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Topic:Equine Health
Equine health encompasses the study and management of diseases, disorders, and overall well-being of horses. It involves understanding various physiological systems, preventive care, and treatment strategies to maintain optimal health in equine populations. Common areas of focus include nutrition, infectious diseases, orthopedic conditions, and reproductive health. Research in equine health aims to advance knowledge on diagnostic methods, therapeutic interventions, and management practices that improve horse welfare and performance. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine health, offering insights into current findings and advancements in the field.
[Transendoscopic laser surgery of exercise-induced dorsal displacement of the soft palate in horses]. From 1995 to 1997 11 racehorses, one Hanoverian and one Pony were presented to the clinic with a sudden appearing, very loudly gurgling expiratory respiratory noise. Considering the preliminary report and the clinical and endoscopical findings, as exercise induced dorsal displacement of the soft palate (DDSP) was found to be the cause of the respiratory noise. The 13 horses were treated in general anaesthesia by transendoscopic coagulation of the caudal margin of the soft palate with a Neodym-YAG-Laser. This surgical intervention had to be repeated on four horses with unchanged signs. Eight of...
The effect of drugs commonly used in the treatment of equine articular disorders on the activity of equine matrix metalloproteinase-2 and 9. Loss of articular cartilage, which is the most important pathological lesion occurring in osteoarthritis, has been shown to be enzymatically mediated. The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a group of enzymes which have been implicated in this degradation of articular cartilage matrix. The use of pharmacological agents to inhibit this catabolic process in the joint is a potential route for therapeutic intervention. The gelatinase MMPs, MMPs-2 and 9, were purified by affinity chromatography from equine cell cultures. The ability of phenylbutazone, flunixin, betamethasone, dexamethasone, methy...
Viability of an inguinal testis after laparoscopic cauterization and transection of its blood supply. A 25-month-old castrated horse was admitted for evaluation of stallion-like behavior. Twelve months earlier, bilateral cryptorchidism had been diagnosed, and the horse underwent a laparoscopic castration. At that time, the left testis was removed from the abdominal cavity, but the right testis, which was located in the inguinal ring, was left in place to undergo avascular necrosis after laparoscopic cauterization and transection of the testicular vasculature. On physical examination, an apparently clinically normal right testis was palpated within the scrotum. Administration of human chorionic...
Incidence and morphology of endometrial angiopathies in mares in relationship to age and parity. The morphology of endometrial blood vessels in uterine biopsy specimens from mares of varying age and reproductive status was examined by light (n = 117) and electron microscopy (n = 13), and additionally after elastase digestion (n = 86). Inflammatory vascular alterations were observed in 20.5% of the specimens. Smaller and larger arterial and venous vessels demonstrated mild to severe degenerative lesions. Unaltered vessels were detected only in maiden mares. Vessels in older maiden mares were frequently affected by angiosclerotic changes, characterized by mild to moderate perivascular and i...
Flow cytometric determination of oxidative burst activity of equine peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage-derived leucocytes. Flow cytometric techniques were developed for the evaluation of oxidative burst activity in equine peripheral blood neutrophils and lymphocytes, as well as bronchoalveolar lavage derived pulmonary alveolar macrophages and lymphocytes. The oxidation of dichlorofluorescin was measured by the increased fluorescence of cells stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate or a variety of other stimulants. Flow cytometry was a suitable method for the evaluation of the intracellular oxidation in all cell populations evaluated. Analysis was rapid and cell separation before analysis was not required. Hetero...
Polymorphism of Old Kladruber horses, a surviving but endangered baroque breed. Analysis of MHC class I and class II polymorphism, as well as data from other polymorphic systems (non-MHC lymphocyte alloantigen, blood groups systems, biochemical polymorphisms and microsatellite loci), was used to characterize the extent and distribution of the genic polymorphism of Kladruber horses. A breed-characteristic distribution of the MHC polymorphism was found. The repertoire of defined MHC class I specificities was restricted, especially in the grey subpopulation and in stallions, but a high frequency of blanks suggests the possible existence of undetected specificities. Despite t...
