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.
Van Hoogmoed LM, Nieto JE, Snyder JR, Harmon FA.To evaluate the efficacy of intraluminal administration of a customized solution during low-flow ischemia and reperfusion in the jejunum of horses. Methods: Segments of jejunum obtained from 13 healthy adult horses. Methods: In isolated segments of jejunum maintained in an extracorporeal circuit, arterial flow was reduced to 20% of baseline for 40 minutes (ischemia) followed by 60 minutes of reperfusion. In 2 groups, a customized solution (concentrations, 12.5 and 25%, respectively) was placed in the lumen prior to low-flow ischemia and maintained during reperfusion. The control group received...
Howe L, Leroux C, Issel CJ, Montelaro RC.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) infection of horses is characterized by well-defined waves of viremia associated with the sequential evolution of distinct viral populations displaying extensive envelope gp90 variation; however, a correlation of in vivo envelope evolution with in vitro serum neutralization phenotype remains undefined. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to utilize a previously defined panel of natural variant EIAV envelope isolates from sequential febrile episodes to characterize the effects of envelope variation during persistent infection on viral neutralizatio...
Sullivan EK, Klein LV, Richardson DW, Ross MW, Orsini JA, Nunamaker DM.To describe the pool-raft recovery system protocol and to evaluate the clinical outcome in horses that underwent recovery from general anesthesia using this system. Methods: Retrospective study. Methods: 393 horses that underwent recovery from general anesthesia in the pool-raft system. Methods: Anesthetic records were examined from horses recovered from anesthesia in the pool-raft system between January 1984 and December 2000. Complete medical records of horses were examined when available. Information regarding the anesthetic and recovery period was recorded. Horses first recovered from gene...
Milenkovic D, Oustry-Vaiman A, Lear TL, Billault A, Mariat D, Piumi F, Schibler L, Cribiu E, Guérin G.The aim of this study was to increase the number of type I markers on the horse cytogenetic map and to improve comparison with maps of other species, thus facilitating positional candidate cloning studies. BAC clones from two different sources were FISH mapped: homologous horse BAC clones selected from our newly extended BAC library using consensus primer sequences and heterologous goat BAC clones. We report the localization of 136 genes on the horse cytogenetic map, almost doubling the number of cytogenetically mapped genes with 48 localizations from horse BAC clones and 88 from goat BAC clon...
Cavalli M, Carcano R, Beretta C.Despite assays on ring preparations in vitro confirmed that the vasoconstrictor sympathetic control in the horse common digital artery mainly depends on alpha(1)-adrenoceptors stimulation, selective alpha(2)-adrenoceptor agonists were investigated under the same experimental conditions. Both detomidine (DET) and UK 14304 differed from noradrenaline (NA) and phenylephrine (PHE) in provoking contractile effects which were slowly onsetting, concentrations-unrelated and unremovable by repeated washings. While prazosin (PRA) clearly antagonized the effects of NA and PHE, neither pre- nor post-treat...
Christensen H, Bisgaard M, Olsen JE.Members of Bisgaard taxon 11 have been isolated from horses. These bacteria are of importance in the veterinary clinic and also to the medical profession, since they may be isolated from infected wounds of humans bitten by horses. Six strains from different continents were identified as taxon 11, with 16S rRNA similarities between 98.0 and 99.7%. A single isolate that represented the so-called (+)L-arabinose-positive Actinobacillus equuli isolated from a diseased foal showed 99.9% 16S rRNA similarity to the type strain of A. equuli. DNA-DNA hybridizations showed that (+)L-arabinose-positive st...
Widdicombe JH, Pecson IS.Horses commonly suffer from respiratory diseases associated with excess secretions in the airway lumen, some of which are presumably derived from airway mucous glands. However, these structures have been little investigated in the horse. Accordingly, we describe here the number, distribution and size of equine tracheal mucous glands, and compare the data with similar information for other mammalian species. Two types of gland acini were present. In the thick connective tissue, up to 400 microm beneath the epithelium, gland acini were grouped in thin sheets that, in cross-section, averaged 20 m...
