Equine diseases encompass a wide range of health conditions that can affect horses, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and genetic conditions. These diseases can impact the overall health, performance, and well-being of horses. Common equine diseases include equine influenza, equine herpesvirus, laminitis, and equine metabolic syndrome. Diagnosis and management of these diseases often require a combination of clinical evaluation, laboratory testing, and appropriate treatment strategies. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment options for various equine diseases, providing valuable insights for veterinarians and researchers in the field.
Whitton RC, Walmsley EA, Wong ASM, Shannon SM, Frazer EJ, Williams NJ, Guerow JF, Hitchens PL.Long bone fractures in racehorses may present as stress fractures which have a good prognosis, or complete fractures, which often result in a fatal outcome. In order to identify differences in modifiable management practices that may contribute to these outcomes, racing histories of horses with humeral or tibial fractures and of matched controls were examined. A retrospective case-control study of Australian Thoroughbred racehorses diagnosed with a fracture of the humerus or tibia by scintigraphy or at post-mortem between 2002 and 2016 was undertaken. Control horses were matched from the same ...
Klohonatz KM, Nulton LC, Hess AM, Bouma GJ, Bruemmer JE.Maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) in the mare is an unknown process. In a non-pregnant mare on day 14 post-ovulation (PO), prostaglandin F2α (PGF) is secreted by the endometrium causing regression of the corpus luteum. Prior to day 14, MRP must occur in order to attenuate secretion of PGF. The embryo is mobile throughout the uterus due to uterine contractions from day of entry to day 14. It is unknown what signaling is occurring. Literature stated that infusing oil or placing a glass marble into the equine uterus prolongs luteal lifespan and that in non-pregnant mares, serum exosomes co...
Grilz-Seger G, Druml T, Neuditschko M, Dobretsberger M, Horna M, Brem G.The sample ascertainment bias due to complex population structures remains a major challenge in genome-wide investigations of complex traits. In this study we derived the high-resolution population structure and levels of autozygosity of 377 Lipizzan horses originating from five different European stud farms utilizing the SNP genotype information of the high density 700 k Affymetrix Axiom™ Equine genotyping array. Scanning the genome for overlapping runs of homozygosity (ROH) shared by more than 50% of horses, we identified homozygous regions (ROH islands) in order to investigate the gene ...
White SD, Bourdeau PJ, Brément T, Vandenabeele SI, Haspeslagh M, Bruet V, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.Donkeys are important throughout the world as work animals and occasionally as pets or a meat source. Most descriptions of skin disease in donkeys are reported in small case series, textbooks or review articles. Objective: To document skin diseases and their prevalence in donkeys and to investigate predilections for the most common conditions. Methods: Case populations at four veterinary schools totalling 156 donkeys. Methods: A retrospective study was performed by searching computerized medical records, using the key word "donkey", at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Californi...
Holz CL, Sledge DG, Kiupel M, Nelli RK, Goehring LS, Soboll Hussey G.Histopathological differences in horses infected with equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) of differing neuropathogenic potential [wild-type (Ab4), polymerase mutant (Ab4 N752), EHV-1/4 gD mutant (Ab4 gD4)] were evaluated to examine the impact of viral factors on clinical disease, tissue tropism and pathology. Three of 8 Ab4 infected horses developed Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM) requiring euthanasia of 2 horses on day 9 post-infection. None of the other horses showed neurologic signs and all remaining animals were sacrificed 10 weeks post-infection. EHM horses had lymphohistiocyti...
Mizobe F, Nomura M, Ueno T, Yamada K.This study focused on 8 Thoroughbred racehorses showing bone marrow oedema-type signal in the proximal sagittal groove of the proximal phalanx, with the aim of understanding its clinical significance. Standing magnetic resonance imaging played an important role in assessing osseous abnormalities that were not radiographically identifiable. Further, a histopathological result from one of the cases showed there was oedema surrounding adipose tissues with increase in density of trabecular scaffolding. This may indicate presence of osseous injury within the area of decreased elasticity due to subc...
Petry S, Py JS, Wilhelm A, Duquesne F, Bäyon-Auboyer MH, Morvan H, Gassilloud B.Misidentification between Taylorella equigenitalis, the causative agent of contagious equine metritis (CEM), and Taylorella asinigenitalis is observed by the gold standard culture method. The performance of matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for Taylorella species identification was evaluated using 85 T. equigenitalis and 28 T. asinigenitalis strains selected on the basis of multilocus sequence typing data. Seven of the T. equigenitalis and 9 of the T. asinigenitalis strains were used to generate in-house reference spectra to expand ...
