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.
Hisey EA, Martins BC, Donnelly CG, Cassano JM, Katzman SA, Murphy CJ, Thomasy SM, Leonard BC.This study aimed to define the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) expression pattern of the equine ocular surface and amniotic membrane using a targeted qPCR approach and 3'Tag-sequencing. It will serve as a reference for future studies of ocular surface innate immunity and amniotic membrane therapies. Methods: A targeted qPCR approach was used to investigate the presence of orthologs for three of the most highly expressed beta-defensins (DEFB1, DEFB4B, and DEFB103A) of the human ocular surface and amniotic membrane in equine corneal epithelium, conjunctiva, and amniotic membrane. 3'Tag-sequencing wa...
Taylor SD, Kritchevsky JE, Huang P, Olave C, Waxman SJ, Miller MA.To report history, clinical examination findings, clinicopathologic findings, diagnostic test results, treatment, and outcome in horses with a novel idiopathic hepatitis syndrome. 13 client-owned horses. Medical records of horses that were presented with fever and increased blood liver enzyme activity over a 16-month period were reviewed (December 1, 2020, to April 1, 2022). Collected data included signalment, history, clinical and clinicopathologic findings, diagnostic test results, treatment, clinical progression, and short-term outcome. Affected horses were presented between December and Ap...
Epstein KL, Hall MD.Knowledge of the effects of feeding and nasogastric tube placement and manipulation on gastric ultrasound is limited. Given the variability in duration since feeding and the ubiquitous use of nasogastric tubes in horses with colic, the interpretation of gastric ultrasound in horses with colic requires an understanding of these effects. Cranial to caudal and dorsal to ventral ultrasonographic dimensions of the stomach were obtained in 10 unfed horses and five fed horses, before and after nasogastric tube placement, after checking for reflux and after administration of 6 L of water in unfed hors...
Paulino PG, Peckle M, Mendonça LP, Massard CL, Antunes S, Couto J, Domingos A, Guedes Junior DDS, Cabezas-Cruz A, Santos HA. is the only tick species known to serve as a biological vector of for horses and other equids in Brazil. The protozoan is one of the causal agents of equine piroplasmosis, a major threat in horse breeding systems. Vector competence is closely linked to the pathogens' ability to evade tick defense mechanisms. However, knowledge of tick immune response against infections by hemoparasites of the genus is scarce. In the present study, the expression of genes involved in immune signaling pathways of adults' guts when challenged with a high or low parasitic load of was evaluated. This research...
Ghafar A, Abbas G, Beasley A, Bauquier J, Wilkes EJA, Jacobson C, McConnell E, El-Hage C, Carrigan P, Cudmore L, Tennent-Brown B, Hurley J....This review is aimed to (i) appraise the literature on the use of molecular techniques for the detection, quantification and differentiation of gastrointestinal helminths (GIH) of equids, (ii) identify the knowledge gaps and, (iii) discuss diagnostic prospects in equine parasitology. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines for systematic reviews, we retrieved 54 studies (horses: 50/54; donkeys and zebras: 4/54) from four databases. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was employed in all of the studies whereas PCR amplicons were sequenced...
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...
Steward SK, McKee HM, Watson AM, Salman MD, Hassel DM.Colic remains the number one cause of mortality in horses, and large colon displacement including colonic volvulus is one of the leading causes for equine hospitalization and surgery. Currently, there is not an adequate model to study the pathophysiology of this condition. The objective of this proof-of-concept study was to determine if subserosal implantation of bioinert microchips in the large intestine would be detectable by a RFID (radio-frequency identification) receiver when the implanted microchips were adjacent to the body wall, thus identifying the location of the colon within the abd...
Wallace J.With concerns growing globally about anthelmintic resistance in equine endoparasites, James Wallace's practice undertook some research among its horse-owning clients and introduced a fixed-fee parasite management programme to help ensure the most effective use of these valuable medicines.
