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.
Tongu EAO, Segabinazzi LGTM, Alvarenga ML, Monteiro A, Papa FO, Alvarenga MA.This study aimed to evaluate the effects of mesenchymal stem cell-conditioned medium (MSC-CM) on sperm parameters, intrauterine polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), intrauterine fluid accumulation (IUF), and fertility in mares. In experiment 1, two ejaculates from ten stallions were extended to 50 million sperm/mL using a milk-based extender. Thereafter, 20 mL of extended semen was added of MSC-CM as follows: 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 mL. Sperm kinetics and plasma membrane integrity were evaluated immediately after dilution (T0) and 2 h post-incubation at 37 °C (T2). In experiment 2, mares cha...
Leigh H, Gozalo-Marcilla M, Esteve V, Gutiérrez Bautista ÁJ, Martin Gimenez T, Viscasillas J.Standing surgery in horses combining intravenous sedatives, analgesics and local anaesthesia is becoming more popular. Ultrasound guided (USG) peribulbar nerve block (PB) has been described in dogs and humans for facial and ocular surgery, reducing the risk of complications versus retrobulbar nerve block (RB). Objective: To describe a technique for USG PB in horse cadavers. Methods: Landmarks and PB technique were described in two equine cadaver heads (Phase 1), with computed tomography (CT) imaging confirming contrast location and spread. In Phase 2, ten equine cadaver heads were randomised t...
Crabtree NE, Epstein KL.Despite the frequent inclusion of fluid therapy in the treatment of many conditions in horses, there are limited studies available to provide evidenced-based, species-specific recommendations. Thus, equine fluid therapy is based on the application of physiology and extrapolation from evidence in other veterinary species and human medicine. The physiologic principles that underly the use of fluids in medicine are, at first glance, straightforward and simple to understand. However, in the past 20 years, multiple studies in human medicine have shown that creating recommendations based on theory i...
Olğaç KT, Akçay E.In this study, the effects of polyamines, Spermine and Spermidine, on long-term preservation and post-thaw spermatological parameters were evaluated. Moreover, determination of the most suitable polyamine and its dose that can be added to standard extenders were aimed. Four adult Arabian stallions were used in the study. Five ejaculates were collected from each of four stallions via artificial vagina two days interval. Each ejaculate was divided into 13 aliquots. INRA96 (95,5%), egg yolk (2%), and glycerol (2,5%) were used as a control extender. Extenders of experimental groups were prepared w...
Lee H, Hwang H, Ro Y, Kim JH, Lee K, Choi E, Bae Y, So B, Lee I.This study was performed to examine and clarify the cause of hindlimb ataxia and neuropathy seen in the South Korean horse population. Fifty horses diagnosed with hindlimb ataxia and neuropathy were referred for this study. Neurological examination was performed on 47 horses while necropsy was performed in all 50 animals. The occurrence of neurological diseases increased rapidly in the summer and 47 out of 50 horses were referred after the end of July. The incidence of neurological diseases started from the southern part of Korea in July and proceeded northward in August and September. Althoug...
Badenhorst M, de Heus P, Auer A, Tegtmeyer B, Stang A, Dimmel K, Tichy A, Kubacki J, Bachofen C, Steinmann E, Cavalleri JMV.Equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) research is in its infancy. Information regarding prevalence, geographical distribution, genetic diversity, pathogenesis and risk factors enhances understanding of this potentially fatal infection. Objective: Determining the prevalence of EqPV-H in Austrian equids. Investigating factors increasing probability of infection, liver-associated biochemistry parameters, concurrent equine hepacivirus (EqHV) infection and phylogenetic analysis of Austrian EqPV-H variants. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Sera from 259 horses and 13 donkeys in Austria were a...
Kol'vek F, Krešáková L, Vdoviaková K, Medvecký Ľ, Žert Z.After the medial femoral condyle (MFC), the phalanges are the second most common site for osseous cyst-like lesions (OCLLs). Conservative treatment of phalangeal cysts on the convex surface of proximal phalanx presents a technical problem with access to the stoma of the cyst. Surgical therapy options usually aim to avoid cyst enlargement through drilling or screw placement or to encourage lesion filling with osteoconductive material. This paper describes a case of treatment of the OCLL in a yearling Czech warmblood filly with surgical arthrodesis, together with the packing of the OCLL with cal...