The flow cytometric evaluation of phagocytosis by equine peripheral blood neutrophils and pulmonary alveolar macrophages. Flow cytometry was used to assess the phagocytosis of fluorescent-labelled bacteria by equine peripheral blood neutrophils and pulmonary alveolar macrophages. Cell populations were prepared from venous blood following ammonium chloride lysis and from washed bronchoalveolar lavage derived samples. Discrete clusters of cells, corresponding to different leucocyte groups, were readily identified on the basis of differing light scattering properties and could thus be discriminated, negating the need for prior cell separation. Cells able to associate with fluorescent-labelled bacteria (by attachment...
Speed dependency of motion pattern consistency. Treadmills are widely used in equine motion analysis. For the evaluation of the trot of a horse, a trotting speed with low variation between motion cycles is necessary to make the measurements reproducible. The aim of this study is to show how an individual 'optimum' trotting speed for lameness quantification can be determined. In this study, the stability of a horse's gait pattern was evaluated by calculating the standard deviation (S.D.) of motion-cycle speed (MCS). In trot, eighteen horses were analysed at several speeds. The measurements were taken with the ExpertVision System (Motion Anal...
Equine SCID: mechanistic analysis and comparison with murine SCID. V(D)J rearrangement is the molecular mechanism by which an almost limitless number of unique immune receptors is generated. V(D)J rearrangement involves two DNA breaks and religations resulting in two DNA joints; coding and signal joints. If V(D)J recombination is impaired (as in murine SCID (C.B-17 mouse] or RAG [Recombinase Activating Genes) deficient mice), B lymphocyte and T lymphocyte development is blocked and severe immunodeficiency results. The first animal model of SCID was reported in Arabian foals in 1973. Recently we demonstrated that the mechanistic defect in SCID foals is V(D)J r...
Cloning and characterization of the equine F18 gene, which has a novel exon. A genomic clone isolated from an equine genomic library probed with an oligonucleotide (CAG)10 showed high sequence similarity to the human F18 gene and was tentatively named equine F18 gene. Because the human F18 gene is expressed in many tissues, we examined whether this equine clone was also expressed in equine tissues. The cDNA encoding equine F18 was obtained by the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) from equine thymus. The nucleotide sequence of the equine F18 cDNA (1940 bp) was determined and contained both the ATG initiation codon and a poly(A) sequence. The cDNA ...
Iron loading into ferritin by an intracellular ferroxidase. An intracellular, membrane-bound enzyme exhibiting both p-phenylenediamine oxidase activity and ferrous iron oxidase activity was isolated with the plasma membrane fraction of horse heart and studied for its ability to load iron into ferritin. The ferroxidase activity of the tissue oxidase was stimulated approximately twofold by horse spleen apoferritin, and the iron was loaded into ferritin. The loading of iron into ferritin by the tissue oxidase was inhibited by anti-horse serum ceruloplasmin antibody. The stoichiometry of iron oxidation and oxygen consumption during iron loading into ferrit...
Interaction of transforming growth factor-beta-1 with alpha-2-macroglobulin from normal and inflamed equine joints. Binding between equine plasma alpha-2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) and several cytokines known to participate in inflammatory reactions in other species was initially examined. Plasma was obtained from 5 horses with various abnormalities. Samples, both untreated and after reaction with methylamine, were incubated with exogenous, radiolabeled, porcine-derived transforming growth factor-beta-1 (125I-TGF-beta 1), recombinant human interleukin-1-beta (125I-IL-1 beta), and recombinant human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (125I-rhTNF-alpha). They were then subjected to nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel elec...
