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.
Johnson CB, Bloomfield M, Taylor PM.To characterise the effects of thiopentone on the equine electroencephalogram during halothane anaesthesia. Methods: Prospective controlled study. Methods: Eight healthy Welsh mountain pony geldings between 5 and 9 years old and weighing between 270 and 330 kg (mean 301 kg). Methods: Anaesthesia was induced with thiopentone and maintained using halothane in oxygen. End tidal halothane was maintained above 0.75 and below 0.85%. EEG was recorded continuously and a binaural broad band click stimulus was provided throughout the experiment at 6.1224 Hz. An infusion of 500 mg thiopentone was given o...
Pin D.Dermatophytoses in animals are fungal diseases of the skin caused by dermatophyte fungi of the genus Microsporum or Trichophyton. Because the infection is generally follicular, the most common clinical sign is one or many circular areas of alopecia with variable erythema, scaling and crusting, and the primary differential diagnoses are follicular infections, such as bacterial folliculitis and demodicosis. Although dermatophyte folliculitis or ringworm is the most commonly observed lesion of dermatophytoses in animals, other presentations may be observed according to the host species and the de...
Laval K, Van Cleemput J, Poelaert KC, Brown IK, Nauwynck HJ.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is responsible for respiratory disorders, abortion and myeloencephalopathy (EHM) in horses. Two pathotypes of EHV-1 strains are circulating in the field: neurovirulent (N) and non-neurovirulent (NN). For both strains, CD172a monocytic cells are one of the main carrier cells of EHV-1 during primary infection, allowing the virus to invade the horse's body. Recently, we showed that EHV-1 NN strains showed a restricted and delayed replication in CD172a cells. Here we characterize the in vitro replication kinetics of two EHV-1N strains in CD172a cells and investiga...
Johnston GM, Eastment JK, Wood J, Taylor PM.To document the equine perioperative mortality rate and to highlight any factor associated with an increased risk of death up to 7 days after anaesthesia. Methods: A prospective observational epidemiological multicentre study. Methods: Data were recorded from all equidae undergoing general anaesthesia in 62 clinics. Power calculations indicated that 45 000 cases were required to detect the significance of important variables. Details of each horse, operation, anaesthetic agents and clinic personnel were recorded. Outcome at 7 days was recorded as: alive, put to sleep (PTS) or dead. Data were a...
Ericsson AC, Johnson PJ, Lopes MA, Perry SC, Lanter HR.Horses are exquisitely sensitive to non-specific gastrointestinal disturbances as well as systemic and extraintestinal conditions related to gut health, yet minimal data are available regarding the composition of the microbiota present in the equine stomach, small intestine, and cecum and their relation to fecal microbiota. Moreover, there is minimal information regarding the concordance of the luminal and mucosal microbial communities throughout the equine gut. Illumina-based 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of the luminal and mucosal microbiota present in seven regions of the gastrointestin...
Na W, Lyoo KS, Yoon SW, Yeom M, Kang B, Moon H, Kim HK, Jeong DG, Kim JK, Song D.Equine influenza virus (EIV) causes a highly contagious disease in horses and other equids. Recently, we isolated an H3N8 EIV (A/equine/Kyonggi/SA1/2011) from a domestic horse in South Korea that exhibited symptoms of respiratory disease, and found that the EIV strain contained a naturally mutated NS gene segment encoding a truncated NS1 protein. In order to determine whether there was an association between the NS gene truncation and viral virulence, a reverse genetics system was applied to generate various NS gene recombinant viruses using the backbone of the H1N1 A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (PR/8)...
Rédua MA, Valadão CA, Duque JC, Balestrero LT.To evaluate the pre-emptive analgesic effect of pre-incisional epidural ketamine. Methods: A blinded, randomized experimental study. Methods: Sixteen mixed breed mares, 7.6 ± 2.8 years old, weighing 352 ± 32 kg. Methods: In a pilot study, an incision was made on one lateral thigh using a lidocaine block and no further analgesics, and it was verified that the nociceptive threshold was lower on the incised side than nonincised side (p ≤ 0.05), and that von Frey filaments evoked a pain response. The 16 animals were divided into group A (ketamine, n = 9) and B (saline, n = 7). An epidural cath...