Yu F, Liu B, Chen S, Yi Z, Liu X, Zhu Y, Li J.A 5-year-old Mongolian mare (Equus caballus Linnaeus, 1758) was observed to have corneal opacity and excessive ocular discharge. An ophthalmic examination revealed a moving thread-like cylindrical worm in the anterior chamber of the right eye. The parasite was successfully removed surgically. The worm was observed under light microscopy and confirmed as Setaria digitata by 12S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated similarity with Setaria digitata in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) GenBank database isolated from other Asian countries...
Redmond EF, Jones D, Rushton J.African horse sickness (AHS) is endemic in sub-Saharan Africa posing a threat to equine populations in non-endemic regions. Available vaccine technologies have limitations, creating barriers to horse movement, AHS control and, in non-endemic areas or countries, rapid elimination of virus after incursion. The literature lacks an economic assessment of the benefits of bringing a new, more effective AHS vaccine to market. Objective: The study assesses the economic impact of AHS and tests the hypothesis that investment in a safer, more effective AHS vaccine would give an economic return. Methods: ...
Zhang Z, Zhan Y, Han Y, Liu Z, Wang Y, Wang C.Dezhou donkey is an excellent local hide, meat and milk breed in Shandong Province. To accelerate the speed of breeding, reproduction and conversation, correlation and multiple regression analysis between body weight (BW) and body size of Dezhou donkey rearing under intensive farms was made by SAS 9.4 software (Statistical Analysis for Windows). A total of 162 donkeys of both gender of age 2 ~ 10 years old were used to investigate the relationships between BW and body dimensional traits (cm) including height of withers, body length; thoracic depth, thoracic girth (TG), thoracic width (TW), cir...
Mosichuk AP, Smith JS, Tatarniuk DM, Troy JR, Kreuder AJ.Septic synovitis is a critical orthopedic condition in horses. Early intervention is key, with antibiotic therapy typically initiated prior to culture and susceptibility reports becoming available. The pharmacokinetics of several antibiotics have been studied in horses for use in intravenous regional limb perfusion (IVRLP) for septic synovitis, including the carbapenem antibiotic, meropenem. For a variety of factors, some veterinary clinicians may select IVRLP meropenem as therapy for these cases. Meropenem is a vital antibiotic in human medicine, making veterinary use divisive. However, verif...
Hagen J, Jung FT, Brouwer J, Bos R.This study aimed to determine whether a hoof-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU) system would provide similar timing characteristics and step lengths, in walk and trot on different grounds, compared to those of an established optoelectronic motion system. The right hoof of one horse was equipped with an IMU sensor with an optical reference marker on top. Fifteen steps on firm ground, and five on penetrable ground, were performed at walk and trot. Level of agreement between the two measurement systems was determined by assessing the concordance correlation coefficients, accuracy, and precis...
Reyner CL, Winter RL, Maneval KL, Boone LH, Wooldridge AA.To investigate the effects of recombinant equine IL-1β on function of equine endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) in vitro. Methods: ECFCs derived from peripheral blood samples of 3 healthy adult geldings. Methods: Function testing was performed to assess in vitro wound healing, tubule formation, cell adhesion, and uptake of 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3' tetramethylindocarbocyanine perchlorate-labeled acetylated low-density lipoprotein (DiI-Ac-LDL) by cultured ECFCs. Cell proliferation was determined by 2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide assay. Effects o...
Urban JF, Nielsen MK, Gazzola D, Xie Y, Beshah E, Hu Y, Li H, Rus F, Flanagan K, Draper A, Vakalapudi S, Li RW, Ostroff GR, Aroian RV. and are important parasites in the family Ascarididae, large, ubiquitous intestinal-dwelling nematodes infecting all classes of vertebrates. Parasitic nematode drug resistance in veterinary medicine and drug recalcitrance in human medicine are increasing worldwide, with few if any new therapeutic classes on the horizon. Some of these parasites are zoonotic, , is passed from humans to pigs and . The development of new therapies against this family of parasites would have major implications for both human and livestock health. Here we tested the therapeutic ability of a paraprobiotic or dead ...
Ortolani F, Nannarone S, Sforna M, Gialletti R, Giglia G, Mandara MT.A 10-year-old Koninklijk Warmbloed Paardenstamboek Nederland (KWPN, Netherlands-based organization for registration of the Dutch Warmblood horses) mare was evaluated three times over four months because of recurrent colic. At every referral, a physical examination revealed a small colon impaction, which partially responded to food deprivation and oral administration of water and magnesium sulphate. Due to the recurrent nature of the small colon impaction, several differential diagnoses were considered: inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), chronic salmonellosis and myenteric ganglionopathies. At f...