Burkom H, Estberg L, Akkina J, Elbert Y, Zepeda C, Baszler T.The Risk Identification Unit (RIU) of the US Dept. of Agriculture's Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health (CEAH) conducts weekly surveillance of national livestock health data and routine coordination with agricultural stakeholders. As part of an initiative to increase the number of species, health issues, and data sources monitored, CEAH epidemiologists are building a surveillance system based on weekly syndromic counts of laboratory test orders in consultation with Colorado State University laboratorians and statistical analysts from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laborator...
Milwid RM, O'Sullivan TL, Poljak Z, Laskowski M, Greer AL.Disease transmission models often assume homogenous mixing. This assumption, however, has the potential to misrepresent the disease dynamics for populations in which contact patterns are non-random. A disease transmission model with an SEIR structure was used to compare the effect of weighted and unweighted empirical equine contact networks to weighted and unweighted theoretical networks generated using random mixing. Equine influenza was used as a case study. Incidence curves generated with the unweighted empirical networks were similar in epidemic duration (5-8 days) and peak incidence (30.8...
Morris LH, Colgan S, Leathwick DM, Nielsen MK.Parasite control in foals is complicated by the concurrent presence of biologically diverse parasites with differing levels of anthelmintic resistance. Several combination anthelmintic products are available for use in horses, but information on their efficacies against important equine parasites is scarce. Two trials were performed in New Zealand during 2008 and 2011 on four different farms with substantially different anthelmintic treatment histories. The first trial evaluated the efficacy of an ivermectin/praziquantel/oxibendazole combination, a single active oxibendazole, and a single-acti...
Mama KR, Hector RC.Many drugs and non-drug modalities are used to manage pain in horses, but evidence regarding efficacy and safety remains limited. This manuscript will first briefly review tried and tested techniques, e.g. the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, in the management of pain. Newer approaches to administering medications such as oral use of detomidine, which was previously only administered by injection, will also be discussed. Finally, introductory information on newer therapies, for example acupuncture and chiropractic manipulation, that the veterinarian may consider for the management...
Léveillé AN, Bland SK, Carlton K, Larouche CB, Kenney DG, Brouwer ER, Lillie BN, Barta JR.Species in the genus Klossiella Smith and Johnson, 1902 are unique among the suborder Adeleorina because they are monoxenous in mammals exclusively, whereas all other reported members of the Adeleorina use invertebrates as definitive hosts. Unlike other coccidia, all members of the Adeleorina undergo syzygy, the association of microgamonts and macrogamonts before maturation to gametes and syngamy. After fertilization, many members of the Adeleorina produce thin-walled polysporocystic oocysts. Despite being biologically similar to other members of the Adeleorina, the phylogenetic placement of t...
Scansen BA.Congenital heart disease (CHD) represents a small proportion of horses undergoing clinical evaluation; however, both simple and complex defects occur during cardiac development leading to many unique malformations. This article reviews cardiac development and the fetal circulation, describes the morphologic method and the sequential segmental approach to CHD analysis, presents a summary of CHD in horses, and offers an overview of lesions that should be considered during evaluation of horses suspected to have CHD. For many forms of equine CHD, therapies are limited because cardiac interventions...
Auckburally A, Grubb TL, Wiklund M, Nyman G.OBJECTIVE To determine the impact of mechanical ventilation (MV) and perfusion conditions on the efficacy of pulse-delivered inhaled nitric oxide (PiNO) in anesthetized horses. ANIMALS 27 healthy adult horses. PROCEDURES Anesthetized horses were allocated into 4 groups: spontaneous breathing (SB) with low ( 70 mm Hg. Data were collected after a 60-minute equilibration period and at 15 and 30 minutes during PiNO administration. Variables included Pao, arterial oxygen saturation and content, oxygen delivery, and physiologic dead space-to-tidal volume ratio. Data were analyzed with Shapiro-Wilk, ...