Wright BD, Hildebrand SV.To compare arterial oxygen and carbon dioxide tensions in apneic and spontaneously ventilating horses recovering from anesthesia. Methods: Randomized clinical trial. Methods: Forty-two healthy horses averaging 466 ± 106 kg and 6 ± 5 years of age. Methods: Anesthetized horses undergoing a variety of surgical procedures and receiving positive pressure ventilation (IPPV) were divided into two equal groups. One group was allowed to return to spontaneous ventilation prior to disconnection from the anesthetic circuit (weaned). The other group remained apneic during transport to a recovery stall. A...
Heinonen E, Hedenstierna G, Meriläinen P, Högman M, Nyman G.To study the effect of the pulsed delivery of nitric oxide (NO) on pulmonary gas exchange in the anaesthetized horses. Design Prospective, controlled randomized. Methods: Five healthy Standardbred trotters, three geldings and two mares. Methods: The horses were anaesthetized with thiopentone and isoflurane and positioned in dorsal recumbency. Nitric oxide was added as a pulse to the inspired gas during the first half of each inspiration. In three horses the effect of NO on the ventilation-perfusion distribution was also investigated using the multiple inert gas elimination technique. Data w...
Daniels SP, Proudman CJ.This study reports ivermectin and moxidectin egg reappearance periods (ERP) from UK horses with persistently positive faecal egg counts (FEC), defined as positive FEC within the ERP of an anthelmintic post-treatment, or with FECs that remained positive after the normal ERP post-anthelmintic treatment. A selected population of UK pleasure horses deemed at high risk of strongyle infection was studied. The earliest ERP recorded after ivermectin or moxidectin, using first positive FEC, was 5 weeks. From 16 premises where moxidectin was used, five had ERP ≥12 weeks using two further metrics. For ...
Loux SC, Scoggin KE, Troedsson MH, Squires EL, Ball BA.The cervical mucus plug (CMP) is believed to play an integral role in the maintenance of pregnancy in the mare, primarily by inhibiting microbial entry. Unfortunately, very little is known about its composition or origin. To determine the proteomic composition of the CMP, we collected CMPs from mares (n = 4) at 9 months of gestation, and proteins were subsequently analyzed by nano-LC-MS/MS. Results were searched against EquCab2.0, and proteomic pathways were predicted by Ingenuity Pathway Analysis. Histologic sections of the CMP were stained with H&E and PAS. To identify the origin of ...
Giaretta E, Munerato M, Yeste M, Galeati G, Spinaci M, Tamanini C, Mari G, Bucci D.Setting an open-access computer assisted sperm analysis (CASA) may benefit the evaluation of motility in mammalian sperm, especially when economic constraints do not allow the use of a commercial system. There have been successful attempts to develop such a device in Zebra fish sperm and the system has been used in very few studies on mammalian spermatozoa. Against this background, the present study aimed at developing an open-access CASA system for mammalian sperm using the horse as a model and based upon the Image J software previously established for Zebra fish sperm. Along with determining...
Viljanto M, Scarth J, Hincks P, Hillyer L, Cawley A, Suann C, Noble G, Walker CJ, Kicman AT, Parkin MC.Detection of testosterone and/or its pro-drugs in the gelding is currently regulated by the application of an international threshold for urinary testosterone of 20 ng/mL. The use of steroid ratios may provide a useful supplementary approach to aid in differentiating between the administration of these steroids and unusual physiological conditions that may result in atypically high testosterone concentrations. In the current study, an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method was developed to quantify testosterone (T) and epitestosterone (E). ...
Kuemmerle JM, Theiss F, Okoniewski MJ, Weber FA, Hemmi S, Mirsaidi A, Richards PJ, Cinelli P.Although several tendon-selective genes exist, they are also expressed in other musculoskeletal tissues. As cell and tissue engineering is reliant on specific molecular markers to discriminate between cell types, tendon-specific genes need to be identified. In order to accomplish this, we have used RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to compare gene expression between tendon, bone, cartilage and ligament from horses. We identified several tendon-selective gene markers, and established eyes absent homolog 2 () and a G-protein regulated inducer of neurite outgrowth 3 () as specific tendon markers using RT-...
Alzan HF, Knowles DP, Suarez CE.Apicomplexa tick-borne hemoparasites, including Babesia bovis, Babesia microti, and Theileria equi are responsible for bovine and human babesiosis and equine theileriosis, respectively. These parasites of vast medical, epidemiological, and economic impact have complex life cycles in their vertebrate and tick hosts. Large gaps in knowledge concerning the mechanisms used by these parasites for gene regulation remain. Regulatory genes coding for DNA binding proteins such as members of the Api-AP2, HMG, and Myb families are known to play crucial roles as transcription factors. Although the reperto...