Veenman JN, Dujardint CL, Hoek A, Grootendorst A, Klein WR, Rutten VP.Equine acute abdominal disease is often associated with shock. Important aspects in the onset of this complication include hypovolaemia, the translocation of endotoxins from the gut and the subsequent activation of the cytokine network. The clinical efficacy of high volume continuous venovenous haemofiltration (HV-CVVH) and the clearance of cytokines were therefore investigated in an equine endotoxaemic model. Ten male Shetland ponies received a slow infusion of LPS (2 microg/kg bwt) under general anaesthesia. The treatment group (n = 5) received HV-CVVH (2 ml/kg bwt/min) using a 75 kD polymet...
Little D, Blikslager AT.Deal impaction is prevalent in the south-eastern USA, where feeding of Coastal Bermuda hay has been implicated as a risk factor. Alternatively, infection with the tapeworm Anoplocephala perfoliata has been identified as a risk factor for ileal impaction in the UK. We hypothesised that feeding Coastal Bermuda hay and failure to administer routinely an anthelmintic with efficacy against tapeworms would place horses at risk of developing ileal impaction in the USA. Seventy-eight horses, with surgically confirmed ileal impaction and 100 horses admitted for colic that did not have an ileal impactio...
van der Kolk JH, Nachreiner RF, Refsal KR, Brouillet D, Wensing T.Our objectives were to 1) establish ionised calcium (ICa), C-terminal PTH and biologically active PTH (intact molecule) concentrations in blood from normal horses, 2) examine the stability of ionised calcium and acid-base values in stored equine heparinised blood and serum and 3) check the applicability of the formulas based on these parameters in certain disease states. Mean +/- s.d. % ionised calcium in heparinised blood of normal Warmbloods was 51 +/- 2.7 (n = 20) of total calcium, range 1.45-1.75 mmol/l (n = 15) at Michigan State University and 1.43-1.69 mmol/l (n = 20) at Utrecht Universi...
Andrews FM, Reinemeyer CR, McCracken MD, Blackford JT, Nadeau JA, Saabye L, Sötell M, Saxton A.Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) represents a major health problem in performance horses. Much debate exists regarding endoscopic gastric ulcer scoring systems and their ability accurately to predict severity or depth of gastric ulcers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of an endoscopist to count gastric ulcers and predict gastric ulcer severity or depth using 2 endoscopic scoring systems and compare them to the same gastric ulcers see on necropsy and histopathology. Endoscopic examination of the stomach was performed under general anaesthesia on 23 mixed breed yearling...
van Hoogmoed LM, Harmon FA, Stanley S, White J, Snyder J.The objective of this study was to determine if a correlation exists between the presence of nitric oxide and prostaglandin release in the equine ventral colon smooth muscle, since this relationship may accentuate the inflammatory process during intestinal injury. Tissue was collected from the ventral colon, cut into muscle strips oriented along the circular, longitudinal and taenial layers, and mounted in a tissue bath system. Samples of the bath fluid were collected before, following electrical field stimulation (EFS), and following EFS in the presence of L-NAME, a nitric oxide synthase inhi...
Korolainen R, Ruohoniemi M.In order to investigate the reliability of ultrasonography in revealing intestinal sand accumulations, the cranioventral parts of the abdomen of 32 horses (age 3-20 years) with signs suggestive of gastrointestinal sand were examined radiographically and ultrasonographically. The amount of sand and its localisation, relative to the ventral abdominal wall, were evaluated radiographically and graded (scale 0-4). Motility of the intestine and whether it was lying against the ventral abdominal wall were evaluated ultrasonographically and the findings summed and graded (scale 0-3) to express the lik...
Misumi K, Vilim V, Hatazoe T, Murata T, Fujiki M, Oka T, Sakamoto H, Carter SD.This study was designed to assay and compare cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) in horse sera, in samples from normal and joint diseased horses, and to investigate the relationships between COMP in sera and synovial fluids (SF) with keratan sulphate (KS) data. Sera from 38 horses free of any joint pathology (controls) and from horses with aseptic joint disease (AJD horses, n = 40) were assayed for COMP and KS concentrations. Of the 78 horses in the study, 53 were also assayed for COMP and KS concentrations in SF. COMP and KS were measured by inhibition ELISA, using monoclonal antibodie...