Brister H, Barnum SM, Reedy S, Chambers TM, Pusterla N.We validated 2 multiplex real-time PCR (rtPCR) assays based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the hemagglutinin-1 ( HA1) gene of H3N8 equine influenza A virus (EIV) to determine clade affiliation of prototype and field isolates. Initial validation of the 2 multiplex rtPCR assays (SNP1 and SNP2) was performed using nucleic acid from 14 EIV Florida sublineage clade 1 and 2 prototype strains. We included in our study previously banked EIV rtPCR-positive nasal secretions from 341 horses collected across the United States in 2012-2017 to determine their clade affiliation. All 14 EIV prot...
Manso-Díaz G, Jiménez Martínez MLÁ, García-Fernández RA, Herrán R, Santiago I.A 30-year-old Standardbred gelding was referred for chronic pleural effusion. Thoracic ultrasound revealed marked bilateral pleural effusion and a large heterogeneous mass within the cranial mediastinum, which extended from the right 5th to the 11th intercostal space. Subsequently, on thoracic radiographs, the cranial mediastinal mass was confirmed, and a nodular interstitial pattern was identified in the lungs. Because of progressive clinical deterioration of the patient, the owners elected humane euthanasia and necropsy was performed. The mediastinal mass was consistent with an ectopic thyro...
Yngvesson J, Rey Torres JC, Lindholm J, Pättiniemi A, Andersson P, Sassner H.We compared welfare measures of horses among Swedish riding schools (RS) during winter where horses were kept either in group housing ( = 8) or in tie-stalls/boxes ( = 8), Health data for six previous months were obtained for all horses at each RS from their records. Ten horses per RS were examined, with the exception of one where only 8 horses were examined. Health conditions and body condition score (BCS) using the Henneke scale were recorded and management factors were quantified (health check routines, feeding, housing-related risk factors, time outside). RS-recorded health data (for 327 h...
Langner K, Vervuert I.The hindgut microbiota of the horse is a complex structure which can be highly influenced by the diet or nutrients such as starch. For instance, a diet rich in starch promotes the growth of bacteria that can utilize starch and produce lactate while it reduces the growth of fiber fermenting cellulolytic bacteria. Therefore, attempts are made to balance the hindgut microbiota and to minimize the impacts of feeds which are rich in starch such as the supplementation of probiotics. Up to date only different strains of the yeast (SC) are officially registered probiotics for horses in the European U...
Kleinpeter A, Göpfert A, Köhler E, Brehm W.Aim of the study was the retrospective evaluation regarding vision and recurrence in equine recurrent uveitis (ERU)-affected horses treated by intravitreal low-dose gentamicin injection in Tierklinik Alt Sammit during the years 2006-2013. Methods: The study included 50 equine patients (61 ERU-affected eyes) of different age and breed with different stages of ERU. The solution for the injection contained 4.0 mg sterile gentamicin per eye. The injection was performed according to the procedure described by Pinard et al. in 2005 under general anaesthesia in lateral recumbency of the patient and...
Zimmerman K, Almy F, Saunders G, Crisman M, Leonardi L.Fine needle aspiration and tissue biopsy samples were taken from a subcutaneous mass in the cranial stifle region of a 10-yr-old horse. Key cytologic features included numerous mildly to moderately pleomorphic histiocytic cells admixed with mononuclear inflammatory cells, occasional fibroblasts, multinucleated cells, and hemosiderin-laden macrophages. Based on these features, cytologic differentials included granulomatous inflammation with reactive fibroplasia, histiocytic sarcoma, giant cell tumor of soft parts (GCTSPs), and giant cell tumor of bone. The tissue biopsy supported a diagnosis of...
Huber D, Amsler E, Vidondo B, Kaeser R, Wespi B, Sieme H, Burger D.There exist differences in the reproductive behavior of stallions and mares under free-running and domestic in-hand breeding conditions. Contrary to artificial insemination programs, a stallion mates a mare multiple times per estrus under natural conditions. The objective of this study was to determine if multiple periovulatory artificial inseminations (MI), four times in two different time intervals instead of two, would result in increased pregnancy outcome or higher incidences of breeding induced endometritis. Methods: Eighty-two estrous mares were allocated randomly to one of three experim...
