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.
DeBoer M, Konop A, Fisher B, Martinson K.Thermoregulation is an energy-expensive process, which can be mitigated by blanketing horses in cold climates, potentially preventing weight loss or leading to decreased feed intake. The objective of this study was to evaluate feed intake, body weight (BW), and body condition scores (BCSs) in blanketed and nonblanketed horses. In October 2019, 16 mature adult horses were blocked by breed and BCS and randomly assigned to a blanketed (n = 8) or nonblanketed (n = 8) treatment; blankets were placed. Data were collected in December 2019 and January 2020 in River Falls, Wisconsin. During the study...
Bakhshi H, Beck C, Lecollinet S, Monier M, Mousson L, Zakeri S, Raz A, Arzamani K, Nourani L, Dinparast-Djadid N, Failloux AB.Recent expansion of arboviruses such as West Nile (WNV), Usutu (USUV), and tick-borne encephalitis (TBEV) over their natural range of distribution needs strengthening their surveillance. As common viral vertebrate hosts, birds and horses deserve special attention with routine serological surveillance. Here, we estimated the seroprevalence of WNV, USUV and TBEV in 160 migrating/resident birds and 60 horses sampled in Mazandaran, Golestan, North Khorasan, Kordestan provinces and Golestan province of Iran respectively. ELISA results showed that of 220 collected samples, 32 samples (14.54%), inclu...
Bahrami A, Divar MR, Azari M, Kafi M.In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the possible protective effects of the nicotinic acid (NA) at three concentrations (10, 20, and 40 mM) on the equine cooled and frozen-thawed spermatozoa quality markers including viability, plasma membrane or acrosome integrity, DNA fragmentation, lipid peroxidation, and total oxidant levels. We also evaluated the effects of NA on preservation of the post-thaw sperm quality after 6 hours of cold storage before freezing. Five stallions were used for semen collections. The current experiment was repeated six times using pooled semen samples from two ...
Battaglia F, Meucci V, Tognetti R, Bonelli F, Sgorbini M, Lubas G, Pretti C, Intorre L.In human medicine, procalcitonin (PCT), the precursor of calcitonin, is used for the rapid identification of the origin and severity of sepsis. In veterinary medicine, PCT has been studied in horses, cattle, and dogs, but the use of PCT in diagnostic and/or prognostic settings is not possible because of the lack of validated assays to obtain reference ranges. The aim of the present study was the investigation of commercially available ELISA kits for the detection of canine and equine PCT in plasma samples. Validation of the ELISA kits was performed by using species-specific recombinant protein...
Reddy PRK, Yasaswini D, Reddy PPR, Zeineldin M, Adegbeye MJ, Hyder I.The rapid expansion of nanotechnology has been transforming the food industry by increasing market share and expenditure. Although nanotechnology offers promising benefits as feed additives, their usage in equines is primarily geared toward immunotherapy, hyper-immunization techniques, drug delivery systems, grooming activities, and therapeutic purposes. Nanoparticles could be engaged as alternatives for antibiotic feed additives to prevent foal diarrhea. Gold nanoparticles are proved to provide beneficial effects for racehorses by healing joint and tendon injuries. Because of the poor bioavai...
Weber LA, Puff C, Kalbitz J, Kietzmann M, Feige K, Bosse K, Rohn K, Cavalleri JV.The naturally occurring betulinic acid (BA) and its derivative NVX-207 show anticancer effects against equine malignant melanoma (EMM) cells and a potent permeation in isolated equine skin in vitro. The aim of the study was to determine the in vivo concentration profiles of BA and NVX-207 in equine skin and assess the compounds' local and systemic tolerability with the intent of developing a topical therapy against EMM. Eight horses were treated percutaneously in a crossover design with 1% BA, 1% NVX-207 or a placebo in a respective vehicle twice a day for seven consecutive days with a seven-d...
Shihadih DS, Harris TR, Kodani SD, Hwang SH, Lee KSS, Mavangira V, Hamamoto B, Guedes A, Hammock BD, Morisseau C.The veterinary pharmacopeia available to treat pain and inflammation is limited in number, target of action and efficacy. Inhibitors of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) are a new class of anti-inflammatory, pro-resolving and analgesic drugs being tested in humans that have demonstrated efficacy in laboratory animals. They block the hydrolysis, and thus, increase endogenous concentrations of analgesic and anti-inflammatory signaling molecules called epoxy-fatty acids. Here, we screened a library of 2,300 inhibitors of the sEH human against partially purified feline, canine and equine hepatic sEH...
Bergmann IM.The idea of what is natural has particular relevance in the thoroughbred racing and breeding discourse. It guides breeding regulations; influences how the thoroughbreds' behaviour is perceived and has implications for husbandry, handling, training and racing practices. This study investigates how key industry and animal advocacy informants based in the US, Australia and the UK conceptualise naturalness within the context of common racing practices that potentially impact the horses' welfare. The informants were interviewed using semi-structured interviewing and photo-elicitation. Four common i...