Ferrer MS, Hurley DJ, Norton N, Ellerbrock RE.The objectives of this study were to evaluate the ability of five diagnostic tests to detect polymorphonuclear cells (PMNs) in stallion semen, and to determine the concentration of PMNs that affects sperm motility. We hypothesized that all tests have diagnostic value, and even low concentrations of PMNs affect motility. One ejaculate was obtained from six stallions. Aliquots of 50 × 10 purified sperm were incubated, in triplicate, with six concentrations of purified PMNs: 1) no PMNs, 2) 0.25 × 10 PMN/ml, 3) 0.5 × 10 PMN/ml, 4) 2.5 × 10 PMN/ml, 5) 5 × 10 PMN/ml, 6) 10 × 10 PMN...
Pusterla N, Vaala W, Bain FT, Chappell DE, Craig B, Schneider C, Barnett DC, Gaughan E, Papich MG.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) has remained a devastating neurological disease of the Americas, especially in young performance horses. Prophylactic treatment strategies with diclazuril have shown to reduce seroprevalence and titer levels to Sarcocystis neurona in healthy horses continuously exposed to the apicomplexan parasite. The goal of this study was to determine if the FDA-labeled dose of 1 mg/kg of 1.56% diclazuril (Protazil) given once weekly to healthy adult horses would achieve steady-state concentrations in plasma known to be inhibitory to S. neurona in cell culture. Five ...
Freitas NPP, Silva BDP, Bezerra MRL, Pescini LYG, Olinda RG, Salgueiro CCM, Nunes JF, Martins JAM, Neto SG, Martins LT.This study investigated platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and adipose stem cell-conditioned medium (ASC-CM) use as a strategy to accelerate tissue healing. Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were quantified in fresh and freeze-dried PRP and ASC-CM, and a stability test was performed in the freeze-dried samples (90 and 180 days of storage). A cell proliferation test was performed using equine mesenchymal stem cell culture in reconstituted PRP gel mesh after freeze-drying. In vivo PRP, ASC-CM applications, or their association were performed in induced w...
Tsogtgerel M, Murase H, Moriyama H, Sato F, Nambo Y.Late-term fetal loss in horses is a major problem in the horse-breeding industry globally. Abnormal pregnancies should be diagnosed as early as possible to prevent abortions and other gestational problems. According to our previous longitudinal study in healthy pregnant mares, the plasma activin A concentration increases as pregnancy progresses. The aim of the present study was to compare plasma activin A concentrations in healthy pregnant Thoroughbred mares (n=40) with those in pregnant mares that suffered fetal loss or showed abnormal symptoms (n=30) during late gestation. This field study f...
Partridge E, Adam E, Wood C, Parker J, Johnson M, Horohov D, Page A.Intra-articular (IA) corticosteroids are regularly used in equine athletes for the control of joint inflammation. Objective: The goal of this study was to use an acute synovitis inflammation model to determine the residual effects of IA betamethasone and triamcinolone acetonide on various inflammatory parameters and lameness. Methods: Crossover randomised trial. Methods: Five mixed-breed, 2-year-old horses were randomly allocated to an IA treatment of the radiocarpal joint with 9Â mg of either betamethasone or triamcinolone acetonide. Two weeks following treatment, horses were injected with 1Â...
Ashraf R, Rashid S, Rasheed I, Asif S.This paper includes the study of early embryonic death (EED), predisposing factors of EED and treatment. EED refers to the fetal mortality which varies in mare and camelids but most probably not later than 50 days of gestation. This duration may be divided into very early mortality, early mortality and late embryonic mortality. This also varies in mare and camelids. There are different embryonic, maternal, environmental/external, and infectious and noninfectious factors which lead to early embryonic loss. Diagnosis is very difficult as in most of the cases resorption of fetus occurs but it is ...
Harvey AM, Ramp D, Mellor DJ.A detailed understanding of what is usual for a species under optimal conditions is critical for identifying and interpreting different features of body function that have known impacts on animal welfare and its assessment. When applying the Five Domains Model to assess animal welfare, the key starting point is therefore to acquire extensive species-specific knowledge relevant to each of the four physical/functional Domains of the Model. These Domains, 1 to 4, address areas where objective information is evaluated and collated. They are: (1) Nutrition; (2) Physical environment; (3) Health; and...