Morton AJ, Blikslager AT.Although short-term survival rates following small intestinal resection reportedly range from 48-88%, there is little information on predicting which horse may or may not survive small intestinal (SI) resection and anastomosis. The aim of this study was to identify factors that contribute to nonsurvival in horses following small intestinal resection. Medical records of horses which recovered from anaesthesia following SI resection were reviewed. Clinical and surgical variables were evaluated for their association with short-term survival using logistic regression and were reported as odds rati...
Wijnberg ID, Franssent H, van der Kolk JH, Breukink HJ.Motor unit action potential (MUP) analysis in human medicine is a valuable and important diagnostic technique enabling discrimination between myogenic and neurogenic problems. This study establishes normative data in subclavian, triceps and lateral vastus muscles for clinical application of MUP analysis in the Warmblood horse, and examines whether muscle differences are present. Electromyographic (EMG) needle examination and MUP analysis were performed of the triceps, lateral vastus and subclavian muscles in 7 awake, nonsedated, Warmblood horses age 4-10 years. The amplitude, duration, number ...
Zweygarth E, Lopez-Rebollar LM, Meyer P.Twenty blood samples of zebras (Equus zebra zebra) from the Karoo National Park and the Bontebok National Park in South Africa, all seropositive for Theileria equi, were subjected to in vitro culture to identify carrier animals and to isolate the parasites. Sixteen animals had a detectable parasitaemia in Giemsa-stained blood smears examined before culture initiation, the remaining four animals were identified as T. equi carriers by in vitro culture. Cultures were initiated either in an oxygen-reduced gas mixture or in a 5% CO2-in-air atmosphere. Out of the 20 blood samples, 12 cultures of T. ...
van Dixhoorn ID, Meershoek LS, Huiskes R, Schamhardt HC.Motion of the navicular bone might play a role in the development of navicular disease in horses but is difficult to asses. In the present study, 3-dimensional motion of this bone was determined using roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis. Tantalum pellets were inserted, in vitro, in the bones of 6 forelimbs of mature Shetland ponies and kinematics were measured during vertical loading up to 2 kN. The motions of the navicular bone and coffin joint were limited to flexion/extension, there were no substantial out-of-plane motions. There was only little flexion between the navicular bone and th...
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...
Belloli C, Crescenzo G, Lai O, Carofiglio V, Marang O, Ormas P.The objective of this study was to determine the pharmacokinetic behaviour of imidocarb in horses following a single i.m. injection at the dose commonly administered to treat Babesia caballi infections or to prevent babesiosis. Eight horses were injected i.m. with a single dose of 2.4 mg imidocarb dipropionate/kg bwt and blood, faecal, urine and milk samples were collected. For imidocarb determination, a high-performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) was used after weak cation-exchange solid phase, or liquid-liquid, extraction procedures. Twelve hours after treatment, no detectable plas...
Locke MM, Penedo MC, Bricker SJ, Millon LV, Murray JD.The progressive loss of colour in the hair of grey horses is controlled by a dominantly inherited allele at the Grey locus (GG). In this study, two paternal Quarter Horse (QH) families segregating for the GG allele were genotyped with a set of 101 microsatellite markers spanning the 31 autosomes and the X chromosome. This genome scan demonstrated linkage of Grey to COR018 (RF=0.02, LOD=12.04) on horse chromosome 25 (ECA25). Further chromosome-specific analysis of seven total QH families confirmed the linkage of Grey to a group of ECA25 markers and the map order of NVHEQ43-(0.24)-UCDEQ405-(0.09...
Furr M, MacKay R, Granstrom D, Schott H, Andrews F.The research article is about the study and in-depth understanding of diagnosing equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a disease that impacts horses’ neurological functions. Introduction The main focus of the research […]
Read EK, Chandler D, Wilson DG.To compare the biomechanical characteristics and mode of failure of 2 techniques using parallel 5.5 mm screws for pastern joint arthrodesis in horses. Methods: Randomized block design, for horse (1-5), method of fixation (two 5.5 mm screws versus three 5.5 mm screws), side (right, left), and end (front, hind). Constructs were tested to failure in 3-point bending. Methods: Twenty limbs (5 cadavers). Methods: A combined aiming device was used to facilitate screw placement. Two parallel 5.5 mm screws were inserted in lag fashion in 1 limb of a pair, and three 5.5 mm screws were inserted in the co...