Cercone M, Hokanson CM, Olsen E, Ducharme NG, Mitchell LM, Piercy RJ, Cheetham J.The dorsal cricoarytenoid (DCA) muscles, are a fundamental component of the athletic horse's respiratory system: as the sole abductors of the airways, they maintain the size of the rima glottis which is essential for enabling maximal air intake during intense exercise. Dysfunction of the DCA muscle leads to arytenoid collapse during exercise, resulting in poor performance. An electrodiagnostic study including electromyography of the dorsal cricoarytenoid muscles and conduction velocity testing of the innervating recurrent laryngeal nerves (RLn) was conducted in horses with normal laryngeal fu...
Adam EN, Janes J, Lowney R, Lambert J, Thampi P, Stromberg A, MacLeod JN.To determine the chondrogenic potential of cells derived from interzone tissue, the normal progenitor of articular cartilage during fetal development, compared to that of adult bone marrow-derived and adipose-derived mesenchymal cell isolates. The objective of this study was to compare the chondrogenic potential of fetal musculoskeletal progenitor cells to adult cell types, which are currently used therapeutically to facilitate joint cartilage repair in equine clinical practice. The hypothesis tested was that cells derived from interzone tissue have a chondrogenic potential that exceeds that o...
Alexeenko V, Fraser JA, Dolgoborodov A, Bowen M, Huang CL, Marr CM, Jeevaratnam K.The analysis of equine electrocardiographic (ECG) recordings is complicated by the absence of agreed abnormality classification criteria. We explore the applicability of several complexity analysis methods for characterization of non-linear aspects of electrocardiographic recordings. We here show that complexity estimates provided by Lempel-Ziv '76, Titchener's T-complexity and Lempel-Ziv '78 analysis of ECG recordings of healthy Thoroughbred horses are highly dependent on the duration of analysed ECG fragments and the heart rate. The results provide a methodological basis and a feasible refer...
Trauma case reportsFebruary 21, 2019
Volume 20 100179 doi: 10.1016/j.tcr.2019.100179
van Delft EAK, Thomassen I, Schreuder AMM, Sosef NL.Every year patients present to the emergency department due to bites, scratches and falls caused by animals. Although bite and scratch injuries have been described in literature, the exact number of patients that visit the emergency department due to all animal related injuries has never been described before. Methods: A retrospective analysis of all emergency department visits throughout a 1-year period was performed from April 2015 until March 2016. Results: 516 Patients were treated at the emergency department because of animal related injuries. Most were female and the median age was 38 ...
Pritchard A, Nielsen B, McLean A, Robison C, Yokoyama M, Hengemuehle S, Bailey S, Harris P.Donkeys are often kept, especially in industrialized countries, as companion animals. Donkeys have greater digestive efficiency and tend to expend less energy than horses or ponies, which contributes to obesity in nonworking donkeys. Obesity in all equine species increases risk of chronic health conditions such as laminitis and insulin resistance. Previous studies in horses and ponies have documented obesity's potential effects on glucose-insulin dynamics with lower insulin sensitivity and higher insulin responses to glucose. However, limited studies on obesity and its health impacts in donkey...
Ball AN, Phillips JN, McIlwraith CW, Kawcak CE, Samulski RJ, Goodrich LR.Optimizing the environment of complex bone healing and improving treatment of catastrophic bone fractures and segmental bone defects remains an unmet clinical need both human and equine veterinary medical orthopaedics. The objective of this study was to determine whether scAAV-equine-BMP-2 transduced cells would induce osteogenesis in equine bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMDMSCs) in vitro, and if these cells could be cryopreserved in an effort to osteogenically prime them as an "off-the-shelf" gene therapeutic approach for fracture repair. Our study found that transgene expressio...
Nuttall HE, Ravenhill PJ.Equine dental disease remains a widespread affliction in domestic horses, with the potential to cause significant welfare problems. This retrospective study aimed to increase understanding of this aspect of equine health by examining dental records of 932 horses, taken from a 1-year period of first-opinion practice in south-western England and southern Wales. Three grossly-identifiable dental diseases were analysed: equine periodontal disease, diastemata and peripheral caries. The prevalence of active periodontal disease, diastemata and peripheral caries were 13.9%, 8.7% and 8.2%, respectively...
Warner S, Hartley CA, Stevenson RA, Ficorilli N, Varrasso A, Studdert MJ, Crabb BS.Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) is a respiratory pathogen of horses and is classified as an Aphthovirus, the only non-Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) member of this genus. In FMDV, virion protein 1 (VP1) is a major target of protective antibodies and is responsible for viral attachment to permissive cells via an RGD motif located in a distal surface loop. Although both viruses share considerable sequence identity, ERAV VP1 does not contain an RGD motif. To investigate antibody and receptor-binding properties of ERAV VP1, we have expressed full-length ERAV VP1 in Escherichia coli as a glutat...