Stegelmeier BL, Colegate SM, Knoppel EL, Rood KA, Collett MG.Wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) has been associated with livestock and human photosensitization. An investigation of a natural occurrence of photosensitization of grazing horses identified wild parsnip as a possible cause. HPLC-MS and MS/MS analysis of this plant identified five furanocoumarins i.e., xanthotoxin, bergapten, isopimpinellin, imperatorin and a putative methoxyimperatorin. Goats fed this wild parsnip were largely unaffected. Xanthotoxin was not detected in the serum of parsnip-fed goats or in the serum of goats dosed orally or intravenous with purified xanthotoxin. Cutaneous appli...
Zipplies JK, Hauck SM, Eberhardt C, Hirmer S, Amann B, Stangassinger M, Ueffing M, Deeg CA.In equine recurrent uveitis (ERU), immune reactions are directed toward known antigens like S-antigen, interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein, and cellular retinalaldehyde-binding protein, and anti-retinal antibodies were detected in vitreous samples. The aim of this study was the investigation of intraocular immunoglobulin M (IgM) reactivities to retinal proteome. Methods: Retina was separated by one- and two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and blotted semidry on PVDF membranes. To identify intraocular IgM antibody responses to retinal tissue, blots were incubated with vitreous samples o...
Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is the causative agent of equine viral arteritis (EVA), a respiratory and reproductive disease of equids. There has been significant recent progress in understanding the molecular biology of EAV and the pathogenesis of its infection in horses. In particular, the use of contemporary genomic techniques, along with the development and reverse genetic manipulation of infectious cDNA clones of several strains of EAV, has generated significant novel information regarding the basic molecular biology of the virus. Therefore, the objective of this review is to summarize cur...
Burns GA, Karcher LF, Cummings JF.A 4-year-old Standardbred mare was referred to the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine for colic evaluation. Physical examination revealed a small colon impaction which initially responded to conservative medical management. Her signs soon recurred, however, and an exploratory celiotomy was recommended. At surgery the small colon impaction was confirmed. The impaction was evacuated and a surgical biopsy was submitted for histopathologic evaluation. Microscopic examination of H&E and Trichrome sections revealed a massive mononuclear cell infiltration of the myenteric plexus. In additi...
Grundmann IN, Drost WT, Zekas LJ, Belknap JK, Garabed RB, Weisbrode SE, Parks AH, Knopp MV, Maierl J.Evaluation of laminitis cases relies on radiographic measurements of the equine foot. Reference values have not been established for all layers of the foot. Objective: To establish normal hoof wall and sole measurements using digital radiography (DR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and to document tissue components present in the dorsal hoof wall and solar layers seen on DR. Methods: Prospective observational case-control study. Methods: Digital radiography and MRI were performed on 50 cadaver front feet from 25 horses subjected to euthanasia for nonlameness-related reasons. Four observer...
Sessions DR, Reedy SE, Vick MM, Murphy BA, Fitzgerald BP.Peripheral insulin resistance is the failure of proper cellular glucose uptake in response to insulin. Insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia are associated with several disease states in the horse and reproductive function disturbances in humans, including polycystic ovarian syndrome. To test the hypothesis that insulin resistance (IR) and hyperinsulinemia disrupt the estrous cycle in mares, two experiments were conducted to first develop a model to induce IR and to then examine the effect of this model on the duration of the estrous cycle. In Exp. 1, a hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp (HEC...
McIlwraith CW, Van Sickle DC.Arthritis was experimentally induced in the intercarpal joints of a series of mature ponies by the intraarticular injections of 400 microgram of the polyene antibiotic filipin in 1 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide. Twelve consecutive weekly injections were administered and the ponies were euthanatized 4 weeks after the last injection of filipin was made. The ponies were exercised for 1 hour each day throughout the experiment. Articular cartilage specimens from 4 sites in each intercarpal joint were examined histologically and histo-chemically. For the histochemical examination, safranin O-fast green, ...