Li J, Zhang X, Bai B, Zhang M, Ma W, Lin Y, Wang X, Wang XF.All lentiviruses encode a post-transcriptional transactivator, Rev, which mediates the export of viral mRNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and which is required for viral gene expression and viral replication. In the current study, we demonstrate that equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV), an equine lentivirus, encodes a second post-transcriptional transactivator that we designate Grev. Grev is encoded by a novel transcript with a single splicing event that was identified using reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) and RNA-seq in EIAV-infected horse tissues and cells. Grev is about 18 kDa in...
Hoffman M, Cheong SH, Stokol T.Liver analyte measurement is important in the evaluation of sick animals. Liver injury in horses is recognized by increased glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH), sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities, whereas biliary pathology is identified by increased alkaline phosphatase and γ-glutamyl transferase (GGT) activities or bilirubin concentrations. We have observed high GLDH, but not SDH, activities in neonatal foals admitted for conditions other than liver disease. Only one previous study have evaluated GLDH activity over time in healthy neonatal foals; however...
Hainisch EK, Jindra C, Reicher P, Miglinci L, Brodesser DM, Brandt S.Equine sarcoids are common, locally aggressive skin tumors induced by bovine papillomavirus types 1, 2, and possibly 13 (BPV1, BPV2, BPV13). Current in vitro models do not mimic de novo infection. We established primary fibroblasts from horse skin and succeeded in infecting these cells with native BPV1 and BPV2 virions. Subsequent cell characterization was carried out by cell culture, immunological, and molecular biological techniques. Infection of fibroblasts with serial 10-fold virion dilutions (2 × 10-20 virions) uniformly led to DNA loads settling at around 150 copies/cell after four pass...
Thompson MA, McCann BE, Simmons RB, Rhen T.Contraceptive vaccines are used to reduce birth rates in wild and feral animal populations. While the immunocontraceptive GonaCon-Equine has proven effective in reducing fertility among female feral horses, there is individual variation in the duration of infertility following treatment. To identify genetic factors influencing the effectiveness of GonaCon-Equine, we conducted a genome-wide association study of 88 mares from a feral population genotyped using the Illumina GGP Equine 70k SNP array. Contraceptive treatment schedules and long-term foaling rates have been recorded for each individu...
Daraban Bocaneti F, Altamura G, Corteggio A, Tanase OI, Dascalu MA, Pasca SA, Hritcu O, Mares M, Borzacchiello G.Bovine papillomaviruses -1/-2 (BPVs) are small non-enveloped double-stranded DNA viruses able to infect the skin of bovids and equids, causing development of neoplastic lesions such as bovine cutaneous fibropapillomas and equine sarcoid. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a group of zinc-dependent endopeptidases that degrade basal membrane and extracellular matrix, whose function is essential in physiological processes such as tissue remodeling and wound healing. MMPs activity is finely regulated by a balancing with expression of tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMPs), a process that is impaired ...
Stoeckle SD, Timmermann D, Merle R, Gehlen H.Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction is one of the most common diseases of aged horses and ponies. In Parkinson's disease, which is, similar to PPID, a disease that involves oxidative damage to dopaminergic pathways but with different clinical signs, alterations to the serum amino acid profile have been reported. To examine changes in the plasma amino acid profile in horses with PPID, EDTA plasma of horses that were presented for various reasons that required laboratory examinations of blood anticoagulated with EDTA was collected. With this plasma, the basal ACTH concentration as well as the ...
James S, Daffy J, Cook J, Samiric T.Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are associated with increased risk of tendinopathy and tendon rupture, which can occur well after cessation of treatment. We have previously reported that the fluoroquinolone ciprofloxacin (CPX) reduced proteoglycan synthesis in equine tendon explants. This study aimed to determine the effects of CPX on proteoglycan catabolism and whether any observed effects are reversible. Equine superficial digital flexor tendon explant cultures were treated for 4 days with 1, 10, 100 or 300 µg/mL CPX followed by 8 days without CPX. The loss of [S]-labelled proteoglycans and che...