Davies J, Thomas C, Rizwan M, Gwenin C.The pH drop in the hindgut of the horse is caused by lactic acid-producing bacteria which are abundant when a horse's feeding regime is excessively carbohydrate rich. This drop in pH below six causes hindgut acidosis and may lead to laminitis. Lactic acid-producing bacteria and have been found to produce high amounts of L-lactate and D-lactate, respectively. Early detection of increased levels of these bacteria could allow the horse owner to tailor the horse's diet to avoid hindgut acidosis and subsequent laminitis. Therefore, 16s ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) sequences were identified a...
van Galen G, Saegerman C, Hyldahl Laursen S, Jacobsen S, Andersson Munk M, Sjöström H, Holm Lindmark S, Verwilghen D.Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can cause right dorsal colitis, but longitudinal clinical studies are lacking. This study investigates whether NSAID treated horses develop right dorsal colonic pathology in a clinical setting. Non-gastrointestinal hospitalized horses treated with NSAIDs >4 days, and untreated hospital-owned teaching horses and non-gastrointestinal client-owned hospitalized horses were included. All horses were monitored over time with clinical examinations (focusing on presence of colic, depression, reduced appetite, unstructured feces), ultrasonographic intestin...
Wang P, Takawira C, Taguchi T, Niu X, Nazzal MD, Lopez MJ.To assess the effect of horseshoes with and without traction adaptations on the gait kinetics of nonlame horses during a trot on a concrete runway. Methods: 5 nonlame adult light-breed horses. Methods: Kinetic data were obtained for each horse when it was trotted across a force platform within a concrete runway unshod (control) and shod with standard horseshoes; standard horseshoes with high profile-low surface area calks, with low profile-high surface area calks, and coated with a thin layer of tungsten carbide (TLTC); and plastic-steel composite (PSC) horseshoes. Kinetic data were obtained f...
Collinet A, Grimm P, Julliand S, Julliand V.The equine hindgut ecosystem is specialized in dietary fibers' fermentation to provide horses' energy and contribute to its health. Nevertheless, antibiotics are known to disrupt the hindgut microbiota, affecting the fibrolytic activity of bacteria and the intestinal immune balance, leading to diseases. This study used a general and comprehensive approach for characterizing the hindgut ecosystem of 9 healthy horses over 28 days in response to a 5-day challenge with oral trimethoprim-sulfadiazine (TMS), with a special emphasis on microbial fibrolytic activity and the host immune response. Hors...
Cequier A, Sanz C, Rodellar C, Barrachina L.The differentiation ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) initially raised interest for treating musculoskeletal injuries in horses, but MSC paracrine activity has widened their scope for inflammatory and immune-mediated pathologies in both equine and human medicine. Furthermore, the similar etiopathogenesis of some diseases in both species has advanced the concept of "One Medicine, One Health". This article reviews the current knowledge on the use of MSCs for equine pathologies beyond the locomotor system, highlighting the value of the horse as translational model. Ophthalmologic and repro...
Janczarek I, Stachurska A, Wilk I, Wiśniewska A, Różańska-Boczula M, Kaczmarek B, Łuszczyński J, Kędzierski W.The horse's welfare and, consequently, the emotional arousal may be connected with stressful environmental conditions. This study aimed to determine whether horses show behavioural or physiological symptoms of thermal discomfort and if their behaviour and cardiac parameters are related to freely chosen insolated (IS), shaded (SH), or water sprayed (with a mist curtain (MC)) areas in a paddock under heat conditions (29-32 °C, 42.0 ± 1.5% humidity). Twelve adult horses freely moving in the paddock were studied during a 45 min solitary turnout. Six cardiac variables, locomotor, and non-locomoto...
Björnström A, Blomström AL, Singh MC, Hesson JC.A number of viruses transmitted by mosquitoes are well known to cause disease in both humans and horses, ranging from mild fevers to mortal neurological disease. A recently discovered connection between the alphavirus Sindbis virus (SINV) and neurological disease in horses in South Africa initiated this serological study in northern Europe, where the same genotype of SINV (SINV-I) is also highly endemic. We tested 171 serum samples, originally obtained from horses for other reasons from April to October 2019, for presence of SINV neutralising antibodies using a plaque reduction neutralisation ...