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for serological survey of equine arteritis virus in racehorses. To examine antibodies against equine arteritis virus (EAV), an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using purified virus antigen was developed. The results of ELISA were compared with those of serum neutralization (SN) tests. The ELISA absorbance values and the SN titers in sera collected weekly from EAV-infected horses showed a similar pattern. The ELISA could detect antibody to EAV in horses experimentally infected with not only a homologous virus strain, which was used as the ELISA antigen, but also a heterologous strain. Using the ELISA, serum samples collected in 1996 from racehorses...
Pathogenicity of Vibrio alginolyticus for cultured gilt-head sea bream (Sparus aurata L.). The in vivo and in vitro pathogenic activities of whole cells and extracellular products of Vibrio alginolyticus for cultured gilt-head sea bream were evaluated. The 50% lethal doses ranged from 5.4 x 10(4) to 1.0 x 10(6) CFU/g of body weight. The strains examined had the ability to adhere to skin, gill, and intestinal mucus of sea bream and to cultured cells of a chinook salmon embryo cell line. In addition, the in vitro ability of V. alginolyticus to adhere to mucus and skin cells of sea bream was demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy. The biological activities of extracellular produc...
Accuracy of different methods of estimating the weight of horses. Six hundred horses of different ages, heights and breeds were weighed on a weighbridge and had their weights estimated by two weigh tapes, 1 and 2, by a formula, and by a visual estimate. For the population as a whole, the most accurate method was the formula (mean [sd] 98.6 [10.6] per cent) closely followed by weigh tape 2 (98.1 [8.1] per cent). Tape 1 and the visual estimate were the least accurate (112.0 [9.3] and 88.3 [20.1] per cent respectively). When the population was divided into two height groups, the formula and weigh tape 2 were the most accurate for horses or = 15 hh weigh tape 1...
Radiographic assessment of equine interphalangeal joints asymmetry: articular impact of asymmetric bearings (Part II). This study is part of a work to develop a radiographic method that defines objectively the individual conformation of an equine digit and its appropriate trimming. The authors used isolated distal limbs fastened on a rotation support with variable inclinations to study the influence of induced asymmetric bearings on various angles measured from specific radiographs. The digit responded to asymmetric bearings by 1. deformation of the hoof; 2. rotation of the phalanges; and 3. joint asymmetry or local articular space narrowing. The two last situations occurred mainly in the distal interphalangea...
Description of a new Neospora species (Protozoa: Apicomplexa: Sarcocystidae). Neospora hughesi n. sp. was isolated from the central nervous system tissue of an adult equine (Equus caballus) from California. The tachyzoites are crescent-shaped, approximately 2 x 5 microm (1.8-3.0 x 4.0-7.0 microm), with characteristic apical complex structures consisting of an anterior polar ring, conoid, numerous rhoptries filled with a uniform electron-dense material, and 22 microtubules extending posteriorly from the polar ring. Comparison of N. hughesi to canine and bovine Neospora caninum isolates showed phenotypic differences in immunoreactive proteins. Molecular analysis of the sm...
Radiographic assessment of equine interphalangeal joints asymmetry: articular impact of phalangeal rotations (Part I). This study is part of a work to develop a radiographic method that defines objectively the individual conformation of an equine digit and its appropriate trimming. The authors used isolated distal limbs on a rotation support to study the influence of induced foot rotations on several angles measured from specific radiographs. The results of this work enabled the authors to quantify the rotation of the proximal phalanx compared to the distal, and to determine exactly the possible rotation in the distal interphalangeal joint. It was also observed that, faced with a forced rotation of the foot, t...
Preliminary characterisation of extracellular serine proteases of Dermatophilus congolensis isolates from cattle, sheep and horses. Dermatophilus congolensis is a filamentous branching actinomycete that causes dermatophilosis, an exudative dermatitis in ruminants. The pathogenesis of this disease is poorly understood and virulence factors of D. congolensis have not been characterised. Culture filtrate (CF) of 14 D. congolensis isolates from cattle, 15 from sheep and four from horses were examined for proteolytic activity using azocasein as a non-specific substrate. The isolates were from a variety of geographical locations. All the isolates examined produced extracellular proteolytic activity. CF from 24 and 48 h cultures ...