Brito LFC, Loomis PR, Klohonatz KM, Althouse GC.Neat stallion semen can contain a variety of microorganisms, some of which may impair sperm quality and/or cause infection of the mares' reproductive tract. For this reason, antibiotics are commonly added to semen extenders. A combination of gentamicin, tylosin, lincomycin and spectinomycin (GTLS) has been recommended for use, but there are no reports on the use of this mixture in equine semen extender. Penicillin and amikacin (PA) are safe for preserving sperm quality while effectively controlling bacterial growth in equine cooled stored semen, but data on frozen semen are scarce. Therefore, ...
Lo Feudo CM, Stucchi L, Conturba B, Stancari G, Zucca E, Ferrucci F.Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) is a highly prevalent disorder in horses, which can be classified, based on the localization of the lesions, as Equine Squamous Gastric Disease (ESGD) or Equine Glandular Gastric Disease (EGGD). Although EGUS is recognized as a common cause of poor performance in racehorses, objective investigations about its relation with athletic capacity are lacking. Therefore, the present retrospective study aims to evaluate the associations between EGUS severity and some fitness parameters measured during an incremental treadmill test in Standardbred racehorses in trai...
Szmatoła T, Gurgul A, Jasielczuk I, Oclon E, Ropka-Molik K, Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Polak G, Tomczyk-Wrona I, Bugno-Poniewierska M.The present study reports runs of homozygosity (ROH) distribution in the genomes of six horse breeds (571 horses in total) representing three horse types (primitive, light, and draft horses) based on the 65k Equine BeadChip assay. Of major interest was the length, quantity, and frequency of ROH characteristics, as well as differences between horse breeds and types. Noticeable differences in the number, length and distribution of ROH between breeds were observed, as well as in genomic inbreeding coefficients. We also identified regions of the genome characterized by high ROH coverage, known as ...
Apolinário ECF, Oliveira LLDS, Rocha RHF, Silva FVE, Santos IS, Alves CA, Dias Júnior JA, Mendes LJ, Lima WDS.The intensive use of anthelmintics has resulted in resistant parasite populations in horses. The objective of this trial was to evaluate the anthelmintic efficacies of the anthelmintics fenbendazole, ivermectin and abamectin in 24 horse farms in Northern Minas Gerais. Egg counts per gram of faeces (EPG) were performed individually in 619 animals. Animals presenting EPG counts greater than or equal to 150 were used in the tests on faecal egg count reduction (FECR), totalling 436 equines. These animals received the anthelmintics, fenbendazole, ivermectin, and abamectin. Faeces were collected 14Â...
Byrne CA, Hotchkiss JW, Barakzai SZ.To document variations in the application of equine prosthetic laryngoplasty among equine surgeons. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: Six hundred and seventy-eight equine surgeons performing prosthetic laryngoplasty. Methods: An online questionnaire was sent to equine surgeons, including diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons and European College of Veterinary Surgeons. Questions focused on participant profile, surgical technique, antimicrobial therapy, and concurrent procedures. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed on the survey output. Results: Complete r...
Reubel GH, Kimsey RB, Barlough JE, Madigan JE.We report the experimental transmission of Ehrlichia equi from naturally infected Ixodes pacificus ticks to horses. Three weeks after exposure to ticks, two of three horses developed clinical signs compatible with E. equi infection, while one horse remained asymptomatic. 16S rRNA gene PCR of blood leukocyte lysates was positive for all horses at various time points; two horses seroconverted. The 16S rRNA gene sequences amplified from tick-exposed horses showed more than 99% homology to corresponding fragments of the 16S rRNA genes of E. equi, Ehrlichia phagocytophila, and the human granulocyti...
Morrell JM, Johannisson A, Dalin AM, Hammar L, Sandebert T, Rodriguez-Martinez H.Artificial insemination is not as widely used in horses as in other domestic species, such as dairy cattle and pigs, partly because of the wide variation in sperm quality between stallion ejaculates and partly due to decreased fertility following the use of cooled transported spermatozoa. Furthermore, predictive tests for sperm fertilising ability are lacking. The objective of the present study was to assess sperm morphology and chromatin integrity in ejaculates obtained from 11 warmblood breeding stallions in Sweden, and to evaluate the relationship of these parameters to pregnancy rates to i...