Machin J, Childers T, Kudrimoti S, Eisenberg R, Fenger C, Hartmann P, Maylin G, Shults T, Tobin T.Aminorex is a US DEA Schedule 1 controlled substance occasionally detected in racing horses. A number of aminorex identifications in sport horses were thought to have been caused by exposure to plant sources of aminorex. Glucobarbarin, found in plants of the Brassicaceae family, has been suggested as a potential proximate chemical source by being metabolized in the plant or the horse to aminorex. In Brassicaceae, glucobarbarin is hydrolyzed by myrosinase to yield barbarin, which serves as an insect repellant and/or attractant and is structurally related to aminorex. The synthesis, purification...
Beachler TM, Scott Bailey C, Gracz HS, Morgan DR, Von Dollen KA, Ellis KE, Gadsby JE, Lyle SK.The amniotic and allantoic fluid compartments in the mare serve essential roles throughout pregnancy and parturition. Although the global metabolomic profile of amniotic fluid in women has been extensively characterized, current data for equine fetal fluids are limited. Therefore, the goal of this study was to characterize the global metabolomic profile of equine allantoic and amniotic fluid through nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Fetal fluids were collected between 270 and 295 days of gestation from 12 pregnancies through ultrasound-guided transabdominal puncture. A total of 24 samp...
Scheeren VFC, Sancler-Silva YFR, El-Sheikh Ali H, Kastelic JP, Alvarenga MA, Papa FO.Seminal vesiculitis in stallions reduces fertility and is often underdiagnosed. The most common cause is infection of seminal vesicles by bacteria capable of forming biofilms and a propensity for tissue persistence, for example, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Achieving a clinical cure is challenging because of a high rate of recurrence. Systemic antibiotic therapy does not reach adequate therapeutic concentrations within the seminal vesicles; one alternative is endoscopy-guided, local antibiotic infusion into the gland lumen, with or without concurrent systemic antibiotics. Current diagnostic and the...
Teixeira ACB, Valle GR, Riveros JAN, Diniz JHW, Wenceslau RR, Monteiro GA, Leme FOP, Oliveira LZ.The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of equine chorionic gonadotropin (eCG) at the end of progesterone (P4) treatment on follicular and luteal characteristics during transition period (TP) and reproductive breeding season (RP). A total of 13 crossbred mares were distributed in two experimental groups in the spring and summer (n = 26). The animals received intravaginal P4 (1.9 g) releasing device from D0 to D10. On removal of P4 device, the mares received 400 IU of eCG (eCG group) or saline solution (control group). Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG; 1.750 IU) was administered (Dh...
Sukmawinata E, Sato W, Uemura R, Kanda T, Kusano K, Kambayashi Y, Sato T, Ishikawa Y, Toya R, Sueyoshi M.In this study, the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) enterococci was evaluated in Thoroughbred (TB) racehorses in Japan. Fecal samples were collected from 212 healthy TB racehorses at the Miho and Ritto Training Centers of the Japan Racing Association from March 2017 to August 2018. Isolation and identification were performed by enterococcus selective medium and confirmed to the species using MALDI-TOF MS. Enterococcus faecium and E. faecalis isolates were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility test against 11 antimicrobials by minimum inhibitory concentration based on recommenda...
Loos CMM, McLeod KR, Stratton SC, van Doorn DA, Kalmar ID, Vanzant ES, Urschel KL.Activation of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)-controlled anabolic signaling pathways in skeletal muscle of rodents and humans is responsive to the level of dietary protein supply, with maximal activation and rates of protein synthesis achieved with 0.2 to 0.4 g protein/kg body weight (BW). In horses, few data are available on the required level of dietary protein to maximize protein synthesis for maintenance and growth of skeletal muscle. To evaluate the effect of dietary protein level on muscle mTOR pathway activation, five mares received different amounts of a protein supplement t...
Pusterla N, Rice M, Henry T, Barnum S, James K.The main objective of the study was to determine the frequency of detection of selected infectious respiratory viruses and bacteria in healthy horses presented over a 12-month period for routine dental care at 2 veterinary hospitals. Nasal secretions were collected from 579 horses and tested for equine herpesviruses (EHV-1, EHV-2, EHV-4, EHV-5), equine influenza virus (EIV), equine rhinitis A and B viruses (ERAV, ERBV), Streptococcus equi subspecies equi (S equi), S equi subspecies zooepidemicus (S zooepidemicus), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using routine diagnostic ...
