reproductive technologies in the equine species. In this study, we used highly sensitive LC-MS/MS technology and sequence database analysis to identify and characterise the proteome of Percoll-isolated ejaculated equine spermatozoa, with the aim ...
Hintz HF, Cymbaluk NF.The horse was domesticated around 2500 BC and has been used for work, pleasure, and companionship since that time. However, the percentage of time devoted to these endeavors has changed greatly. The number of horses in the US peaked at more than 26 million in 1918. Thereafter, the increasing use of the internal combustion engine caused a steady decline in the number of horses. By 1960, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimated that there were only about 3 million horses in the US. In the 1960s, however, the number of...
Huang J, Zhao Y, Bai D, Shiraigol W, Li B, Yang L, Wu J, Bao W, Ren X, Jin B, Zhao Q, Li A, Bao S, Bao W, Xing Z, An A, Gao Y, Wei R, Bao Y, Bao T....The donkey, like the horse, is a promising model for exploring karyotypic instability. We report the de novo whole-genome assemblies of the donkey and the Asiatic wild ass. Our results reflect the distinct characteristics of donkeys, including more effective energy metabolism and better immunity than horses. The donkey shows a steady demographic trajectory. We detected abundant satellite sequences in some inactive centromere regions but not in neocentromere regions, while ribosomal RNAs frequently emerged in neocentromere regions but not in the obsolete centromere regions. Expanded miRNA famil...
Wilson G, Drust B, Morton JP, Close GL.Professional jockeys are unique amongst weight-making athletes given that they face the requirement to make weight daily. Furthermore, unlike other weight-limited sports, jockeys who have engaged in rapid weight loss cannot fully rehydrate prior to competition because post-race weight must not be more than 1 kg different to their pre-race weight. As such, jockeys have reported a variety of acute and chronic methods to make weight that include sporadic eating, caloric restriction, diuretics, laxatives, vomiting and fluid restriction as well as regular use of sweat suits and saunas. Typical dai...
Le Moyec L, Robert C, Triba MN, Billat VL, Mata X, Schibler L, Barrey E.During long distance endurance races, horses undergo high physiological and metabolic stresses. The adaptation processes involve the modulation of the energetic pathways in order to meet the energy demand. The aims were to evaluate the effects of long endurance exercise on the plasma metabolomic profiles and to investigate the relationships with the individual horse performances. The metabolomic profiles of the horses were analyzed using the non-dedicated methodology, NMR spectroscopy and statistical multivariate analysis. The advantage of this method is to investigate several metabolomic path...
Bryan K, McGivney BA, Farries G, McGettigan PA, McGivney CL, Gough KF, MacHugh DE, Katz LM, Hill EW.A single bout of exercise induces changes in gene expression in skeletal muscle. Regular exercise results in an adaptive response involving changes in muscle architecture and biochemistry, and is an effective way to manage and prevent common human diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disorders and type II diabetes. However, the biomolecular mechanisms underlying such responses still need to be fully elucidated. Here we performed a transcriptome-wide analysis of skeletal muscle tissue in a large cohort of untrained Thoroughbred horses (n = 51) before and after a bout of high-intensity exe...
Westendorf ML, Wohlt JE.Brewers grains, a by-product of beer production, are often used as a livestock feed. Because brewers grains provide protein, fiber, and energy, they can be useful in a variety of diets. Protein in brewers grains can meet a significant portion of supplemental protein requirements; in addition, they provide fiber and needed bulk in the diets of ruminants and horses. Brewers grains and other brewers by-products have also been fed to pigs, sheep, and poultry. Currently, the primary market for wet brewers grains is as a dairy cattle feed; however, some may be fed to beef cattle in feedlots. Brewers...
Brinkmann L, Gerken M, Hambly C, Speakman JR, Riek A.Recent results suggest that wild Northern herbivores reduce their metabolism during times of low ambient temperature and food shortage in order to reduce their energetic needs. It is, however, not known whether domesticated animals are also able to reduce their energy expenditure. We exposed 10 Shetland pony mares to different environmental conditions (summer and winter) and to two food quantities (60% and 100% of maintenance energy requirement) during low winter temperatures to examine energetic and behavioural responses. In summer, ponies showed a considerably higher field metabolic rate (FM...
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