Suagee-Bedore JK, Shen Y, Porr S, Girard ID, Bennett-Wimbush K, Wagner AL.Exercising horses are commonly plagued by muscle fatigue and soreness, which can result in reduced performance ability. In the present study, ten unconditioned horses were fed 200g per day DigestaWell NRG, a commercial dietary supplement containing Yucca schidigera and Trigonella foenum-graecum, two herbs shown in other species to reduce post-exercise muscle pain and soreness. A control, unsupplemented group contained ten horses of similar age, breed, and gender. Horses completed a 50 minutes, ridden standardized exercise test of moderate intensity immediately prior to (Period1) and after 28 d...
Reshadi P, Heydari F, Ghanbarpour R, Bagheri M, Jajarmi M, Amiri M, Alizade H, Badouei MA, Sahraei S, Adib N.Transmission of antimicrobial resistant and virulent Escherichia coli (E. coli) from animal to human has been considered as a public health concern. This study aimed to determine the phylogenetic background and prevalence of diarrheagenic E. coli and antimicrobial resistance in healthy riding-horses in Iran. In this research, the genes related to six main pathotypes of E. coli were screened. Also, genotypic and phenotypic antimicrobial resistance against commonly used antibiotics were studied, then phylo-grouping was performed on all the isolates. Results: Out of 65 analyzed isolates, 29.23...
Crawford KL, Finnane A, Greer RM, Phillips CJC, Bishop EL, Woldeyohannes SM, Perkins NR, Ahern BJ.Worldwide, musculoskeletal injuries remain a major problem for the Thoroughbred racing industry. There is a strong interest in developing training and management strategies to reduce the impact of musculoskeletal injuries, however, progress has been limited by studies reporting conflicting findings, and a limited understanding of the role of different training methods in preventing injury. There is little data on patterns of rest periods and exercise data and how these vary between trainers. This prospective study of two-year-old racehorses was conducted in Queensland, Australia and involved w...
Zilch TJ, Lee JJ, Saleem MZ, Zhang H, Cortese V, Voris N, McDonough SP, Divers TJ, Chang YF.Little information is available about experimental inoculation of leptospirosis in horses and the pathogenicity of Leptospira interrogans serovar Bratislava in this host. Objective: To determine the serological, clinical, pathological and haematological responses of horses to L. interrogans serovar Bratislava strain PigK151. Methods: Randomised controlled in vivo experiment. Methods: Ten seronegative female foals were divided into 2 groups, control (n = 4) and challenged (n = 6). The challenged group received 1 × 109 leptospires divided equally between topical ocular and intraperitoneal...
Freitag FAV, Amora DDS, Muehlbauer E, Dornbusch PT, Machado M, Montiani-Ferreira F, Prisco Farias EL, Valverde A, Duque Moreno JC.To describe and evaluate an ultrasound-guided modified subcostal approach for the transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block in horse cadavers in lateral or dorsal recumbency. Methods: Prospective, experimental cadaveric study. Methods: Study of one preserved foal and eight fresh adult horse cadavers. Methods: The lateral and ventral abdominal wall of a preserved cadaver was dissected to identify the muscles and nerves. A unilateral standard TAP block technique was performed (60 mL of methylene blue dye-bupivacaine) on a fresh cadaver in right lateral recumbency. A modified subcostal technique wa...
Adams RJ, Mollenkopf DF, Mathys DA, Whittle A, Ballash GA, Mudge M, Daniels JB, Barr B, Wittum TE.To estimate the prevalence of extended-spectrum cephalosporin-, carbapenem-, and fluoroquinolone-resistant bacteria of the family Enterobacteriaceae in the feces of hospitalized horses and on hospital surfaces. Methods: Fecal and environmental samples were collected from The Ohio State University Galbreath Equine Center (OSUGEC) and a private referral equine hospital in Kentucky (KYEH). Feces were sampled within 24 hours after hospital admission and after 48 hours and 3 to 7 days of hospitalization. Methods: Fecal and environmental samples were enriched, and then selective media were inoculate...