Animal models of pneumocystosis. As in vitro culture systems allowing to isolate Pneumocystis samples from patients or other mammal hosts are still not available, animal models have critical importance in Pneumocystis research. The parasite was reported in numerous mammals but P. carinii pneumonia (PCP) experimental models were essentially developed by using rats, mice, rabbits and ferrets. The rat treated with corticosteroids for 9-12 weeks is a useful PCP model. Like laboratory rats, conventional mice develop PCP after prolonged corticosteroid administration. The ferret (Mustela putorius furo) also develop PCP under cortico...
Coprological methods for the diagnosis of Anoplocephala perfoliata infection of the horse. To compare the sensitivities of three coprological techniques for the diagnosis of Anoplocephala perfoliata infection in horses and to assess the value of the methods for diagnosis of horses at risk of clinical cestodiasis. Methods: Faecal samples were collected from necropsied horses with or without A perfoliata infection and examined using one sedimentation and two different flotation methods. The coprological results were compared with worm counts performed at necropsy of the horses and the degree of mucosal damage. In addition, the efficiency of recovery of A perfoliata eggs from faeces wa...
Osteochondritis dessicans and subchondral cystic lesions in draft horses: a retrospective study. The clinical features, radiographic findings, treatment, and outcome in 51 draft horses with osteochondritis dessicans (OCD) or subchondral cystic lesions (SC) are reported. Clydesdale and Percheron were the most commonly affected breeds, and affected animals represented only 5% of the hospital population of draft horses. Horses were most frequently affected in the tibiotarsal joints and 73% (24 of 33 cases) of the horses with tibiotarsal effusion were affected bilaterally. Osteochondritis dessicans of the distal intermediate ridge was the most common lesion found in the tibiotarsal joint. The...
Renal medullary rim sign in 2 adult quarter horses. This report describes a renal ultrasonographic abnormality (medullary rim sign), which was identified in 2 separate cases of spontaneously occurring disease associated with chronic and acute overdosage of phenylbutazone therapy. In horses, medullary rim sign has only been documented in neonatal foals experimentally administered large doses of phenylbutazone.
Experimental infection of four horses with Ehrlichia phagocytophila. Four clinically healthy horses which were negative for antibodies to Ehrlichia phagocytophila, the agent of bovine ehrlichiosis, were infected experimentally with E phagocytophila-containing bovine leucocytes, administered intravenously. The horses were examined daily for four weeks, and blood samples were collected daily for cytological, haematological and biochemical examination and for a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). An indirect immunofluorescence test was used to determine when the horses seroconverted and the duration of positive titres. There were no abnormal clinical, haematol...
Persistence of the efficacy of a moxidectin gel on the establishment of cyathostominae in horses. A controlled trial was carried out to evaluate the persistence of the effect against small strongyles of a 2 per cent moxidectin gel administered orally to foals at a dose rate of 0.4 mg/kg bodyweight. Five of nine helminth-free foals were treated on day 0, and the remaining four foals were used as controls. On days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 all nine foals were infected experimentally with 200,000 small strongyle larvae. Three treated and two control foals were necropsied on day 42 and the rest on day 43. Fourteen species of small or medium sized small strongyles were found in the control foals, 10 ...
Effects of differently composed feeds and physical stress on plasma gastrin concentration in horses. Plasma gastrin concentrations were determined in 6 Standardbreds (4 geldings and 2 mares) after 3 different meals consisting of unlimited amounts of hay (8-9 kg per horse), a restricted amount of hay (0.6 kg/100 kg body-weight) and grain (0.2 kg/100 kg body-weight) in combination or of grain alone (0.2 kg/100 kg body-weight). In another series of experiments the possible role of gastrin as a stress hormone was investigated. Plasma gastrin and cortisol concentrations were determined during fasting and compared with concentrations during hay feeding. In addition, gastrin and cortisol concentrati...