Grippa E, Santini L, Castellano G, Gatto MT, Leone MG, Saso L.Ethyl acetate extracts of equine serum, containing 0-5 microg/ml of hydrocortisone (HYD), dexamethasone (DEX), oxyphenbutazone (OPB), indomethacin (IND), phenylbutazone (PB) and probenecid as internal standard, were evaporated with nitrogen, resuspended in methanol and analyzed by HPLC, using a C-18 column equilibrated with 51:49 acetonitrile-water, 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid, at 1 ml/min. The eluate was monitored at 254 nm. The selectivity (inter-assay C.V.<4%), sensitivity (limits of quantitation of 0.25 microg/ml for HYD, DEX and IND, 0.5 microg/ml for PB and 1 microg/ml for OPB, despite ...
van de Lest CH, Brama PA, Van Weeren PR.An overview is given of the direct and long-term effects of exercise on the biochemical characteristics of cartilage and subchondral bone, and on the metabolic activity of chondrocytes in the juvenile horse. In the experimental setup 43 foals were reared until weaning at 5 months of age under similar conditions, except for the type and amount of exercise. Fifteen foals remained at pasture (Pasture group and also control group), 14 foals were kept in box stalls (Box group), and 14 foals were kept in the same box stalls but were subjected daily to an increasing number of gallop sprints (Training...
Takahashi Y, Mukai K, Matsui A, Ohmura H, Takahashi T.OBJECTIVE To quantify fatigue-induced electromyographic changes in hind limb muscles in horses. ANIMALS 8 Thoroughbreds. PROCEDURES The left and right hind limb longissimus dorsi, tensor fasciae latae, gluteus medius, and biceps femoris muscles were instrumented for surface electromyography. Hoof strain gauges were attached to confirm stride cycle. Each horse was galloped on a treadmill (grade, 3%) at a constant speed (12.6 to 14.7 m/s) to achieve fatigue after approximately 360 seconds. Before and after this exercise, the horses were trotted at 3.5 m/s. At 30-second intervals during galloping...
Lonning SM, Zhang W, Leib SR, McGuire TC.Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) appear to be critical in resolving or reducing the severity of lentivirus infections. Retroviral vectors expressing the Gag/Pr or SU protein of the lentivirus equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) were constructed and used to evaluate EIAV-specific CTL responses in horses. Three promoters, cytomegalovirus, simian virus SV40, and Moloney murine sarcoma virus (MoMSV) long terminal repeat (LTR), were used, and there was considerable variation in their ability to direct expression of Gag/Pr and SU. Vectors expressing EIAV proteins under the direction of MoMSV LTR and ...
Little PB, Thorsen J, Moore W, Weninger N.Powassan virus strain M794, a member of the Flavivirus genus known to infect man and animals in Canada, was inoculated intracerebrally into rabbits and horses. No clinical signs were observed in rabbits, but widespread encephalitis resulted, characterized by lymphoid perivascular cuffing, lymphocytic meningitis, and lymphocytic choroiditis. In horses, eight days after inoculation, prominent neurological signs occurred and lesions were those of non-suppurative encephalomyelitis, neuronal necrosis, and focal parenchymal necrosis. The virus could not be reisolated from the rabbit or horse brains....
Tsujimura K, Yamanaka T, Kondo T, Fukushi H, Matsumura T.To develop a live vaccine for equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1), two EHV-1 mutants containing no heterogeneous DNA, DeltagI and DeltagE, were constructed with deletions in the open reading frame of either glycoprotein I (gI) or E (gE), respectively. In equine cell culture, deletion mutants formed smaller plaques than the parental and revertant viruses, but the one-step growth patterns of the deletion mutants and the parental strain were approximately the same. These results suggest that both gI and gE contribute to the ability of EHV-1 to spread directly from cell-to-cell, but that these glyco...
Madsen M, Christensen P.Semen samples were collected from 21 Danish Warmblood stallions by the Colorado artificial vagina (Colorado AV, 14 samples) or by the Missouri artificial vagina (Missouri AV, 7 samples). The semen was examined bacteriologically by direct plating (DP) on blood agar plates, and by plating of semen swabs stored in Stuart's transport media (TM) at 4 degrees C for 1-4 days. No significant differences were observed between results obtained by DP and cultures of identical TM samples. Of the 21 samples examined, only 1 TM (4.8%) and 2 DP samples (9.5%) were sterile, while the rest yielded a predominan...
Quinn GC, Kidd JA, Lane JG.Previous studies of sinus surgery on standing horses have been based on techniques which utilise powered hand bone saws and preserve the bone flap, which was thought to be essential for a good cosmetic result. This report describes a simplified technique applied to the standing horse where the sinus flap construction used a large skull trephine and where the bone flap is necessarily discarded. Objective: To assess whether the modified standing frontonasal flap (SFF) surgery offers an effective method to investigate and/or treat sinunasal disorders in the horse. Methods: The case records of 60 ...