Kurtz BM, Singletary LB, Kelly SD, Frampton AR.In this study, Equus caballus major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I) was identified as a cellular entry receptor for the alphaherpesvirus equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1). This novel EHV-1 receptor was discovered using a cDNA library from equine macrophages. cDNAs from this EHV-1-susceptible cell type were inserted into EHV-1-resistant B78H1 murine melanoma cells, these cells were infected with an EHV-1 lacZ reporter virus, and cells that supported virus infection were identified by X-Gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-beta-d-galactopyranoside) staining. Positive cells were subjected t...
Smith KC.Abortion or neonatal disease may follow infection with several alpha, beta and gamma-herpesviruses. The alpha-herpesvirus, equid herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1), causes single or epizootic abortions or neonatal deaths in equids, and the closely related virus EHV-4 causes sporadic equine abortions. In cattle, the alpha-herpesviruses, bovine herpesvirus-1 (infectious bovine rhinotracheitis virus) and bovine herpesvirus-5 (bovine encephalitis virus), and a gamma-herpesvirus, bovine herpesvirus-4, have all been implicated as causes of abortion. In pigs, suid herpesvirus-1 (SHV-1: pseudorabies virus), an alp...
Bryan K, McGivney BA, Farries G, McGettigan PA, McGivney CL, Gough KF, MacHugh DE, Katz LM, Hill EW.A single bout of exercise induces changes in gene expression in skeletal muscle. Regular exercise results in an adaptive response involving changes in muscle architecture and biochemistry, and is an effective way to manage and prevent common human diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disorders and type II diabetes. However, the biomolecular mechanisms underlying such responses still need to be fully elucidated. Here we performed a transcriptome-wide analysis of skeletal muscle tissue in a large cohort of untrained Thoroughbred horses (n = 51) before and after a bout of high-intensity exe...
Hughes LA, Pinchbeck G, Callaby R, Dawson S, Clegg P, Williams N.Antimicrobial use is known to select for the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria; therefore prudent use in both human and veterinary medicine is essential to preserve their efficacy. Objective: To characterise antimicrobial prescribing patterns in UK equine practice and evaluate factors associated with prescribing. Methods: A postal questionnaire including 4 clinical scenarios was sent to 740 veterinary surgeons that treat horses. Data were collected on the clinician, their practice and sources of information regarding antimicrobials and their use. Multivariable logistic regression anal...
Goehring LS, van Maanen C, Berendsen M, Cullinane A, de Groot RJ, Rottier PJ, Wesselingh JJ, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1)-associated myeloencephalopathy (EHM) may follow an infection with the virus in horses. This study tested three hypotheses: (1) a large inhaled dose of a neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain would induce a cell-associated viraemia in all infected horses; (2) neurological disease will only occur in viraemic horses, and (3) the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) composition following EHV-1 viraemia will be an indicator for EHM. Four EHV-1 seronegative horses were inoculated with EHV-1 by inhalation. Three developed clinical signs of neurological disease, which were mild in two hor...
Mendonça T, Bienboire-Frosini C, Menuge F, Leclercq J, Lafont-Lecuelle C, Arroub S, Pageat P.Equine-assisted therapies (EATs) have been widely used in the treatment of patients with mental or physical conditions. However, studies on the influence of equine-assisted therapy (EAT) on equine welfare are very recent, and the need for further research is often highlighted. The aim of this study was to investigate whether EAT creates negative or positive emotions in horses, and the influence of patients' expectations (one group of patients had physical and psychological expectations and one group of patients had only psychological expectations) on horses' emotional responses. Fifty-eight pa...
Lacitignola L, Crovace A, Rossi G, Francioso E.To compare cultured bone marrow mesenchymal cells (cBMSC), bone marrow mononucleated cells (BMMNCs), and placebo to repair collagenase-induced tissue damage in an equine model of experimental tendonitis, 6 Standardbred horses with no signs of previous SDF tendon injury have been recruited. Three weeks after collagenase treatment an average of either 5.5 x 10(6) cBMSCs or 122.3 x 10(6) BMMNCs, saline solution (placebo) or fibrin glue were injected intralesionally in random order. Horses were stall rested for 21 weeks, and tendon ultrasound scans performed before and during this period. Horses w...