Mask TA, Schoenecker KA, Kane AJ, Ransom JI, Bruemmer JE.Immunocontraception with porcine ZP (pZP) can be an effective means of fertility control in feral horses. Previous studies suggest that antibodies produced after pZP vaccination may both inhibit fertilization and cause follicular dysgenesis. Zonastat-H, PZP-22, and SpayVac are three pZP vaccines proposed for use in horses. Although all these vaccines contain the pZP antigen, variations in antigen preparation and vaccine formulation lead to differences in antigenic properties among them. Likewise, despite numerous efficacy and safety studies of Zonastat-H and PZP-22, the contraceptive mechanism...
Hoon-Hanks LL, Rout ED, Vap LM, Aboellail TA, Hassel DM, Nout-Lomas YS.A 20-year-old gelding was diagnosed with peritonitis and severe reactive mesothelial hyperplasia. Exploratory laparotomy findings were suggestive of a neoplastic etiology; however, additional diagnostics ruled this out and the horse made a full recovery. This report demonstrates the difficulty and value of differentiating between reactive and neoplastic mesothelial processes. Une péritonite et l’hyperplasie mésothéliale réactive grave ont été diagnostiquées chez un hongre âgé de 20 ans. Les résultats d’une laparatomie exploratoire ont suggéré une étiologie néoplasique. Cepen...
Wohlsein P, Pohlenz JF, Davidson FL, Salt JS, Hamblin C.The distribution of viral antigen was studied in various tissues of three ponies, aged 3-4 years, infected experimentally with a virulent strain of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) serotype 4. Tissues were collected from the animals in the terminal stage of the peracute form of the disease and from one noninfected horse, included as a control. A polyclonal antibody with specificity for AHSV, plus the nonstructural protein NS2, was used in a sensitive avidin-biotin-peroxidase-complex (ABC) method performed on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections. AHSV antigen was located primari...
Wardle EN.Assessment of changes in activity of the reticuloendothelial system (RES), including the mesangial cells of the kidney, has been made by means of clearance studies of human aggregated gamma-globulin and of colloidal gold, during the course of horse serum sickness nephritis. RES blockade was found after protein loading and at the phase of circulating immune complexes. At other times RES activity was normal or increased. “Mesangial saturation” may have important implications for human nephritis.
Atkins CA, Pond KR, Madsen CK, Moorman VJ, Roman-Muniz IN, Archibeque SL, Grandin T.The objective of the control study was to assess 2 prominent fluctuations in a single optical signal as being either a true first hoof contact or a last break-over based on descriptive measures. The study builds on initial findings from a preliminary investigation of the embedded-optical-base system's (EOBS) capabilities in signal capturing and feasibility as potential alternative to existing gait technologies, such as piezoelectric (e.g., load cell) systems. Hoof contacts and break-overs were measured (0 to 1 au; arbitrary units) using a 2.4-m (length) × 0.9-m (width) platform containing 1 E...
Freccero F, Cordella A, Dondi F, Castagnetti C, Niinistö K, Cipone M.In dogs, due to better alignment with the aortic outflow, the subcostal (SC) transducer site provides greater Doppler-derived velocities than those obtained from the left parasternal view. The feasibility of this imaging approach has never been described in equine echocardiography. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of the SC view in newborn foals and compare aortic two-dimensional and Doppler-derived velocity measurements with those of standard parasternal long-axis (LAX) views. Methods: A prospective observational study. Methods: Twenty-three newborn healt...
Kirschvink N, Bureau F, Art T, Lekeux P.The 8-epi-PGF2alpha is a marker of oxidative stress which is increased in lungs of asthmatic humans and heaves-susceptible horses. 8-Epi-PGF2alpha has also been demonstrated to be an in vitro and in vivo bronchoconstrictor in humans and rodents. We hypothesised that inhaled 8-epi-PGF2alpha was a bronchoconstrictor in healthy and heaves-susceptible horses in clinical remission. The effect on ventilatory mechanics of nebulised 8-epi-PGF2alpha was compared to that of PGF2alpha and U46619, a thromboxane A2 agonist. Pulmonary resistance (R(L)) and dynamic compliance (Cdyn) were assessed in six heal...