McGowan CM, Neiger R.Trilostane, a competitive 3-beta hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase inhibitor, has been used successfully to control clinical signs and cortisol excess in canine pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism. Objective: Trilostane was evaluated for its efficacy in resolving clinical and clinicopathological abnormalities of equine Cushing's syndrome (ECS) and to assess its safety. Methods: Twenty horses (mean age 21 years) diagnosed with ECS were followed for 1 or 2 years. Affected horses received 0.4-1 mg/kg (mean 0.5 mg/kg) trilostane once daily. Results: Clinical signs assessed over 1 or 2 years, showe...
Hines MT.The continued study of immunology and its relationship to diseases of the eye will hopefully give some insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of certain ocular diseases of many species, including the horse. It may lead to a better understanding of equine recurrent uveitis, a disease that has remained an enigma for years and that now appears to be an immunologic hypersensitivity response to a number of varied antigens. The precise mechanism of the inflammation is still unclear, and the immunologic response may be variable or mixed depending upon the inciting antigen. Other ophthalmic diseases i...
Bentz BG, Maxwell LK, Erkert RS, Royer CM, Davis MS, MacAllister CG, Clarke CR.The purpose of the study reported here was to describe the bioavailability and pharmacokinetics of acyclovir after intravenous and oral administration to horses. Six healthy adult horses were used in a randomized cross-over study with a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Three treatments were administered to each horse: 10 mg of injectable acyclovir/kg of body weight in 1 L of normal saline delivered as an infusion over 15 minutes; 10 mg of acyclovir/kg in tablets by nasogastric intubation; and 20 mg of acyclovir/kg in tablets by nasogastric intubation. A 2-week washout period was provided between eac...
Magnuson NS, Perryman LE, Wyatt CR, Mason PH, Talmadge JE.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from foals with hereditary severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) have morphologic characteristics of large granular lymphocytes (LGL). Attempts to demonstrate cytotoxic activity were without success unless the LGL were incubated with 100 U of human recombinant interleukin 2 (rIL 2)/ml for 24 hr. With rIL 2 incubation, low effector to target ratios (10:1) consistently yielded high levels of cytotoxic activity (30 to 50%) in a standard 4-hr 51Cr-release assay using YAC-1 lymphoma or K562 erythroleukemia cell lines as targets. Monoclonal antibody EqT12 reacted...
Buergelt CD.The few data collections that evaluate the involvement of organ systems in horse diseases are in agreement that the locomotor, gastrointestinal and nervous systems are the sites of primary disease in the vast majority of sick horses. When compared with diseases of these organ systems, equine cardiovascular diseases occur infrequently. The most detailed and comprehensive survey of equine cardiac pathology was reported in 1972 by Else and Holmes, who summarized the gross and microscopic cardiac findings from 1500 abattoir horses. This paper reviews the pathology of the cardiovascular diseases ty...
Upjohn MM, Shipton K, Pfeiffer DU, Lerotholi T, Attwood G, Verheyen KL.To establish baseline parameters of equine health, owner knowledge and husbandry practices and tack against which benefits to local horses arising from an equine charity's training programme in Lesotho could be measured. Objective: To describe and investigate associations between owner knowledge and equine husbandry practices, horse health and tack-related parameters prior to the start of the training programme. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in the catchment area of students attending the first training course. Owners from randomly selected villages were interviewed about ho...
Gillespie CC, Adams SB, Moore GE.To determine common methods for intra-articular injections and variables associated with the risk of septic arthritis following intra-articular injection in the horse. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Equine veterinarians. Methods: A link to an online survey was distributed to equine practitioners in 2014. Responses for descriptive data were tabulated. Data on infection rates obtained from medical records were analyzed. Variables associated with the risk of septic arthritis were determined using χ or Fisher's exact tests and logistic regression. Results: Common current methods for in...
McGuire TC, Zhang W, Hines MT, Henney PJ, Byrne KM.Horses with equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) have episodes of viremia and disease; however, most eventually become inapparent carriers. A possible mechanism of control is cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). To evaluate CTL in inapparent carriers with low viral loads, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were stimulated in vitro with autologous EIAV-infected PBMC and human IL-2 to detect memory CTL (CTLm). In initial studies, three carriers had CTLm and one of these had low-level effector CTL (CTLe). The CTLm were restricted by equine lymphocyte alloantigen-A (ELA-A) locus encoded MHC clas...