Ziegler U, Angenvoort J, Klaus C, Nagel-Kohl U, Sauerwald C, Thalheim S, Horner S, Braun B, Kenklies S, Tyczka J, Keller M, Groschup MH.West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne viral pathogen of global importance and is considered to be the most widespread flavivirus in the World. Horses, as dead-end hosts, can be infected by bridge mosquito vectors and undergo either subclinical infections or develop severe neurological diseases. The aim of this study was to detect WNV specific antibodies in horses in Germany as an indicator for an endemic circulation of WNV. Sera from more than 5,000 horses (primarily fallen stock animals) were collected in eight different federal states of Germany from 2010 to 2012. Sera were screened by a...
Zhang W, Lonning SM, McGuire TC.Most equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)-infected horses have acute clinical disease, but they eventually control the disease and become lifelong carriers. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are considered an important immune component in the control of infections with lentiviruses including EIAV, but definitive evidence for CTL in the control of disease in carrier horses is lacking. By using retroviral vector-transduced target cells expressing different Gag proteins and overlapping synthetic peptides of 16 to 25 amino acids, peptides containing at least 12 Gag CTL epitopes recognized by virus-st...
Milner PI, Fairfax TP, Browning JA, Wilkins RJ, Gibson JS.To determine the effects of varying O(2) on pH homeostasis, based on the hypothesis that the function of articular chondrocytes is best understood at realistic O(2) tensions. Methods: Cartilage from equine metacarpophalangeal/tarsophalangeal joints was digested with collagenase to isolate chondrocytes, and then loaded with the pH-sensitive fluorophore 2',7'-bis-2-(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxylfluorescein. The radioisotope(22)Na(+) was used to determine the kinetics of Na(+)/H(+) exchange (NHE) and the activity of the Na(+)/K(+) pump, and ATP levels were assessed with luciferin assays. Levels of ...
Pritchard J, Upjohn M, Hirson T.Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key the...
Cocchia N, Pasolini MP, Mancini R, Petrazzuolo O, Cristofaro I, Rosapane I, Sica A, Tortora G, Lorizio R, Paraggio G, Mancini A.New studies are underway to find new methods for supporting longer storage of cooled stallion semen. It is known that high concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) cause sperm pathology. The metalloprotein superoxide dismutase (SOD) is responsible for H(2)O(2) and O(2) production, by dismutation of superoxide radicals. The aim of this study is to assess the quality of chilled stallion semen processed with extenders containing SOD at different concentrations as antioxidant additives. A total of 80 ejaculates collected from 5 standardbred stallions was divided into 5 aliquots treated as: ...
Baxi MK, Efstathiou S, Lawrence G, Whalley JM, Slater JD, Field HJ.Neural tissues from specific pathogen-free ponies that had been experimentally infected with equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) were analysed by in situ hybridization. Digoxigenin-labelled EHV-1 BamHI fragments spanning almost the entire EHV-1 genome were hybridized to RNA in tissue sections from latently infected trigeminal ganglia. The BamHI E fragment detected EHV-1 RNA antisense to gene 63 (HSV-1 homologue ICP0) in a small number of neurons. Sixteen other BamHI fragments gave negative results in 20 sections tested with each fragment. Latency associated transcripts (LATs) were localized to the ne...
Alexandersen S, Carpenter S.The polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify and clone parts of the envelope gene and overlapping S3 open reading frame, thought to encode rev, of the virulent in vivo-derived Th-1 isolate of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). The results indicated that EIAV consists of a heterogeneous mixture of genotypes present at the first febrile cycle after initial infection. We showed that the Th-1 isolate apparently contains nondefective genotypes as well as types which have transmembrane protein truncations or are rev deficient. Furthermore, we could confirm the presence of a hypervariable re...
Nyman G, Funkquist B, Kvart C, Frostell C, Tokics L, Strandberg A, Lundquist H, Lundh B, Brismar B, Hedenstierna G.The anatomical basis of gas exchange impairment in the anaesthetised horse was studied by computerised tomography (CT; three shetland ponies) and morphological analysis (one pony and three horses). By means of CT, densities were seen in dependent lung regions early during anaesthesia, both with spontaneous breathing and with mechanical ventilation. The densities remained for some time where they had initially been created when the animal was turned from dorsal to sternal recumbency. Deep insufflation of the lungs reduced the dense area. Gas exchange was impaired roughly in proportion to the de...