Borer KE, Bailey SR, Harris PA, Elliott J.The underlying pathophysiological triggers for equine acute laminitis are unknown, although digital vasoconstriction, ischaemia, hypoxia and reperfusion injury may be involved. The contractile responses of isolated equine digital arteries (EDAs), harvested from the hindlimbs of normal horses postmortem at an abattoir, were studied acutely (up to 3 h) under hyperoxic (95% oxygen, 5% CO2 ) and hypoxic (95% nitrogen, 5% CO2 ) conditions in organ baths. Phenylephrine (PHE; 10(-6) m), 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT; 10(-7) m) and high potassium (K(+) ; 118 mm) caused contraction in EDAs which was signif...
Rendle DI, Woodt JL, Summerhays GE, Walmsley JP, Boswell JC, Phillips TJ.Small intestinal resection and anastomosis is a relatively common procedure in equine surgical practice. This study was designed to test objectively the subjective opinions of surgeons at the Liphook Equine Hospital that an end-to-end jejuno-ileal anastomosis (JIA) is an effective and clinically justifiable procedure, contrary to conventional recommendations. Objective: An end-to-end JIA carries no greater risk of morbidity and mortality than an end-to-end jejunojejunal anastomosis (JJA). Methods: A retrospective observational study was performed on a population of 100 horses that had undergon...
Rushton JO, Kolodziejek J, Tichy A, Nowotny N, Nell B.To date the influence of herpesviruses on the development of equine ocular diseases has not been clearly determined. Objective: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the course of equine ocular findings over a period of 18 months at 6 month intervals, in correlation with the results of herpesvirus detection. Methods: 266 Lipizzaners in 3 federal states of Austria underwent complete ophthalmologic examination 4 times. Blood samples, nasal- and conjunctival swabs were obtained at the same time and used for the detection of the equid gammaherpesviruses EHV-2 and EHV-5 using consensus herpes...
Gross S, Wilms D, Krause J, Brezesinski G, Andrä J.Equine sarcoid is a topically accessible model for the evaluation of anticancer peptides acting by physical membrane disruption avoiding the complexity of a systemic application. We aim at evaluating and improving natural peptides for host defence as lead structures, where we focus on the cationic and amphipathic peptide NK-2. Cytotoxicity tests, fluorescence microscopy and a chip-based biosensor, which enabled real-time monitoring of cell metabolism, were applied. Cancer cell killing was dynamic with an initial phase of increased cellular respiration, followed by membrane destruction. NK-2 wa...
Butler D, Upton L, Mullan S.In March 2020, the World Health Organisation called for countries to take urgent and aggressive action against a global pandemic caused by COVID-19. Restrictions were introduced in many countries to reduce transmission of COVID-19 and ultimately deaths. Such restrictions have been colloquially referred to as "lockdown". Anecdotal evidence of the beneficial practices that facilitated safe veterinary treatment and equine care had been reported together with an increase in the use of electronic communication and information technologies during the first "lockdown". Thus, the aim of this qualitati...
Liu X, Zhang Y, Pu Y, Ma Y, Jiang L.Transposable elements (TEs) are diverse, abundant, and complicated in genomes. They not only can drive the genome evolution process but can also act as special resources for adaptation. However, little is known about the evolutionary processes that shaped horses. In this work, 126 horse assemblages involved in most horse breeds in China were used to investigate the patterns of TE variation for the first time. By using RepeatMasker and melt software, we found that the horse-specific short interspersed repetitive elements family, equine repetitive elements (ERE1), exhibited polymorphisms in hors...
Petrova V, Vachkova E.Adipose tissue is recognized as the major endocrine organ, potentially acting as a source of mesenchymal stem cells for various applications in regenerative medicine. Athletic horses are often exposed to traumatic injuries, resulting in severe financial losses. The development of adipose-derived stem cells' regenerative potential depends on many factors. The extraction of stem cells from subcutaneous adipose tissue is non-invasive, non-traumatic, cheaper, and safer than other sources. Since there is a lack of unique standards for identification, the isolated cells and applied differentiation p...
