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.
Dell AC, Curry MC, Yarnell KM, Starbuck GR, Wilson PB.Genetic diversity and maternal ancestry line relationships amongst a sample of 96 Cleveland Bay horses were investigated using a 479bp length of mitochondrial D-loop sequence. The analysis yielded at total of 11 haplotypes with 27 variable positions, all of which have been described in previous equine mitochondrial DNA d-loop studies. Four main haplotype clusters were present in the Cleveland Bay breed describing 89% of the total sample. This suggests that only four principal maternal ancestry lines exist in the present-day global Cleveland Bay population. Comparison of these sequences with ot...
Benvegnen J, De Breuyn B, Gerber V, Rottenberg S, Koch C.The aim of the study was to assess the expression of the immune checkpoint inhibitor programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) in equine sarcoids (ES). Programmed death-ligand 1 is expressed by various cancer cells to block T cell-mediated elimination of tumor cells. Antibodies targeting human PD-L1 were tested by immunohistochemistry for their cross-reactivity with equine PD-L1 using formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. Our results do not support an important role of PD-L1-mediated immune evasion in ES disease and hence do not offer a rationale for anti-PD-1/PD-L1-based immunotherapy against ES...
Mayaki AM, Abdul Razak IS, Adzahan NM, Mazlan M, Rasedee A.The clinical presentation of horses with back pain (BP) vary considerably with most horse's willingness to take part in athletic or riding purpose becoming impossible. However, there are some clinical features that are directly responsible for the loss or failure of performance. Objective: To investigate the clinical features of the thoracolumbar region associated with BP in horses and to use some of the clinical features to classify equine BP. Methods: Twenty-four horses comprised of 14 with BP and 10 apparently healthy horses were assessed for clinical abnormality that best differentiate BP ...
Xing J, Liu G, Zhang X, Bai D, Yu J, Li L, Wang X, Su S, Zhao Y, Bou G, Dugarjaviin M.The community of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract of monogastric herbivores played critical roles in the absorption of nutrients and keeping the host healthy. However, its establishment at different age groups has not been quantitatively and functionally examined. The knowledge of microbial colonization and its function in the intestinal tract of different-age donkeys is still limited. By applying the V3-V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and functional prediction on fecal samples from different-age donkeys, we characterized the gut microbiota during the different age...
Esteller-Vico A, Ball BA, Bridges JW, Hughes SE, Squires EL, Troedsson MHT.Reproductive steroids testosterone (T) and estrone sulfate (E1S) are used as diagnostic markers for cryptorchidism in horses. The human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) stimulation test is used as a diagnostic aid because administration of this hormone results in greater incremental differences in circulating steroid concentrations. Thoughts regarding optimal sampling times following hCG administration, however, are inconsistent. Additionally, determination of half-life of these steroids is important in postsurgical samples to confirm complete removal of testicular tissue. Objectives of this study...
Easton-Jones CA, Estell KE, Magdesian KG.Information concerning clinical presentation, conditions associated with immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia (IMHA) and thrombocytopenia (IMTP) and outcome in equids is lacking. Previous case reports suggest that immune-mediated disease and neoplasia are associated. Objective: Characterise the clinical presentation, clinicopathologic data, underlying conditions, treatment and outcome of IMHA and IMTP cases in equids. We hypothesise that IMHA with concurrent thrombocytopenia occurs more often than IMHA or IMTP alone, and that neoplasia is commonly associated with these immune diseases and cases ...
Farchati H, Merlin A, Saussac M, Dornier X, Dhollande M, Garon D, Tapprest J, Sala C.Accurate demographic knowledge of the equine population is needed to assess and model equine health events. France is one of the few European countries with an operational centralized database (SIRE) recording individual data on all declared equines living in France and on their owners and keepers. Our study aimed to assess SIRE database quality concerning the updating of information by equine owners and keepers with a view to its improvement and use in surveillance and research. Two online surveys were conducted with the participation of 6244 registered keepers and 13,869 owners. Results show...
Carslake HB, Pinchbeck GL, McGowan CM.The epidemiology of equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is poorly described. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of EMS in native UK ponies and cobs in England and Wales and identify associated risk factors. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: Breeders registered with UK native pony breed societies and registered riding schools and livery yards within a set radius were invited to participate. All native UK ponies and cobs aged 3-14 years and not diagnosed or being treated for conditions likely to affect insulin regulation at participating premises were eligible. Animals underwent a clinica...