Mild-moderate (MEA), severe (SEA) equine asthma and exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) are common respiratory disorders in horses. The present retrospective study aims to evaluate the role of ultrasonography and endoscopy in the diagnosis of these conditions. Three hundred and three horses were included and divided into SEA, MEA and MEA + EIPH groups, on the basis of history, clinical examination and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALf) cytology; scores were assigned to lung ultrasonography, pharyngeal lymphoid hyperplasia (PLH), tracheal mucus (TM) and tracheal bifurcation edema (TB)...
Donaldson MT, Jorgensen AJ, Beech J.To determine prevalence and clinical features of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID) in horses with laminitis. Methods: Case series. Methods: 40 horses with laminitis. Methods: Horses with laminitis that survived an initial episode of pain and were not receiving medications known to alter the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis were tested for PPID by evaluation of endogenous plasma ACTH concentration. Signalment, suspected cause, month of onset and duration of laminitis, Obel grade of lameness, pedal bone rotation, physical examination findings, results of endocrine function tests, t...
Chhabra S, Ranjan R, Uppal SK, Singla LD.This article communicates the first per-acute and fatal clinical report of transplacental transmission of Theileria equi from carrier mothers to foals from Punjab, India. Two cases of equine piroplasmosis due to T. equi were diagnosed in neonatal foals borne to Throughbred mares. High degree of parasitemia with annular and maltese cross shaped parasites in erythrocytes was seen in both cases. Blood cellular changes revealed leucopenia and neutropenia with mild degenerative left shift. Anaemia was macrocytic normochromic type. Intense yellow discoloration of mucous membranes indicated jaundice....
Hausberger M, Lerch N, Guilbaud E, Stomp M, Grandgeorge M, Henry S, Lesimple C.Although the question of animal welfare has been an important source of concern in the scientific community for several decades, many aspects are still under debate. On-farm assessments have to be rapid, acceptable to farmers and safe for both the assessors and animals. They are thus very demanding, with multiple decisions to make, such as the choice of appropriate indicators, sampling methods and scoring. Research has moved from resource-based to animal-based criteria, which reflects the subjective welfare state of an animal rather than relying upon external indices. In the present review, we...
Hassan AA, Ulbegi-Mohyla H, Kanbar T, Alber J, Lämmler C, Abdulmawjood A, Zschöck M, Weiss R.The present study was designed to characterize phenotypically and genotypically seven Arcanobacterium haemolyticum strains obtained from infections of six horses. All seven strains showed the cultural and biochemical properties typical of A. haemolyticum and were susceptible to most of the antibiotics tested. The species identification could be confirmed by amplification and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and the 16S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer region and by PCR amplification of species-specific parts of the gene encoding phospholipase D in A. haemolyticum. Use of the latter could possibly imp...
Sears KP, Knowles DP, Fry LM.The global importance of the hemoparasite to equine health was recently shown by its resistance to imidocarb dipropionate (ID) and its interference with clearance by ID in some co-infected horses. Genetic characterization of revealed marked genomic reduction compared to , and initial experiments demonstrated reduced clinical severity in spleen-intact horses. Furthermore, in early experiments, splenectomized horses survived infection and progressed to an asymptomatic carrier state, in stark contrast to the high fatality rate of in splenectomized horses. Thus, we hypothesized that is less ...
Munsters CC, de Gooijer JW, van den Broek J, van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.Heart rate (HR), HR variability (HRV) and behaviour score (BS) of nine horses were evaluated during an eight-hour air transport between The Netherlands and New York. HR and HRV parameters were calculated every five minutes during the air transport. Compared with transit (40±3), mean HRs were higher during loading into the jet stall (67±21, P<0.001), loading into the aircraft (47±6, P=0.011), taxiing (50±8, P=0.001), and during periods of in-flight turbulence (46±7, P=0.017). During the flight, individual horses showed differences in mean HR (P=0.005) and peak HR (P<0.001). By contra...
Pusterla N, Madigan JE, Chae JS, DeRock E, Johnson E, Pusterla JB.We report successful helminthic transmission of Ehrlichia risticii, the causative agent of Potomac horse fever, using trematode stages collected from Juga yrekaensis snails. The ehrlichial agent was isolated from the blood of experimentally infected horses by culture in murine monocytic cells and identified as E. risticii ultrastructurally and by characterization of three different genes.