Cavalleri JM, Metzger J, Hellige M, Lampe V, Stuckenschneider K, Tipold A, Beineke A, Becker K, Distl O, Feige K.Cerebellar abiotrophy (CA) is a rare but significant disease in Arabian horses caused by progressive death of the Purkinje cells resulting in cerebellar ataxia characterized by a typical head tremor, jerky head movements and lack of menace response. The specific role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to support clinical diagnosis has been discussed. However, as yet MR imaging has only been described in one equine CA case. The role of MR morphometry in this regard is currently unknown. Due to the hereditary nature of the disease, genetic testing can support the diagnosis of CA. Therefore, the...
Egerbacher M, Helmreich M, Probst A, König H, Böck P.Digital cushions were studied in horses with particular reference to vascularization, tissue constituents and matrix components. The cushions mainly resembled a network of coarse collagen bundles. The areas inbetween the bundles were replenished with loosely woven interstitial connective tissue, myxoid tissue, and fibrocartilage. Expected masses of fat lobules were missing: only solitary adipocytes or small groups of adipocytes were seen. Vascular supply to the cushions was remarkably poor. The mucinous myxoid matrix largely consisted of hyaluronan with little sulphated glycosaminoglycans. Myx...
Sreenivasan CC, Jandhyala SS, Luo S, Hause BM, Thomas M, Knudsen DEB, Leslie-Steen P, Clement T, Reedy SE, Chambers TM, Christopher-Hennings J....Equine influenza, caused by the H3N8 subtype, is a highly contagious respiratory disease affecting equid populations worldwide and has led to serious epidemics and transboundary pandemics. This study describes the phylogenetic characterization and replication kinetics of recently-isolated H3N8 virus from a nasal swab obtained from a sporadic case of natural infection in an unvaccinated horse from Montana, USA. The nasal swab tested positive for equine influenza by Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Further, the whole genome sequencing of the virus ...
Kleiboeker SB, Chapman RK.During a recent breeding season, ulcerative, pustular skin lesions were observed on the external genitalia of 2 mares and 1 stallion within a small herd. Based on the location and description of the skin lesions plus the clinical history, equine coital exanthema, caused by equine herpesvirus 3 (EHV3), was the primary differential diagnosis. Scrapings of skin lesions from the perineum of 2 mares were submitted for diagnostic evaluation. Virus isolation was attempted by inoculation of several cell lines of equine origin, but no cytopathic agent was detected. The skin scrapings were processed for...
Back W, Schamhardt HC, Hartman W, Barneveld A.In literature, it has been hypothesized that the concussion at impact in the equine forelimb is larger than that in the hind limb, and therefore, eventually more clinical lameness may develop in the distal portion of the forelimbs. As the functional anatomy of the distal forelimb and hind limb segments is similar, a study was undertaken to compare the kinematics of hoof and fetlock in the forelimbs and hind limbs. For this purpose, the trot of 24 clinically normal (sound) horses on a treadmill (4 m/s) was recorded, using modern gait analysis equipment. It appeared that vertical hoof velocity a...
Bottagisio M, Pellegata AF, Boschetti F, Ferroni M, Moretti M, Lovati AB.Tendon ruptures and/or large losses remain to be a great clinical challenge and often require full replacement of the damaged tissue. The use of auto- and allografts or engineered scaffolds is an established approach to restore severe tendon injuries. However, these grafts are commonly related to scarce biocompatibility, site morbidity, chronic inflammation and poor biomechanical properties. Recently, the decellularisation techniques of allo- or xenografts using specific detergents have been studied and have been found to generate biocompatible substitutes that resemble the native tissue. This...
Li XY, Chen YO, Wang QK, Li K, Pape T, Zhang D.Species of Gasterophilus are obligate parasites of equids and may induce severe, even lethal myiasis. However, identification of the third instar Gasterophilus larva at the species level is still problematic predominantly due to a shortage of diagnostic morphological features and incomplete molecular libraries. Testing the suitability of three different molecular markers showed that the traditional 650 bp barcode region near the 5' terminus of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) served as a better tool for species-level identification than a 663 bp region near the 3' terminus of COI and a...