Mitchell KJ, Schwarzwald CC.Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis has been performed on ECG-derived data sets for more than 170 years but is currently undergoing a rapid evolution, thanks to the expansion of the human and veterinary medical technology sector. Traditional HRV analysis was initially performed to identify changes in vago-sympathetic balance, while the most recent focus has expanded to include the use of complex computer algorithms, neural networks and machine learning technology to identify cardiac arrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation (AF). Some of these techniques have recently been translated for...
Zilch TJ, Lee JJ, Bressan GC, McDonough SP, Mohammed HO, Divers TJ, Chang YF.The current gold standard diagnostic test for leptospirosis is the microscopic agglutination test (MAT), which has many drawbacks; therefore, the development of a better and easier serological test for leptospirosis is needed. Objective: To apply reverse vaccinology (RV) and antigenic selection on the assortment of leptospiral targets and evaluate their potential for use as reagents for the diagnosis of equine leptospirosis. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: The antigenic selection parameters were: proteins with antigenicity score ≥0.5 (VaxiJen), at least one B cell epitope and size b...
Khusro A, Aarti C, Buendía-Rodriguez G, Arasu MV, Al-Dhabi NA, Barbabosa-Pliego A.Antibiotics-based therapy plays a paramount role in equine medicine because of their potential pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics properties. Conventional antibiotics show bacteriostatic and bactericidal properties by interfering bacterial cell wall and protein synthesis as well as inhibiting RNA polymerase, DNase 1, and DNA gyrase. Antibiotics are extensively used not only for the treatment of varied bacterial infections but also the prevention of postoperative and secondary infections. Surprisingly, antibiotics such as sulfonamides or trimethoprim/sulfonamide combinations, benzylpenicilli...
Alling CR, Cremer J, Liu CC, Lewin AC, Camacho-Luna P, Carter RT.To evaluate changes in intraocular pressure (IOP) with variable head position in healthy, anesthetized horses in hoisted inversion and to assess the influence of various cofactors (age, sex, body weight, body condition score, and neck length) on IOP changes during hoisting. Methods: Seventeen healthy adult horses without significant ocular abnormalities. Methods: Subjects were administered intravenous xylazine/butorphanol premedication and ketamine/midazolam induction with xylazine/ketamine boluses for anesthetic maintenance. While hoisted, IOP was measured in triplicate for each eye via rebou...
Villa-Mancera A, Aldeco-Pérez M, Molina-Mendoza P, Hernández-Guzmán K, Figueroa-Castillo JA, Reynoso-Palomar A.The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) in horses, donkeys and mules and its associations with age, sex and climatic factors (derived from satellite data) to identify the potential risk factors of different climate regions in four Mexican states. From May 2017 to April 2018, a total of 560 farm owners or managers answered the questionnaire, and the data were used to establish three Köppen climate classes (tropical, dry, temperate). The overall prevalence of GIN parasites in equines was 77.9% (436 out of 560). The highest percentage of GIN wa...
Kang H, Zsoldos RR, Woldeyohannes SM, Gaughan JB, Sole Guitart A.Accurately measuring body temperature in horses will improve the management of horses suffering from or being at risk of developing postrace exertional heat illness. PTSM has the potential for measuring body temperature accurately, safely, rapidly, and noninvasively. This study was undertaken to investigate the relation between the core body temperature and PTSM temperatures prior to, during, and immediately after exercise. The microchips were implanted into the nuchal ligament, the right splenius, gluteal, and pectoral muscles, and these locations were then compared with the central venous te...
Akter R, Sansom FM, El-Hage CM, Gilkerson JR, Legione AR, Devlin JM. is primarily a pathogen of birds but can also cause disease in other species. Equine reproductive loss caused by has recently been identified in Australia where cases of human disease were also reported in individuals exposed to foetal membranes from an ill neonatal foal in New South Wales. The prevalence of in association with equine reproductive over time and in different regions of Australia is not known. This study was conducted to detect in equine abortion cases in Australia using archived samples spanning 25 years. We tested for in 600 equine abortion cases reported in Australia ...