Watanabe T, Hosaka Y, Yamamoto E, Ueda H, Sugawara K, Takahashi H, Takehana K.The distribution pattern of collagen fibril diameter in the equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is known to differ in central and peripheral areas of some regions. This study reports the essence of collagen fibril differences among different regions of the equine SDFT by transmission electron microscopic (TEM) and high-voltage electron microscopic observations and biochemical analysis. The distribution of large collagen fibrils increased but the density of collagen fibrils decreased from the proximal metacarpal region to the distal metacarpal region. Large collagen fibrils with an ...
Bischofberger AS, Konar M, Ohlerth S, Geyer H, Lang J, Ueltschi G, Lischer CJ.The diagnosis of lameness caused by proximal metacarpal and metatarsal pain can be challenging. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers the possibility for further diagnosis but there have been no studies on the normal MRI appearance of the origin of the suspensory ligament (OSL) in conjunction with ultrasonography and histology. Objective: To describe the MRI appearance of the OSL in fore- and hindlimbs of sound horses and compare it to the ultrasonographic and histological appearance. The findings can be used as reference values to recognise pathology in the OSL. Methods: The OSL in the fore...
Suagee JK, Corl BA, Crisman MV, Wearn JG, McCutcheon LJ, Geor RJ.The lipogenic capacities of equine liver and adipose tissue explants were investigated in vitro. Preference for glucose or acetate as the primary carbon source for de novo fatty acid synthesis was determined using (14)C labeled substrates. Additional aims included determining the relative contribution of NADPH generating pathways to reducing equivalent generation and comparing the lipogenic activity of two adipose depots, mesenteric and subcutaneous harvested from the crest region of the neck. Mesenteric adipose tissue had greater lipogenic activity than subcutaneous adipose tissue, and liver ...
Corbett CJ, Love S, Moore A, Burden FA, Matthews JB, Denwood MJ.The level of anthelmintic resistance within some cyathostomin parasite populations has increased to the level where sole reliance on anthelmintic-based control protocols is not possible. Management-based nematode control methods, including removal of faeces from pasture, are widely recommended for use in association with a reduction in anthelmintic use to reduce selection pressure for drug resistance; however, very little work has been performed to quantitatively assess the effectiveness of such methods. Methods: We analysed data obtained from 345 donkeys at The Donkey Sanctuary (Devon, UK), m...
Barquero N, Daly JM, Newton JR.Between March and May 2003, clinical equine influenza was confirmed among vaccinated racehorses in Newmarket, UK. A particular feature was that 2-year-old horses were apparently less susceptible than older animals. Statistical analyses comparing infected and non-infected animals showed the unusual, apparently counter-intuitive inverse age effect was principally explained by more recent vaccination among younger animals, despite broadly equivalent antibody levels between age groups. There was novel evidence for sexual dimorphism in susceptibility to infection and data supported the hypothesis t...
Youngner JS, Whitaker-Dowling P, Chambers TM, Rushlow KE, Sebring R.To develop and characterize a cold-adapted live attenuated equine-2 influenza virus effective as an intranasal vaccine. Methods: 8 ponies approximately 18 months of age. Methods: A wild-type equine-2 virus, A/Equine/Kentucky/1/91 (H3N8), was serially passaged in embryonated chicken eggs at temperatures gradually reduced in a stepwise manner from 34 C to 30 C to 28 C to 26 C. At different passages, infected allantoic fluids were tested for the ability of progeny virus to replicate in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells at 34 C and 39.5 C. Virus clones that replicated at 26 C in eggs and at 3...
Malik CL, Stover SM, Martin RB, Gibeling JC.Previous studies of the fracture properties of cortical bone have suggested that the fracture toughness increases with crack length, which is indicative of rising R-curve behavior. Based on this indirect evidence and the similarity of bone to ceramic matrix composites, we hypothesized that bone would exhibit rising R-curve behavior in the transverse orientation and that the characteristics of the R-curves would be regionally dependent within the cortex due to variations in bone microstructure and toughening mechanisms. To test these hypotheses, we conducted R-curve experiments on specimens fro...
Santos EM, Paula JF, Motta PM, Heinemann MB, Leite RC, Haddad JP, Del Puerto HL, Reis JK.We compared three different protocols for DNA extraction from horse peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and lung fragments, determining average final DNA concentration, purity, percentage of PCR amplification using beta-actin, and cost. Thirty-four samples from PBMC, and 33 samples from lung fragments were submitted to DNA extraction by three different protocols. Protocol A consisted of a phenol-chloroform and isoamylic alcohol extraction, Protocol B used alkaline extraction with NaOH, and Protocol C used the DNAzol((R)) reagent kit. Protocol A was the best option for DNA extraction from...