Urra JA, Villaroel-Espíndola F, Covarrubias AA, Rodríguez-Gil JE, Ramírez-Reveco A, Concha II.Dopamine is a catecholamine with multiple physiological functions, playing a key role in nervous system; however its participation in reproductive processes and sperm physiology is controversial. High dopamine concentrations have been reported in different portions of the feminine and masculine reproductive tract, although the role fulfilled by this catecholamine in reproductive physiology is as yet unknown. We have previously shown that dopamine type 2 receptor is functional in boar sperm, suggesting that dopamine acts as a physiological modulator of sperm viability, capacitation and motility...
Hurst EW.The virus of equine encephalomyelitis (eastern strain) evokes in the horse, calf, sheep and dog an unusually intense encephalomyelitis characterized by acute primary degeneration of nerve cells, the appearance in neurons of the brain stem and elsewhere of nuclear inclusions resembling those in Borna disease and poliomyelitis, polymorphonuclear infiltration in the nervous tissues with early microglial proliferation, and perivascular cuffing with mononuclears and polymorphonuclears in varying proportions. The grey matter is affected more than the white. Lesions may be less marked in the striatum...
Henson FM, Davenport C, Butler L, Moran I, Shingleton WD, Jeffcott LB, Schofield PN.The effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) I and II on fetal and foal chondrocytes were investigated in vitro. Chondrocytes from the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur were obtained from 2 fetuses (280 and 320 days gestation) and one 4-day-old foal and cultured. Membrane proteins consistent with type 1 and type 2 IGF receptors were demonstrated by radioligand cross linking and equilibrium binding analysis. It was demonstrated that both IGF-I and IGF-II acted as mitogens for isolated equine chondrocytes when present as the sole mitogenic factor in monolayer culture. ...
Fritz KL, McCue ME, Valberg SJ, Rendahl AK, Mickelson JR.Recurrent exertional rhabdomyolysis is a heritable disorder that results in painful skeletal muscle cramping with exercise in up to 10% of all Thoroughbred racehorses. Here, we report a genome-wide association study with 48 282 SNPs analyzed among 48 case and 37 control Thoroughbreds. The most significant SNPs spanned approximately 13 Mb on ECA16, and the P-value of the most significant SNP after correcting for population structure was 8.0 × 10(-6) . This region on ECA16 was further evaluated by genotyping 247 SNPs in both the initial population and a second population of 34 case and 98 contr...
Brinkschulte M, Bienert-Zeit A, Lüpke M, Hellige M, Ohnesorge B, Staszyk C.Sinusitis is a common disease in the horse. In human medicine it is described, that obstruction of the sinonasal communication plays a major role in the development of sinusitis. To get spatial sense of the equine specific communication ways between the nasal cavity and the paranasal sinuses, heads of 19 horses, aged 2 to 26 years, were analyzed using three-dimensional (3D) reformatted renderings of CT-datasets. Three-dimensional models were generated following manual and semi-automated segmentation. Before segmentation, the two-dimensional (2D) CT-images were verified against corresponding fr...
Sevane N, Sanz CR, Dunner S.Four loci seem responsible for the dilution of the basic coat colours in horse: Dun (D), Silver Dapple (Z), Champagne (CH) and Cream (C). Apart from the current phenotypes ascribed to these loci, pearl has been described as yet another diluted coat colour in this species. To date, this coat colour seems to segregate only in the Iberian breeds Purebred Spanish horse and Lusitano and has also been described in breeds of Iberian origin, such as Quarter Horses and Paint Horse, where it is referred to as the 'Barlink Factor'. This phenotype segregates in an autosomal recessive manner and resembles ...
Gonzalez-Obando J, Forero JE, Zuluaga-Cabrera AM, Ruiz-Saenz J.Equine influenza is a highly contagious disease caused by the H3N8 equine influenza virus (EIV), which is endemically distributed throughout the world. It infects equids, and interspecies transmission to dogs has been reported. The H3N8 Florida lineage, which is divided into clades 1 and 2, is the most representative lineage in the Americas. The EIV infects the respiratory system, affecting the ciliated epithelial cells and preventing the elimination of foreign bodies and substances. Certain factors related to the disease, such as an outdated vaccination plan, age, training, and close contact ...