Yu L, Wei Y, Sun HX, Mahdi AK, Pinzon Arteaga CA, Sakurai M, Schmitz DA, Zheng C, Ballard ED, Li J, Tanaka N, Kohara A, Okamura D, Mutto AA, Gu Y....Dynamic pluripotent stem cell (PSC) states are in vitro adaptations of pluripotency continuum in vivo. Previous studies have generated a number of PSCs with distinct properties. To date, however, no known PSCs have demonstrated dual competency for chimera formation and direct responsiveness to primordial germ cell (PGC) specification, a unique functional feature of formative pluripotency. Here, by modulating fibroblast growth factor (FGF), transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), and WNT pathways, we derived PSCs from mice, horses, and humans (designated as XPSCs) that are permissive for dire...
Sears WJ, Qvarnstrom Y, Dahlstrom E, Snook K, Kaluna L, Baláž V, Feckova B, Šlapeta J, Modry D, Jarvi S, Nutman TB.Angiostrongylus cantonensis (Ac), or the rat lungworm, is a major cause of eosinophilic meningitis. Humans are infected by ingesting the 3rd stage larvae from primary hosts, snails, and slugs, or paratenic hosts. The currently used molecular test is a qPCR assay targeting the ITS1 rDNA region (ITS1) of Ac. In silico design of a more sensitive qPCR assay was performed based on tandem repeats predicted to be the most abundant by the RepeatExplorer algorithm. Genomic DNA (gDNA) of Ac were used to determine the analytical sensitivity and specificity of the best primer/probe combination. This assay...
Gethmann D.In the early twentieth century, counting and speaking horses, like the famous Clever Hans or the "Horses of Elberfeld," became widely debated subjects in experimental psychology. The idea was to determine whether their learning success was only a fraud, or if it might open up a new chapter in "animal psychology" - or even belong to the realm of parapsychology and telepathy. When their tricks were discovered, the teachers of the animals were marked as charlatans. Both the attempts to detect charlatans and the efforts to avoid this accusation during the talking horse experiments proceeded using ...
Fries RC, Clark-Price SC, Kadotani S, Stack JP, Schaeffer DJ, Lascola KM.To compare measurements of left ventricular volume and function derived from 2-D transthoracic echocardiography (2DE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and the ultrasound velocity dilution cardiac output method (UDCO) with those derived from cardiac MRI (cMRI) in healthy neonatal foals. Methods: 6 healthy 1-week-old Standardbred foals. Methods: Foals were anesthetized and underwent 2DE, TEE, and cMRI; UDCO was performed simultaneously with 2DE. Images acquired by 2DE included the right parasternal 4-chamber (R4CH), left apical 4- and 2-chamber (biplane), and right parasternal short-axis...
Oertly M, Gerber V, Anhold H, Chan DS, Pusterla N.Transportation of sporthorses increases their susceptibility to infectious diseases. Before, caretakers relied on rectal temperature together with their clinical impression to detect travel-associated infections. This study's aim was to assess and compare serum amyloid A (SAA) to rectal temperature as an indicator of early inflammation in sporthorses after air transportation. One hundred and twenty-two Warmblood horses were followed during the Longines Global Champions Tour 2016 to three destinations where the horses flew to compete. Clinical health checks and SAA measurements were performed b...
Hippotherapy (HT) is a rehabilitative tool inducing psychological and motor improvements using human-horse interaction. HT provides sensory stimulation to the rider through the rhythmic and repetitive movements of the horse, facilitating communication between patients and healthcare professionals, favoring the establishment of a therapeutic alliance. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the effects of HT treatment on cognitive-behavioral processes in neurodevelopmental disorders. We screened studies published between 2002 and 2020 on PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, and Web of Sciences databases...
Kowalik S, Wiśniewska A, Kędzierski W, Janczarek I.Skeletal muscle is considered to be the largest endocrine organ determining the maintenance of energy homeostasis. Adaptive changes in skeletal muscles in response to physical exercise influence the production as well as secretion of myokines, which are bioactive factors that play a crucial role in energy expenditure processes. The aim of the study was to investigate the impact of two different types of exercise on the circulating level of two of these, myostatin and irisin, in trained horses. Twenty purebred Arabian horses were involved in the study: 10 three-year-old horses trained on the ra...
Okada CTC, Kaps M, Perez Quesada J, Gautier C, Aurich J, Aurich C.Spontaneous prolongation of the luteal phase has been described in horses, but the underlying causes are still unclear. The present study investigated details of gonadotrophin and progestogen secretion in pregnant mares (n = 11) with or without experimentally reduced early postovulatory luteal function. From days 0 to 3 after ovulation, they were treated with the prostaglandin F (PGF) analogue cloprostenol or left untreated. After conceptus collection on day 34, they were assigned to the opposite treatment. Mares were affiliated to the group primary corpus luteum (n = 6) or diestrous corpus lu...