Parkes RSV, Weller R, Pfau T, Witte TH.Objective gait monitoring is increasingly accessible to trainers. A more comprehensive understanding of 'normal' gait adaptations is required. Forty two-year-old thoroughbred racehorses were recruited when entering training and followed for 22 months. Gait analysis was performed by equipping each horse with an inertial measurement unit with inbuilt GPS (GPS-IMU) mounted on the dorsum. Horses were exercised as per their regular training regimen. Data were analysed using a linear mixed model. For two-year-old horses, there was a non-linear pattern of stride duration (SD) over time ( < 0.001) ...
Bühler M, Fürst A, Lewis FI, Kummer M, Ohlerth S.Computed tomographic (CT) studies evaluating the relevance of individual CT features of apical infection in maxillary cheek teeth are lacking. Objective: To study the prevalence and relationship of single CT features in horses with and without clinical evidence of apical infection in maxillary cheek teeth. Methods: Retrospective case-control study. Methods: Multislice CT scans of the head of 49 horses were evaluated retrospectively. Changes of the infundibulum, pulp, root, lamina dura, periodontal space and alveolar bone in maxillary cheek teeth were recorded. Results: Single CT changes were m...
Schnabel CL, Wimer CL, Perkins G, Babasyan S, Freer H, Watts C, Rollins A, Osterrieder N, Wagner B.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) induces respiratory infection, abortion, and neurologic disease with significant impact. Virulence factors contributing to infection and immune evasion are of particular interest. A potential virulence factor of the neuropathogenic EHV-1 strain Ab4 is ORF2. This study on 24 Icelandic horses, 2 to 4 years of age, describes the infection with EHV-1 Ab4, or its deletion mutant devoid of ORF2 (Ab4ΔORF2) compared to non-infected controls (each group n = 8). The horses' clinical presentation, virus shedding, viremia, antibody and cellular immune responses were...
Barneveld A, van Weeren PR.This paper summarises and interrelates the findings of a large-scale multidisciplinary investigation to assess the influence of exercise on the development of the equine musculoskeletal system in general and of osteochondrosis in particular, up to age 5 months. Forty-three foals, genetically predisposed to develop OC, were divided into 3 exercise groups: box-rest, box-rest with training and free pasture exercise. At 5 months, all foals were weaned and 8 foals per group were subjected to euthanasia for postmortem examination. The remaining 19 foals were placed together and subjected to euthanas...
Coverdale JA.Intensive management practices in the horse industry present a unique challenge to the microbiome of the large intestine. Common management practices such as high-concentrate diets, low forage quality, meal feeding, and confinement housing have an impact on intestinal function, specifically large intestinal fermentation. The microbiome of the equine large intestine is a complex and diverse ecosystem, and disruption of microbiota and their environment can lead to increased incidence of gastrointestinal disorder. Digestion in the horse can be improved through a variety of approaches such as feed...
Gasser RB, Stevenson LA, Chilton NB, Nansen P, Bucknell DG, Beveridge I.Five species of equine strongyle belonging to the subfamily Strongylinae (Strongylus edentatus, S. equinus, S. vulgaris, Oesophagodontus robustus and Triodontophorus serratus) and 11 species belonging to the subfamily Cyathostominae (Poteriostomum imparidentatum, P. ratzii, Cylicocyclus insignis, Cc. leptostomus, Cc. nassatus, Cylicostephanus calicatus, Cs. longibursatus, Cs. goldi, Cyathostomum catinatum, Cy. labiatum and Cy. pateratum) were characterized using a polymerase chain reaction-linked restriction fragment length polymorphism technique (PCR-RFLP). Internal transcribed spacer ribosom...
Kennedy CA, Walsh C, Karczmarczyk M, O'Brien S, Akasheh N, Quirke M, Farrell-Ward S, Buckley T, Fogherty U, Kavanagh K, Parker CT, Sweeney T....Extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli (ExPEC) possess the ability to cause extraintestinal infections such as urinary tract infections, neonatal meningitis and sepsis. While information is readily available describing pathogenic E. coli populations in food-producing animals, studies in companion/sports animals such as horses are limited. In addition, many antimicrobial agents used in the treatment of equine infections are also utilised in human medicine, potentially contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance determinants among pathogenic strains. The aim of this study was to phenotypical...