Fielding CL.With advances in technology and owner education, field management in equine veterinary medicine continues to evolve. Equine gastrointestinal disease is one of the most common types of emergencies evaluated by equine practitioners, and many of these patients can be effectively managed in the field. Although the equine veterinarian must make numerous decisions, fluid therapy, pain management, and antimicrobial use are 3 of the major choices that must be addressed when initiating field treatment of equine gastrointestinal disease. This article addresses the practical use of these 3 treatment cate...
Carraway KL, Colton DG, Shin BC, Triplett RB.Bovine and equine erythrocytes have been studied by three different surface modification techniques to investigate the accessibility of the surface components to the external medium. Lactoperoxidase labeling of equine erythrocytes results in a significant labeling of only one membrane component, a 100 000-mol.wt polypeptide corresponding to the membrane-spanning Component III of human erythrocytes. The major sialoglycoprotein of the equine erythrocyte is not labeled. This is in contradistinction to the situation for human and bovine cells, where both components are labeled. The equine membrane...
Austin SM, DiPietro JA, Foreman JH, Baker GJ, Todd KS.Sixteen helminth-free pony foals were inoculated with a mean (+/- SD) 2,000 (+/- 545.5) infective Parascaris equorum eggs (day 0). Foals were allocated to replicates of 4, and treatments within each replicate were assigned at random. Treatment administered on postinoculation day (PID) 28 included no treatment (control), 0.2 mg of ivermectin/kg of body weight, 10 mg of oxibendazole/kg, or 6.6 mg of pyrantel base (pamoate)/kg. Paste formulations of the anthelmintics were administered orally. The foals were euthanatized 14 days after treatment (PID 42) and examined for P equorum larvae in the sma...
Fortier LA.Systemic therapies for joint disease may be prescribed when a single joint is involved or when multiple sites are affected. The precise therapeutic regimen recommended depends on the duration,cause, and site(s) of injury and is often an adjunct to intra-articular or supportive therapies. If the clinical signs of joint disease are acute and moderate in severity, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are often administered to alleviate pain and inflammation. When aiming for more of a generalized maintenance or chondro-protective regimen, an alternative medication, such as hyaluronan,polysulfated ...
Kreider JL, Ogg WL, Turner JW.Six mature stallions were used to test the effect of prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha ) on sperm production and seminal characteristics. Semen was collected from each stallion twice weekly 1 hr following a 10 mg intramuscular injection of PGF2 alpha or a sham injection. A switchback design was used so that three stallions received PGF2 alpha and three served as controls during the first 9 weeks (period 1). Treatment regimens were reversed during the second 9 weeks (period 2). Treatment of stallions with PGF2 alpha resulted in an increase (P less than .05) in gel free seminal volume and a dec...
Jung T, Park H, Kwon JY, Sohn S.Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) and Avian Influenza (AI) frequently occur in South Korea, resulting in high levels of occupational stress among quarantine workers forced to partake in massive livestock killings. This study explored the usefulness of Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) in improving these workers' psychological and emotional functioning. A total of 51 FMD/AI control workers participated in 16 sessions of an EAL program facilitated by therapeutic riding professionals and trained horses. Results showed significant changes in their stress level, coping style, and overall quality of life-re...
Lindberg A, Näsman-Glaser B, Lindgren JA, Robinson NE.To evaluate leukotriene (LT) biosynthetic capacity in lung tissue from healthy horses and horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). Methods: Lung parenchyma and airway specimens from 8 RAO-affected and 5 healthy horses. Methods: Horses were stabled for > or = 72 hours. Blood was drawn before euthanasia, after which lung specimens were collected. Tissue strips from small airways and parenchyma were incubated in organ baths with the precursor LTA4 or stimulated with calcium ionophore A23187 or the tripeptide N-formyl-Met-Leu-Phe (fMLP), with or without exogenous arachidonic acid, in the...
Papapetrou MA, Arroyo LG, Meister TL, Baird JD, Steinmann E, Lillie BN.Equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) was first reported from the serum and liver tissue of a horse diagnosed with Theiler's disease in the United States in 2018. Theiler's disease, also known as equine serum hepatitis, is a severe hepatitis with fulminant hepatic necrosis. The disease has most frequently been reported following the administration of equine-origin biological products; however, it has also been reported in in-contact horses with no prior biologic administration. EqPV-H has been detected in clinically healthy horses in North America (USA, Canada), Europe (Germany, Austria, Sloven...