Raś A, Otrocka-Domagała I, Raś-Noryńska M.Genital malignant neoplasms in mares are relatively rare. The treatment involve surgical removal of the tumour masses, chemotherapy or both. Methods: Two elderly warmblood mares, aged 16 and 20 were presented in University Clinic with the lumpy lesions at the region of perineum and left labia. Surgical removals of tumour masses were performed on standing animals. Removed tissues were subjected to histopathological examination which confirmed SCC. Conclusions: Clinical and ultrasound examination of reproductive organs in both mares showed no inflammatory or neoplastic changes. Both mares healed...
Sembratowicz I, Zięba G, Cholewinska E, Czech A.This study compared the effect of two dietary vegetable oils on plasma biochemical indices, haematological parameters, and redox status of horses. Forty riding horses (20 mares and 20 stallions) of the Malopolski breed were divided equally into two groups that were similar in terms of age, sex, and body weight (on average 530 ± 30 kg). The horses received soybean oil (SO) or flaxseed oil (FO) in the amount of 25 mL per 100 kg BW/day. After 60 days, blood was collected for biochemical and haematological analyses. The results show that horses receiving FO as compared to the SO group had signifi...
Hisey EA, Hermans H, Lounsberry ZT, Avila F, Grahn RA, Knickelbein KE, Duward-Akhurst SA, McCue ME, Kalbfleisch TS, Lassaline ME, Back W, Bellone RR.Distichiasis, an ocular disorder in which aberrant cilia (eyelashes) grow from the opening of the Meibomian glands of the eyelid, has been reported in Friesian horses. These misplaced cilia can cause discomfort, chronic keratitis, and corneal ulceration, potentially impacting vision due to corneal fibrosis, or, if secondary infection occurs, may lead to loss of the eye. Friesian horses represent the vast majority of reported cases of equine distichiasis, and as the breed is known to be affected with inherited monogenic disorders, this condition was hypothesized to be a simply inherited Mendeli...
A human-animal relationship can be developed through subsequent interactions, affected by the positive or negative emotional valence of the proceeding one. Horses implement a process of categorization to classify humans with whom they interact as positive, negative, or neutral stimuli by evaluating the kind of approach and the nature of the contact. In these terms, human-animal interactions are emotionally charged events, eliciting specific emotional states in both subjects involved. Although the human-horse relationship has been mainly investigated through behavioral analysis, physiological i...
Haseler CJ, Jarvis GE, McGovern KF.Intrasynovial corticosteroid injections are commonly used in the treatment of equine orthopaedic disease, but corticosteroid administration is widely considered a risk factor for the development of laminitis. Despite a list of putative mechanisms and a number of case reports of steroid-induced laminitis, no case-control or cohort studies investigating the association between use of intrasynovial corticosteroids and acute laminitis have been published. Objective: To quantify the risk of laminitis posed by intrasynovial triamcinolone acetonide (TA) administration in a mixed population of horses....
Hernández-Avilés C, Ramírez-Agámez L, Love CC, Friedrich M, Pearson M, Kelley DE, Beckham AMN, Teague SR, LaCaze KA, Brinsko SP, Varner DD.Under in vitro conditions, stallion sperm might preferentially use energy substrates that primarily undergo mitochondrial metabolism. The present study sought to determine the effects of glucose, pyruvate, lactate, or their combinations on the quality of stallion sperm subjected to cooled storage at different temperatures, when using a skim milk-based semen extender. In Experiment 1, no substrate (Control), glucose (40 mM; Glu-40), pyruvate (2 mM, 19.8 mM; Pyr-2, Pyr-19), lactate (2 mM, 19.8 mM; Lac-2, Lac-19, respectively), or their combinations (G/P/L-2 or G/P/L-19, respectively) were ...
Ramzan PH, Powell SE.Sagittal fracture of the proximal phalanx (P1) is an important musculoskeletal injury of the performance horse. Although widely considered to be monotonic in nature, there is emerging evidence that some P1 fractures may have stress-injury aetiology. Three cases are described in which imaging features found were suggestive of prodromal bone injury. All cases returned to full performance use after a period of rest. The authors conclude that it is possible that some P1 fractures in the Thoroughbred racehorse may develop through stress/fatigue injury pathways. It is proposed that intervention prio...