Maclellan LJ, Carnevale EM, Coutinho da Silva MA, Scoggin CF, Bruemmer JE, Squires EL.The objectives were to compare embryo development rates after transfer into inseminated recipients, vitrified thawed oocytes collected from super-stimulated versus non-stimulated mares. In vivo matured oocytes were collected by transvaginal, ultrasound guided follicular aspiration from super-stimulated and non-stimulated mares 24-26 h after administration of hCG. Oocytes were cultured for 2-4 h prior to vitrification. Cryoprotectants were loaded in three steps before oocytes were placed onto a 0.5-0.7 mm diameter nylon cryoloop and plunged directly into liquid nitrogen. Oocytes were thawed and...
Connysson M, Essén-Gustavsson B, Lindberg JE, Jansson A.A higher forage allowance to athletic horses might be an alternative to increase health and the gut fluid reservoir. However, more forage might increase bodyweight (bwt) and could therefore be a limitation during competition. Objective: To investigate the effect of a forage-only diet (FD) compared to a 50:50 (dry matter basis) forage:oats diet (OD) on bwt, plasma protein concentration and some metabolic plasma parameters during 12 h of feed deprivation. Methods: Twelve adult Standardbred horses in training were used. The 2 diets were fed in 2 experimental periods of 3 weeks each in a crossover...
Boldbaatar D, Xuan X, Battsetseg B, Igarashi I, Battur B, Batsukh Z, Bayambaa B, Fujisaki K.The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the occurrence of equine piroplasmosis in Mongolia, a country in which the disease occurs epidemically in different climatic conditions. Antibodies to Babesia equi and B. caballi were determined in serum samples of 254 pastured horses in different locations of Mongolia using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with recombinant antigens. One hundred and eighty-five (72.8%) and 102 (40.1%) of all serum samples were positive for B. equi and B. caballi infections, respectively. In addition, 78 (30.7%) samples were positive for both B. equi and B. cabal...
Nergadze SG, Belloni E, Piras FM, Khoriauli L, Mazzagatti A, Vella F, Bensi M, Vitelli V, Giulotto E, Raimondi E.Centromeres are the sites of kinetochore assembly and spindle fiber attachment and consist of protein-DNA complexes in which the DNA component is typically characterized by the presence of extended arrays of tandem repeats called satellite DNA. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of a 137-bp-long new satellite DNA sequence from the horse genome (EC137), which is also present, even if less abundant, in the domestic donkey, the Grevy's zebra and the Burchelli's zebra. We investigated the chromosomal distribution of the EC137 sequence in these 4 species. Moreover, we analyzed its...
Huang W, Yaraghi NA, Yang W, Velazquez-Olivera A, Li Z, Ritchie RO, Kisailus D, Stover SM, McKittrick J.The equine hoof has been considered as an efficient energy absorption layer that protects the skeletal elements from impact when galloping. In the present study, the hierarchical structure of a fresh equine hoof wall and the energy absorption mechanisms are investigated. Tubules are found embedded in the intertubular matrix forming the hoof wall at the microscale. Both tubules and intertubular areas consist of keratin cells, in which keratin crystalline intermediate filaments (IFs) and amorphous keratin fill the cytoskeletons. Cell sizes, shapes and IF fractions are different between tubular a...
Monreal L, Anglés A, Espada Y, Monasterio J, Monreal M.Changes in haemostasis in horses with colic were assessed by using specific and sensitive markers of coagulation and fibrinolysis activity. Blood samples from 41 horses with severe colic and from 30 healthy control horses were tested. Diagnosis of DIC was based on the findings of at least 3 of 6 abnormalities: thrombocytopenia, prolonged clotting times (PT and APTT), increased polyclonal FDPs, decreased fibrinogen and decreased AT-III activity. Plasma thrombin-antithrombin III complexes (TAT), monoclonal fibrin degradation products fragment D (D-dimer) and monoclonal fibrinogen degradation pro...
Takai S, Ohkura H, Watanabe Y, Tsubaki S.Quantitative aspects of fecal Rhodococcus (Corynebacterium) equi in newborn foals for 12 weeks after birth were investigated on two horse breeding farms. R. equi was found in the feces of foals during week 1 of life. The greatest numbers of R. equi were present in the feces of foals during the first 8 weeks of their lives, which coincides with the age when foals are most liable to be exposed to R. equi.