Clayton HM.The central body axis or core is a key component in controlling body posture and providing a stable platform for limb movements and generation of locomotor forces. Persistent dysfunction of the deep stabilizing muscles seems to be common in horses indicating a need for core training exercises to restore normal function. Core training should be performed throughout the horse's athletic career to maintain a healthy back and used therapeutically when back pain is identified. This article reviews the structure and function of the equine thoracolumbar spine with special reference to function, dysfu...
de Moraes MVDS, Salgado CRS, Godoi TLOS, de Almeida FQ, Chalhoub FLL, de Filippis AMB, de Souza AM, de Oliveira JM, Figueiredo AS.The equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H), recently identified in association with serum hepatitis in horses (also known as Theiler's disease), has been so far described in horses from North America, Asia and Europe. There is no information regarding its circulation in South America. Our retrospective study (2013-2016) screened by EqPV-H nested-PCR a total of 96 Brazilian horses grouped according to previous status of infection: Known to be positive for one or more horse "hepatitis viruses" (equine hepacivirus, equine pegivirus-EPgV and Theiler's disease-associated virus) and known to be negati...
Murray MJ.Ulceration of the gastric squamous epithelial mucosa was induced in 10 horses using a feeding protocol previously shown to expose the gastric mucosa to repeated periods of high acidity. The feeding protocol consisted of alternating feed deprivation with free access to hay. Over a period of seven days, each horse was provided hay for 84 hr and deprived of hay for 84 hr. Hay was never withheld for longer than 24 hr at a time. Gastroscopy was performed on each horse at the beginning of the protocol after 12 hr of feed deprivation, and after a total of 36 hr, 60 hr, and 84 hr of feed deprivation. ...
Unger L, Fouché N, Leeb T, Gerber V, Pacholewska A.Circulating miRNAs in body fluids, particularly serum, are promising candidates for future routine biomarker profiling in various pathologic conditions in human and veterinary medicine. However, reliable standardized methods for miRNA extraction from equine serum and fresh or archived whole blood are sorely lacking. We systematically compared various miRNA extraction methods from serum and whole blood after short and long-term storage without addition of RNA stabilizing additives prior to freezing. Time of storage at room temperature prior to freezing did not affect miRNA quality in serum. Fur...
Rosiles MR, Bautista J, Fuentes VO, Ross F.Equine leukoencephalomalacia (ELEM), swine pulmonary oedema and human oesophageal cancer have been associated with fumonisine B1 (FB1) ingestion. For the first time in this study it is reported that FB1 was identified as being associated with an outbreak of ELEM at Oaxaca, Mexico. Symptoms of ELEM and Equine Venezuelan Encephalitis (EVE) are similar and a different diagnosis is obligatory. In the geographical area (Oaxaca, Mexico) where donkeys died showing a neurological syndrome, 14 corn samples were collected. With the use of TLC (Thin layer chromatography) and HPLC (High performance liquid...
The objective of this study was to graft autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) at the site of surgical repair of a soft palate defect in an adult horse in an attempt to improve wound healing and to investigate whether the transplanted MSCs would integrate into the soft palate structure and participate in regeneration. Bone marrow was collected from an adult horse with a full-thickness soft palate defect. The MSCs were isolated, cultured in monolayers, and labeled with 5-bromo-2-desoxymidine (BrdU) and chloromethylbenzamido-DiI-derived (cm-DiI) before transplantation. The soft palate defect ...
Mullaney T, Murphy AJ, Kiupel M, Bell JA, Rossano MG, Mansfield LS.Opossums (Didelphis spp.) are the definitive host for the protozoan parasite Sarcocystis neurona, the causative agent of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM). Opossums shed sporocysts in feces that can be ingested by true intermediate hosts (cats, raccoons, skunks, armadillos and sea otters). Horses acquire the parasite by ingestion of feed or water contaminated by opossum feces. However, horses have been classified as aberrant intermediate hosts because the terminal asexual sarcocyst stage that is required for transmission to the definitive host has not been found in their tissues despite...