Tyler-McGowan CM, Golland LC, Evans DL, Hodgson DR, Rose RJ.We sought a physiological marker of overtraining in horses, using commonly practised field and laboratory tests to allow early prediction and treatment of the syndrome. Thirteen Standardbred horses were trained as follows: phase 1 (endurance, 7 weeks), phase 2 (high intensity, 9 weeks) and phase 3 (overload, 18 weeks). In phase 3 the horses were divided into 2 groups: overload training (OLT) and control (C). The OLT group exercised at greater intensities, frequencies and durations than the C group. Overtraining occurred after 31 weeks and was defined as a significant decrease in treadmill run ...
Murru F, Fliegerova K, Mura E, Mrázek J, Kopečný J, Moniello G.The diversity of the methanogenic archaea associated with the six segments of the horse and donkey hindgut (caecum, right ventral colon, left ventral colon, left dorsal colon, right dorsal colon, and rectum) was analyzed using 16S rDNA gene clone library. A total of 641 positive clones, 321 from the horse and 320 from the donkey hindgut, were examined by the RFLP, revealing 9 different ribotypes, 8 in the horse and 5 in the donkey hindgut. In both the animals Methanobacteriales (Methanobrevibacter-like sequences) and Methanomicrobiales (Methanocorpusculum-like sequences) were detected as the d...
Grzyb J, Podstawski Z, Bulski K.Keeping horses in good condition requires providing them with living conditions that meet welfare requirements. These animals should be accommodated with suitable space, access to high nutritional fodder and water, and a suitable microclimate in their shelters. When it comes to the environment in the stables, a serious problem is created by particulate matter (PM), which consists of bacteria. PM concentration may be responsible for developing multiple lower respiratory tract diseases in horses, including allergies and recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). In turn, these ailments may lead to decr...
Fruehwirth B, Peham C, Scheidl M, Schobesberger H.Basic information about the influence of a rider on the equine back is currently lacking. Objective: That pressure distribution under a saddle is different between the walk, trot and canter. Methods: Twelve horses without clinical signs of back pain were ridden. At least 6 motion cycles at walk, trot and canter were measured kinematically. Using a saddle pad, the pressure distribution was recorded. The maximum overall force (MOF) and centre of pressure (COP) were calculated. The range of back movement was determined from a marker placed on the withers. Results: MOF and COP showed a consistent ...
Ozaki H, Sugiura T, Sugita S, Imagawa H, Kida H.Antibodies to the nonstructural protein (NS1) of A/equine/Miami/1/63 (H3N8) influenza virus were detected exclusively in the sera of mice experimentally infected with A/Aichi/2/68 (H3N2) and horses infected with A/equine/Kentucky/1/81 (H3N8) or A/equine/La Plata/1/93 (H3N8), but not in those of the animals immunized with the inactivated viruses, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a recombinant NS1 as antigen. The results indicate that the present method is useful for serological diagnosis to distinguish horses infected with equine H3 influenza viruses from those immunized with ...
Physick-Sheard PW, Avison A, Chappell E, MacIver M.The Province of Ontario maintains a registry of racehorse deaths occurring within 60 days of a race or trial entry that provides insight into mortality rates and costs of competition. Objective: To characterise and quantify mortality and identify breed differences. Methods: Retrospective annualised cohort study. Methods: The Ontario Death Registry for 2003-2015, containing 1713 cases, was audited and information on the relationship between death and official work added. Race and trial data from industry performance databases were used to determine mortality rates according to breed, year, age...
Ortega-Ferrusola C, Martin Muñoz P, Ortiz-Rodriguez JM, Anel-López L, Balao da Silva C, Álvarez M, de Paz P, Tapia JA, Anel L, Silva-Rodríguez A....We hypothesized that thiols and particularly glutathione (GSH) are essential for the regulation of stallion sperm functionality. To test this hypothesis, we initially investigated the relationship between sperm function and GSH content, revealing highly significant correlations between GSH, sperm viability, motility, and velocity parameters (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the deleterious effects of GSH depletion using menadione and 1,3 dimethoxy 1,4, naphtoquinone (DMNQ) were able to be prevented by the addition of cysteine, but no other antioxidant. Pre-incubation with cysteine prevented menad...