Van Cleemput J, Poelaert KCK, Laval K, Maes R, Hussey GS, Van den Broeck W, Nauwynck HJ.The respiratory epithelium of humans and animals is frequently exposed to alphaherpesviruses, originating from either external exposure or reactivation from latency. To date, the polarity of alphaherpesvirus infection in the respiratory epithelium and the role of respiratory epithelial integrity herein has not been studied. Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV1), a well-known member of the alphaherpesvirus family, was used to infect equine respiratory mucosal explants and primary equine respiratory epithelial cells (EREC), grown at the air-liquid interface. EHV1 binding to and infection of mucosal e...
Dugdale AH, Obhrai J, Cripps PJ.To determine the mortality rates associated with equine anaesthesia for elective and emergency (colic and non-colic) cases in one equine, university teaching hospital and to investigate the effect of several horse- and anaesthetic-related variables on anaesthetic recovery quality. Methods: Retrospective data analysis. Unassigned: In total, 1416 horses undergoing anaesthesia between May 2010 and December 2013. Methods: Patient information and details of the anaesthetic, recovery period and immediate complications were extracted from an archiving database. Statistical evaluation of factors affec...
Mehdizadeh Gohari I, Kropinski AM, Weese SJ, Whitehead AE, Parreira VR, Boerlin P, Prescott JF.Clostridium perfringens is an important cause of foal necrotizing enteritis and canine acute hemorrhagic diarrhea. A major virulence determinant of the strains associated with these diseases appears to be a beta-sheet pore-forming toxin, NetF, encoded within a pathogenicity locus (NetF locus) on a large tcp-conjugative plasmid. Strains producing NetF also produce the putative toxin NetE, encoded within the same pathogenicity locus, as well as CPE enterotoxin and CPB2 on a second plasmid, and sometimes the putative toxin NetG within a pathogenicity locus (NetG locus) on another separate large c...
Pretzman CI, Rikihisa Y, Ralph D, Gordon JC, Bech-Nielsen S.An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM in natural and experimental infections of equids with Ehrlichia risticii was developed. Ehrlichial organisms purified from an infected mouse macrophage cell line were used as the antigen. IgM was separated from serum IgG by the expedient of spun-column chromatography, allowing the use of an indirect ELISA for quantitation of both IgG and IgM in the test sera. Among 16 paired sera from horses exhibiting clinical signs of Potomac horse fever, 8 were positive by the indirect fluorescent-antibody test (IFA), 11 were po...
Jost U, Klukowska-Rötzler J, Dolf G, Swinburne JE, Ramseyer A, Bugno M, Burger D, Blott S, Gerber V.REASONS FOR STUDY: Equine recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) is probably dependent on a complex interaction of genetic and environmental factors and shares many characteristic features with human asthma. Interleukin 4 receptor a chain (IL4RA) is a candidate gene because of its role in the development of human asthma, confirmation of this association is therefore required. Methods: The equine BAC clone containing the IL4RA gene was localised to ECA13q13 by the FISH method. Microsatellite markers in this region were investigated for possible association and linkage with RAO in 2 large Warmblood ...
Burton AB, Wagner B, Erb HN, Ainsworth DM.Previously it was reported that compared to surviving septic foals, non-surviving foals had a 35-fold increase in interleukin-10 (IL-10) and 15-fold increase in IL-6 gene expression in their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). As gene expression profiles can be time-consuming, we sought to determine if serum IL-6 and IL-10 in foals would aid in the diagnosis and prognosis of septicemia. A prospective study of septic neonatal foals admitted to the Cornell University Equine Hospital during 2007 and 2008 was performed. Septicemia was confirmed in 15 foals using blood culture results and se...