Cárdenas NC, Galvis JOA, Farinati AA, Grisi-Filho JHH, Diehl GN, Machado G.Glanders is a highly infectious zoonotic disease caused by Burkholderia mallei. The transmission of B. mallei occurs mainly by direct contact, and horses are the natural reservoir. Therefore, the identification of infection sources within horse populations and animal movements is critical to enhance disease control. Here, we analysed the dynamics of horse movements from 2014 to 2016 using network analysis in order to understand the flow of animals in two hierarchical levels, municipalities and farms. The municipality-level network was used to investigate both community clustering and the bala...
Ali OJ, Comerford EJ, Clegg PD, Canty-Laird EG.BiTendons are constructed from collagenous fascicles separated by endotenon/interfascicular matrix (IFM). Tendons may be specialised for precision movement or to store energy during locomotion and for the latter the elasticity of the endotenon/IFM is particularly important. The equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is a dedicated energy-storing tendon with a similar function to the human Achilles tendon. Classical anatomical descriptions portray fascicles as longitudinally arranged distinct anatomical structures. In the present study, using three-dimensional reconstruction from whole...
Steelman SM, Johnson P, Jackson A, Schulze J, Chowdhary BP.Acute laminitis is an inflammatory disease of the equine foot that often occurs secondarily to sepsis or systemic inflammation associated with gastrointestinal disease. It has been suggested that laminitis is similar to multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in humans, although in horses the weight-bearing laminar epithelium of the foot appears to be the tissue most sensitive to insult and the first "organ" to fail. Metabolomics performed on serum samples collected before (Con) and after (Lmn) experimental induction of gastrointestinal-associated sepsis in six horses detected 1,177 metabolites of...
Reilas T, Rivera Del Alamo MM, Liepina E, Yeste M, Katila T.Cervical patency is considered to be important for uterine drainage after mating or artificial insemination (AI), and failure to relax or premature tightening of the cervix can lead to persistent endometritis. This study investigated the hypothesis that cervical occlusion after AI increases accumulation of fluid, polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs), and cytokines in the uterine lumen. Endometrial swabs were obtained from 29 normal cyclic mares during the first, third, and fifth estrus and biopsies during the first and fifth estrus. All mares were inseminated during the second and fourth estrus...
Slocombe JO.A study was initiated to determine the prevalence of tapeworms in horses in Southern Ontario and to investigate the efficacy of pyrantel pamoate, niclosamide and mebendazole. Fecal samples were taken from 580 horses of various breeds, ages and sexes in 24 locations and Anoplocephala perfoliata was found in 13.6%. This was regarded as a minimum, the true rate being probably significantly higher and the reasons for this are discussed. A brief review of the life cycle and effects of tapeworms in horses and a comparison of two flotation techniques for the diagnosis of A. perfoliata eggs in feces i...
Ball BA, Vo A.Osmotic stress attributed to differences in the relative permeability of cryoprotectants, such as glycerol and water, appears to be an important factor in cryodamage. The objective of this study was to characterize the osmotic tolerance of equine spermatozoa, and to evaluate the effects of addition and removal of cryoprotectants from equine spermatozoa on their motility, and membrane and acrosomal integrity, as well as their mitochondrial membrane potential. Equine spermatozoa had a limited osmotic tolerance to anisosmotic conditions. Although the addition of increasing concentrations of glyce...
Mahmoud MS, Kandil OM, Abu El-Ezz NT, Hendawy SHM, Elsawy BSM, Knowles DP, Bastos RG, Kappmeyer LS, Laughery JM, Alzan HF, Suarez CE.The tick-borne intra-erythrocytic apicomplexan Babesia caballi is one of the etiological agents of equine babesiosis, an economically important disease of equids in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Discovering candidate antigens for improved diagnostic tools and vaccines remains needed for controlling equine babesiosis. This study describes the B. caballi sbp4 (Bcsbp4) gene and protein (BcSBP4) and analyzes its antigenicity in infected equids. Methods: BLAST searches of an uncurated B. caballi assembly genome using the B. bovis SBP4 as a query were carried out, followed by PCR...
Gérard N, Robin E.Terminal follicular differentiation and ovulation are essential steps of reproduction. They are induced by the increase in circulating LH, and lead to the expulsion from the ovary of oocytes ready to be fertilized. This review summarizes our current understanding of cellular and molecular pathways that control ovulation using a broad mammalian literature, with a specific focus to the mare, which is unique in some aspects of ovarian function in some cases. Essential steps and key factors are approached. The first part of this review concerns LH, receptors and signaling, addressing the descripti...