Mann RA, Fegan M, O'Riley K, Motha J, Warner S.Virus was detected in the central nervous system (CNS) tissue of 11 horses from Victoria that died displaying neurological symptoms during an outbreak of disease in Australia in 2011. Five horses were identified as being infected with Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) and 6 as being infected with West Nile virus subtype Kunjin (WNV(KUN)). Analysis of partial sequence information from the NS5 and E genes indicated that the MVEVs within the samples were highly homogenous and all belonged to lineage I, which is enzootic to the tropical regions of northern Australia. Likewise, analysis of pa...
Vidyashankar AN, Kaplan RM, Chan S.Resistance to anthelmintics in gastrointestinal nematodes of livestock is a serious problem and appropriate methods are required to identify and quantify resistance. However, quantification and assessment of resistance depend on an accurate measure of treatment efficacy, and current methodologies fail to properly address the issue. The fecal egg count reduction test (FECRT) is the practical gold standard for measuring anthelmintic efficacy on farms, but these types of data are fraught with high variability that greatly impacts the accuracy of inference on efficacy. This paper develops a statis...
van Loon G, Blissitt KJ, Keen JA, Young LE.It has been reported that i.v. flecainide has a high efficacy for the treatment of experimentally-induced acute atrial fibrillation (AF) in horses and that its use is associated with minimal toxic side effects. Objective: The objectives were to study the efficacy of i.v. flecainide as a treatment for atrial fibrillation in horses with naturally-occurring AF. Methods: Ten horses with naturally-occurring AF were treated with 2 mg/kg bwt flecainide i.v. at a rate of 0.2 mg/kg bwt/min. In 3 horses, the infusion was continued at 0.05-0.10 mg/kg bwt/min until a total dose of 3.0 mg/kg bwt had been a...
Akagami M, Shibahara T, Yoshiga T, Tanaka N, Yaguchi Y, Onuki T, Kondo T, Yamanaka T, Kubo M.A ten-year-old Shetland pony gelding showed low appetite, ataxia, peculiar swaying, clouding of consciousness, and ultimately died. At necropsy, multiple coalescing granulomatous foci were detected in the kidneys, and small necrotic lesions were found in the cerebellum. Histologic examination of the renal tissue sections revealed extensive granuloma, and Halicephalobus gingivalis-like nematodes were seen. Similar nematodes were found in the granulomatous or necrotic lesions of the renal lymph nodes and cerebellum, and were also frequently detected in cerebrospinal meningovascular lesions. Morp...
Giles C, Vanniasinkam T, Ndi S, Barton MD.For decades researchers have been targeting prevention of Rhodococcus equi (Rhodococcus hoagui/Prescottella equi) by vaccination and the horse breeding industry has supported the ongoing efforts by researchers to develop a safe and cost effective vaccine to prevent disease in foals. Traditional vaccines including live, killed and attenuated (physical and chemical) vaccines have proved to be ineffective and more modern molecular-based vaccines including the DNA plasmid, genetically attenuated and subunit vaccines have provided inadequate protection of foals. Newer, bacterial vector vaccines hav...
Kikuchi M, Nakano Y, Nambo Y, Haneda S, Matsui M, Miyake Y, Macleod JN, Nagaoka K, Imakawa K.A factor responsible for progression to pregnancy establishment in the mare has not been definitively characterized. To identify factors possibly involved in the establishment of equine pregnancy, the endometrium was collected from day 13 (day 0=day of ovulation) cyclic and day 13, 19 and 25 pregnant animals. From initial subtractive hybridization studies, a calcium regulating factor, Stanniocalcin-1 (STC1) mRNA, was found as a candidate molecule expressed uniquely in the pregnant endometrium. Endometrial expression of STC1 mRNA was noted on day 19 and was markedly increased in the day 25 grav...
Decloedt A, Verheyen T, Sys S, De Clercq D, van Loon G.The quantification of equine left ventricular (LV) function is generally limited to short-axis M-mode measurements. However, LV deformation is 3-dimensional (3D) and consists of longitudinal shortening, circumferential shortening, and radial thickening. In human medicine, longitudinal motion is the best marker of subtle myocardial dysfunction. Objective: To evaluate the feasibility and reliability of 2-dimensional speckle tracking (2DST) for quantifying equine LV longitudinal function. Methods: Ten healthy untrained trotter horses; 9.6 ± 4.4 years; 509 ± 58 kg. Methods: Prospective study. Re...