Coutinho da Silva MA, Seidel GE, Squires EL, Graham JK, Carnevale EM.The effects of semen extender components on the ability of stallion sperm to bind to the zona pellucida (ZP) and the suitability of using bovine ZP for a ZP-binding assay for stallion sperm were investigated in a series of experiments. In Experiment I, binding of stallion sperm to both bovine and equine ZP was significantly increased when a skim milk-based extender (EZM) was used. In Experiment II, a threefold increase in sperm binding to ZP was observed when sperm were diluted in EZM compared with diluents, which contained no milk (TALP, LAC, and EmCare). In Experiment III, centrifuging the s...
Squires EL.Equine oocytes obtained either by transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicular aspiration or from slaughterhouse ovaries can be matured in vitro. This generally requires culture in TCM-199 containing serum and hormones for 30 to 36 hours. With this protocol, approximately 50% to 60% of the oocytes are at metaphase-II at the end of the culture period. At least some of these oocytes appear viable based on production of fertilized eggs either through in vitro fertilization or fertilization in vivo of a recipient mare. The success of producing equine embryos in vitro is still extremely low. More than...
Greiner EC, Fadok VA, Rabin EB.Twenty-three species of Culicoides were trapped near pruritic horses during a 2-year survey in Florida. Nearly 99% of the biting midges collected were represented by Culicoides insignis Lutz, C. edeni Wirth and Blandon, C. stellifer (Coquillett), C. niger Root and Hoffman, C. haematopotus Malloch and C. venustus Hoffman. The relative contribution to the total catch by each of these species varied among collection sites. Seasonally, different species attain their largest population sizes at different times. Association of species collected in light traps with the seasonality of lesion developme...
Hinton S, Schroeder O, Aceto HW, Berkowitz S, Levine D.Castration is one of the most common surgical procedures performed in the horse. Complication rate and types of complications associated with use of the Henderson equine castrating instrument have not been determined. Objective: To determine the complication rate and type of complications encountered when using the Henderson equine castrating instrument in equine ambulatory practice. Methods: Retrospective case series. Methods: Medical records of horses undergoing routine castration using the Henderson drill were identified and evaluated for the occurrence of complications. The relationship be...
Patterson SD, Bell K.Twelve equine protease inhibitory alleles, PiE, H, J, K, L2, O, P, Q, R, V, X, Z, have been characterized in terms of isoelectric point, molecular mass and inhibitory activity to bovine trypsin and chymotrypsin by ISO-DALT electrophoresis. Protein maps for 20 Pi alleles including those of the eight 'Thoroughbred' alleles (PiF, G, I, L, N, S1, S2, U) have now been determined. Five pairs of alleles, S1/S2, G/K, L/L2, P/R and U/Z, possessed varying numbers of common proteins ranging from one protein in the case of G/K and L/L2 to six in the case of U/Z. Based on these results and studies of the a...
Numazawa M, Osawa Y.The metabolic pathway leading to equilin and equilenin biosynthesis in the pregnant mare is different from that of estrone and estradiol and it is apparently cholesterol-independent. The precise precursors and intermediates and the stereomechanism of equine placental aromatization have not been established. [1,2-3H, 4-14C]3-Hydroxy-3,5,7-androstatrien-17-one was synthesized as a potential substrate and the 3H-distribution was analyzed by biochemical and chemical derivatization methods. The substrate was converted to equilin, equilenin and Heard's ketone by horse placental microsomes with a sp....
Haase F, Siewert C, von Rautenfeld DB, Fischbach JU, Seifert H.Measuring the leg volume of horses is useful for diagnostic and treatment of different diseases in relation to swollen legs. In the present study different methods to quantify the limb volume are compared, the water displacement method, an optoelectronic 2-dimensional body scanner, the so-called perometer and calculation of volume by applying the disc model. As reference method the golden standard of human medicine - the water displacement method was used. We took volume measurements from different tall horses in a defined section of the forelegs between the coronary band and the carpal joint....