Senior JM, Proudman CJ, Leuwer M, Carter SD.Endotoxaemia is frequently presumed on the basis of clinical signs in horses with colic. Objective: Measurements of plasma endotoxin (LPS) are rarely made in clinical cases and there is little information on the correlations between this variable, clinical variables and outcomes. Objective: To measure LPS levels in plasma of horses presented to the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital on admission and daily for up to 4 days and to relate LPS levels to selected clinical parameters, such as heart rate and packed cell volume, and outcomes. Methods: Blood samples were collected and stored at -20°C p...
Andersen UV, Howe DK, Olsen SN, Nielsen MK.Parasites infecting horses are ubiquitous and clinically important across the world. The major parasitic threats to equine health are cyathostomins, Parascaris equorum, Anoplocephala perfoliata, and Strongylus vulgaris. Increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance reported world wide in equine parasites have led to recommendations of constructing sustainable parasite control programmes based on systematic surveillance of parasite levels. Regulations at the European Union level now make anthelmintics available on prescription-only basis and disallow prophylactic treatment. This emphasizes the n...
Weber JA, Freeman DA, Vanderwall DK, Woods GL.The hypothesis that treatment of pregnant mares with prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) hastens the oviductal transport of equine embryos was tested by treating bred mares with PGE2 on Day 3 after ovulation and subsequently measuring the rate of hastened oviductal transport (estimated by the uterine embryo recovery rate on Day 4 after ovulation). In a preliminary, noncontrolled experiment, oviductal transport was apparently not hastened after intramuscular, intrauterine, or intraperitoneal PGE2 administration to bred mares (0/6, 0/3, and 0/3 mares, respectively). Oviductal transport appeared to be hasten...
Shahar R, Zaslansky P, Barak M, Friesem AA, Currey JD, Weiner S.Young's modulus and Poisson's ratios of 6mm-sized cubes of equine cortical bone were measured in compression using a micro-mechanical loading device. Surface displacements were determined by electronic speckle pattern-correlation interferometry. This method allows for non-destructive testing of very small samples in water. Analyses of standard materials showed that the method is accurate and precise for determining both Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio. Material properties were determined concurrently in three orthogonal anatomic directions (axial, radial and transverse). Young's modulus va...
Desrochers AM, Dolente BA, Roy MF, Boston R, Carlisle S.To evaluate the viability of Saccharomyces boulardii after PO administration in clinically normal horses and its efficacy as a treatment for horses with acute enterocolitis. Methods: Prospective study. Methods: 5 clinically normal horses and 14 horses with acute enterocolitis. Methods: Feces were collected from 5 clinically normal horses and submitted for microbial culture for 2 days prior to administration of a lyophilized form of S. boulardii (25 or 50 g, PO, q 12 h) for 10 days. Feces were collected for microbial culture 5 and 10 days after treament initiation and 10 days after treatment wa...
Kremer A, Ribitsch I, Reboredo J, Dürr J, Egerbacher M, Jenner F, Walles H.Meniscal injuries are the most frequently encountered soft tissue injuries in the equine stifle joint. Due to the inherent limited repair potential of meniscal tissue, meniscal injuries do not only affect the meniscus itself but also lead to impaired joint homeostasis and secondary osteoarthritis. The presented study compares 3D coculture constructs of primary equine mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) and meniscus cells (MC) seeded on three different scaffolds-a cell-laden collagen type I hydrogel (Col I gel), a tissue-derived small intestinal matrix scaffold (SIS-muc) and a combination thereof-for ...
Mitchell CJ, Monath TP, Sabattini MS, Daffner JF, Cropp CB, Calisher CH, Darsie RF, Jakob WL.Mosquitoes were collected in Santa Fe and Rio Negro provinces, Argentina, in 1982-1983 during a western equine encephalitis (WEE) epizootic. Totals of 153,084 mosquitoes from Santa Fe Province and 484 from Rio Negro Province were tested for virus in 2,351 pools. Seventeen virus strains were isolated, all from Santa Fe collections, as follows: 4 WEE, 6 Venezuelan equine encephalitis, 1 St. Louis encephalitis, 2 Antequera, 1 Maguari, 1 Melao, 1 new vesiculovirus (Calchaqui), and 1 Gamboa. The WEE virus isolates were from Aedes albifasciatus, Anopheles albitarsis, Mansonia species, and Psorophora...