Lecoq L, Vincent P, Lavoie-Lamoureux A, Lavoie JP.Glucocorticoids have potent anti-inflammatory properties and are frequently used for the treatment of domestic animal species, including horses. They induce a down-regulation of multiple inflammatory pathways through both genomic and non-genomic effects. Currently, little is known on the effects of glucocorticoids on equine peripheral blood neutrophils. Objective: Dexamethasone (DEX), a potent synthetic glucocorticoid, inhibits the functions of equine peripheral blood neutrophils through both genomic and non-genomic effects. Methods: Six healthy adult mixed breed female horses. Methods: To ass...
Kannegieter NJ, Dore ML.Endoscopy of the upper respiratory tract was performed in 100 horses during high speed treadmill exercise. Reasons for endoscopy were a history of an abnormal noise during exercise in 75 horses, poor performance in 17 horses and to evaluate the results of upper respiratory tract surgery in 8 horses. Of the 75 horses with a history of an abnormal noise during exercise the cause was determined in 67 (89%). Endoscopic abnormalities were detected at rest in 40 of these 75 horses (53%). In these 40 horses, a similar diagnosis as to the cause of the abnormal noise was made at rest and during exercis...
Carossino M, Barrandeguy ME, Li Y, Parreño V, Janes J, Loynachan AT, Balasuriya UBR.Equine rotavirus A (ERVA) is the leading cause of diarrhea in neonatal foals and a major health problem to the equine breeding industry worldwide. The G3P[12] and G14P[12] ERVA genotypes are the most prevalent in foals with diarrhea. Control and prevention strategies include vaccination of pregnant mares with an inactivated vaccine containing a prototype ERVA G3P[12] strain with limited and controversial field efficacy. Here, we performed the molecular characterization of ERVA strains circulating in central Kentucky using fecal samples collected during the 2017 foaling season. The data indicat...
Serteyn D, Piquemal D, Vanderheyden L, Lejeune JP, Verwilghen D, Sandersen C.Osteochondrosis (OC) is a developmental disease that affects growing horses and that severely affects their ability to perform. The genetic basis of its pathogenesis is poorly understood. The aim of the study was to analyze the transcript profile of leukocytes from horses affected with OC. Two transcriptome libraries were constructed from leukocytes of OC-affected and non-OC-affected horses using digital gene expression analysis (DGE) and real-time PCR. Statistical analysis allowed selection of 1,008 tags upregulated in the non-OC-affected group and 1,545 tags upregulated in the OC-affected gr...
Pusterla N, Madigan JE, Leutenegger CM.The focus of rapid diagnosis of infectious disease of horses in the last decade has shifted from the conventional laboratory techniques of antigen detection, microscopy, and culture to molecular diagnosis of infectious agents. Equine practitioners must be able to interpret the use, limitations, and results of molecular diagnostic techniques, as they are increasingly integrated into routine microbiology laboratory protocols. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the best-known and most successfully implemented diagnostic molecular technology to date. It can detect slow-growing, difficult-to-cultiv...
Lai AC, Rogers KM, Glaser A, Tudor L, Chambers T.Phylogenetic and antigenic analyses indicate that recent circulating equine-2 influenza viruses in the United States have been alternating between two genetic and antigenic distinct lineages since 1996. The evolution rates for these two lineages, the Kentucky and the Florida lineage, are very similar. For the earlier isolates in the Kentucky lineage, there are multiple and sequential nonsynonymous substitutions at antigenic sites B and D. However, there are no changes at any of these antigenic sites for KY98 and OK00. In the Florida lineage, except for NY99 with one amino acid substitution at ...
Bartova E, Machacova T, Sedlak K, Budikova M, Mariani U, Veneziano V.The consumption of horse meat has been epidemiologically linked to clinical toxoplasmosis in humans and neosporosis that may cause clinical illness in horses. Here we determined seroprevalence of antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii Nicolle et Manceaux, 1908 and species of Neospora Dubey, Carpenter, Speer, Topper et Uggla, 1988 in horses from Italy. Blood samples were collected from 643 apparently healthy horses from 60 farms of 51 municipalities in southern Italy. The presence of antibodies against T. gondii and Neospora spp. were detected by indirect fluorescence antibody test (IFAT); a titr...