Schwab UE, Fulcher ML, Randell SH, Flaminio MJ, Russell DG.We describe a method for creating differentiated equine bronchial epithelial cell cultures that can be used for in vitro studies including airway disease mechanisms and pathogen-host interactions. Our method is based on the culturing of human tracheobronchial epithelial cells at an air-liquid interface (ALI) in specific serum-free, hormone-supplemented medium. Bronchial epithelial cells are isolated and grown on T-Clear® insert membranes. Within 2 to 3 wk, cells differentiate into ciliated and mucus producing cells as demonstrated by confocal and electron microscopy. Furthermore, the demonstr...
de Waal T, Liebenberg D, Venter GJ, Mienie CM, van Hamburg H.African horse sickness (AHS) is an infectious, non-contagious arthropod-borne disease of equids, caused by the African horse sickness virus (AHSV), an orbivirus of the Reoviridae family. It is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa and thought to be the most lethal viral disease of horses. This study focused on detection of AHSV in Culicoides imicola (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) pools by the application of a RT-qPCR. Midges were fed on AHSV-infected blood. A single blood-engorged female was allocated to pools of unfed nulliparous female midges. Pool sizes varied from 1 to 200. RNA was extracted and prepa...
Castillo-Olivares J, Wieringa R, Bakonyi T, de Vries AA, Davis-Poynter NJ, Rottier PJ.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is an enveloped plus-strand RNA virus of the family Arteriviridae (order Nidovirales) that causes respiratory and reproductive disease in equids. Protective, virus-neutralizing antibodies (VNAb) elicited by infection are directed predominantly against an immunodominant region in the membrane-proximal domain of the viral envelope glycoprotein G(L), allowing recently the establishment of a sensitive peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) based on this particular domain (J. Nugent et al., J. Virol. Methods 90:167-183, 2000). By using an infectious cDNA we h...
Kirschvink N, Smith N, Fiévez L, Bougnet V, Art T, Degand G, Marlin D, Roberts C, Génicot B, Lindsey P, Lekeux P.In heaves-affected horses the relation between oxidant status, airway inflammation (AI) and pulmonary function (PF) is unknown. The oxidant status of blood and pulmonary epithelial lining fluid (PELF) of healthy (H, n = 6) and heaves-affected horses in clinical remission (REM, n = 6) and in crisis (CR, n = 7) was assessed at rest, during and after standardised exercise test by measurement of reduced and oxidised glutathione, glutathione redox ratio [GRR%]; uric acid and 8-epi-PGF2alpha. Oxidant status was related to PF parameters (mechanics of breathing and arterial blood gas tension) and Al p...
Elghryani N, McOwan T, Mincher C, Duggan V, de Waal T.Gastrointestinal helminths are ubiquitous in horse populations across the world. Intensive anthelmintic treatments have succeeded in controlling some of the pathogenic effects of these parasites. However, the success of anthelmintic drugs has been threatened by the development of widespread resistance to those most commonly used. To develop improved control strategies, information on helminth distribution patterns is needed, which can be obtained by identifying animals regarded as high egg shedders and taking age, gender, and other risk factors into account. The aim of this study was to determ...
Cowley AB, Lukat-Rodgers GS, Rodgers KR, Benson DR.N-Acetylmicroperoxidase-8 (1) contains heme and residues 14-21 of horse mitochondrial cytochrome c (cyt c). The two thioether bonds linking protein to heme in cyt c are present in 1, and the native axial ligand His-18 remains coordinated to iron. As an approach to probing structural or functional roles played by the double covalent heme-protein linkage in cyt c, we have initiated a study in which the properties of 1 are compared with those of a synthetic mono-His coordinated heme peptide containing a single covalent linkage (2). One consequence of the greater conformational restriction imposed...
Santibáñez R, Lara F, Barros TM, Mardones E, Cuadra F, Thomson P.The ocular microbiome in horses is poorly described compared to other species, and most of the information available in the literature is based on traditional techniques, which has limited the depth of the knowledge on the subject. The objective of this study was to characterize and predict the metabolic pathways of the ocular microbiome of a group of healthy horses. Conjunctival swabs were obtained from both eyes of 14 horses, and DNA extraction was performed from the swabs, followed by next generation sequencing and bioinformatics analyses employing DADA2 and PICRUSt2. A total of 17 phyla we...