Mendoza FJ, Toribio RE, Perez-Ecija A.The donkey evolved under harsh and arid environmental conditions, developing unique energy-efficiency traits, with an efficiency to rapidly mobilize fat in situations of increased energy demands or when food is scarce. This evolution has led to an inherent predisposition of donkeys to obesity, dyslipidemias, insulin dysregulation/metabolic syndrome, pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, and endocrinopathic laminitis. Marked differences have been described in hormone dynamics and testing protocols for the diagnosis of these endocrine and metabolic diseases in donkeys compared with horses, unde...
Gehlen H, Schwarz B, Bartmann C, Gernhardt J, Stöckle SD.Appropriate medical care for donkeys is challenging despite being important working animals in non-industrialized countries and pets in first world countries. Although the same principles of diagnosis and therapy as in horses are commonly applied, there are differences in reference values and physiologic reaction to dynamic tests. However, donkeys seem to suffer from typical equine diseases, such as metabolic syndrome and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID). Asinine metabolic syndrome (AMS) comprises obesity, insulin dysregulation, and laminitis. The principles of diagnosis are simila...
Proudman CJ, Edwards GB.Faeces samples from 116 horses with colic and 115 non-colic cases were assayed by a centrifugation/floatation method for the presence of tapeworm eggs. Analysis of these data failed to demonstrate an association between tapeworm infection and colic of all types. The data were further analysed according to anatomical site of the lesion causing colic. The risk of ileocaecal colic was increased in the presence of tapeworms. Age, breed and sex were evaluated as possible confounding factors but had no association with the incidence of colic. This study suggests an association between tapeworms and ...
Paillot R, Prowse L.The humoral immune response induced by ISCOM-matrix (Immuno Stimulating COMplex-Matrix)-adjuvanted equine influenza virus (EIV) vaccine is well documented in horses. ISCOM-matrix adjuvanted vaccines against human influenza are strong inducers of cell-mediated immunity (CMI), including T cell proliferation and virus-specific cytotoxic T cell. In the horse, the CMI response to equine influenza vaccination is less well characterised. An ISCOM-based vaccine has been shown to induce interferon gamma (IFN-γ) synthesis, a CMI marker, in the horse, but this has not been shown for the ISCOM-matrix vac...
Hamada D, Kuroda Y, Kataoka M, Aimoto S, Yoshimura T, Goto Y.One unique aspect of cytochrome c folding concerns the involvement of the covalently attached heme group and its axial ligands. To elucidate the role of the ligands in stabilizing the native and molten globule states, we studied the conformational and thermodynamic features of the iron-free derivative of horse cyctochrome c (porphyrin-cytochrome c). At neutral pH, far-UV circular dichroism suggested that porphyrin-cytochrome c has native-like alpha-helices, whereas near-UV CD suggested that the side-chains are flexible. Its stability against heat or denaturants was much less than that of the i...
Hemberg E, Lundeheim N, Einarsson S.During 1997-2001, a total of 430 Thoroughbred mares were mated by one of the two Thoroughbred stallions on a well-managed stud farm in the central part of Sweden. On arrival, a thorough gynaecological examination of all mares was performed. An early pregnancy examination was performed on days 14 and 15 after ovulation. The overall conception rates for the two stallions were 92.2 and 88.8%, and the corresponding live foal rates were 82.6 and 75.2%, respectively. The mean number of served oestrous cycles was 1.60 per mare per conception and 1.86 per live foal. The first and second cycle concepti...
Fabiani JV, Lyons ET, Nielsen MK.Parasite control in foals is of utmost importance due to the high susceptibility to parasitic infection and disease in this age group. Foals are commonly co-infected with strongyle and ascarid parasites, which complicate parasite control strategies. The present study retrospectively investigated necropsy records of foals born into a university herd kept without anthelmintic treatment since 1979. The aims were to statistically analyze the relationship between fecal egg counts, worm burdens, foal age, sex, and season with specific focus on Parascaris and Strongylus spp. A total of 83 foals born ...
Matera MG, Calzetta L, Rogliani P, Bardaro F, Page CP, Cazzola M.Equine obstructive pulmonary disease, also known as heaves or recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) is a common equine pulmonary disease with some similarities to human asthma and COPD, which represents a major cause of morbidity and loss of lung performance. Salbutamol has been widely used for the treatment of human airway diseases and has usually been prepared as the racemic form of the drug. However, recently the R-enantiomer of salbutamol has been introduced into clinical practice in the treatment of asthma in humans and this has been suggested to be an improvement on the racemic form of the ...