Gummery L, Jallow S, Raftery AG, Bennet E, Rodgers J, Sutton DGM.Infection of equids with Trypanosoma brucei (T. brucei) ssp. is of socioeconomic importance across sub-Saharan Africa as the disease often progresses to cause fatal meningoencephalitis. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has been developed as a cost-effective molecular diagnostic test and is potentially applicable for use in field-based laboratories. Threshold levels for T. brucei ssp. detection by LAMP were determined using whole equine blood specimens spiked with known concentrations of parasites. Results were compared to OIE antemortem gold standard of T. brucei-PCR (TBR-PCR). Th...
Contreras-Aguilar MD, Lamy E, Escribano D, Cerón JJ, Tecles F, Quiles AJ, Hevia ML.This study aims to evaluate the circadian and circannual variations in a panel of analytes in horse saliva that have been previously described as biomarkers related to stress and disease, in order to interpret them correctly when they are measured in this species. This panel of analytes integrated cortisol, salivary alpha-amylase (sAA), lipase (Lip), total esterase (TEA), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), adenosine deaminase (ADA), γ-glutamyl transferase (gGT), creatine kinase (CK), urea, total bilirubin, total protein (TP), and phosphorus. These analytes were measured in saliva obtained from a p...
Much ML, Leatherwood JL, Martinez RE, Silvers BL, Basta CF, Gray LF, Bradbery AN.Twenty stock-type horses (589 ± 126 kg BW; 13 ± 8 yr) were used in a completely randomized design for 28-d to evaluate the impact of a joint supplement on gait kinematics, inflammation, and cartilage metabolism. Horses were stratified by age, sex, body weight (BW), and initial lameness scores and were randomly assigned to one of two dietary treatments consisting of either a 100-g placebo top-dressed daily to 0.6% BW (as-fed) commercial concentrate (CON; n = 10; SafeChoice Original, Cargill, Inc.), or an oral joint supplement (SmartPak Equine LLC) containing glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, ...
Golafshan N, Vorndran E, Zaharievski S, Brommer H, Kadumudi FB, Dolatshahi-Pirouz A, Gbureck U, van Weeren R, Castilho M, Malda J.One of the important challenges in bone tissue engineering is the development of biodegradable bone substitutes with appropriate mechanical and biological properties for the treatment of larger defects and those with complex shapes. Recently, magnesium phosphate (MgP) doped with biologically active ions like strontium (Sr) have shown to significantly enhance bone formation when compared with the standard calcium phosphate-based ceramics. However, such materials can hardly be shaped into large and complex geometries and more importantly lack the adequate mechanical properties for the treatment ...
Akter R, Stent AW, Sansom FM, Gilkerson JR, Burden C, Devlin JM, Legione AR, El-Hage CM.Chlamydia psittaci was detected by PCR in the lung and equine foetal membranes of two aborted equine foetuses and one weak foal from two different studs in Victoria, Australia. The abortions occurred in September 2019 in two mares sharing a paddock northeast of Melbourne. The weak foal was born in October 2019 in a similar geographical region and died soon after birth despite receiving veterinary care. The detection of C. psittaci DNA in the lung and equine foetal membranes of the aborted or weak foals and the absence of any other factors that are commonly associated with abortion or neonatal ...
Aleman M, Berryhill E, Woolard K, Easton-Jones CA, Kozikowski-Nicholas T, Dyson S, Kilcoyne I.Sidewinder gait in horses is poorly understood and characterized by walking with the trunk and pelvic limbs drifting to 1 side. Objective: To report causes, clinical and diagnostic features. Methods: Horses examined at 2 institutions. Methods: Retrospective study (2000-2019). Cases with sidewinder gait, neurological and orthopedic examination, and diagnostic work up or postmortem evaluation were included. Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: Twenty-four horses (mean age 18.9 years) of various breeds and both sexes were included. Onset was acute (N = 10), subacute (N = 6), and insi...
Stoff M, Baumgärtner W, Wohlsein P.During summer, permanent or temporary pasture keeping carries an increased risk of death caused by lightning strikes. Although - due to their body structure and pasture grazing - large animals are particularly susceptible to step voltage effects in consequence to a lightning strike to the ground there are only few published cases in the veterinary literature. Frequently in lightning-related accidents, a current flow through the heart occurs resulting in acute cardiac and circulatory failure. In the vast majority of cases, this is accompanied either by very unspecific lesions or even lacks any ...
Auclair-Ronzaud J, Jousset T, Dubois C, Wimel L, Jaffrézic F, Chavatte-Palmer P.Gestational length is highly variable in horses ranging from 320 to 360 days. Thus, determining parturition time is an important challenge for the horse industry. Body temperature can be used in cows and ewes as an indicator of parturition. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine if temperature can also be used as indicator of foaling. Thirty-nine mares were monitored over two foaling seasons (2018 and 2019). They were housed in 16 m stalls with access to pasture in group three times a week from 10:00 to 16:00. Night watch as well as video monitoring was ensured during foaling periods. Bo...
Kopper JJ, Bolger ME, Kogan CJ et al. Outcome and complications in horses administered sterile or non-sterile fluids intravenously. J Vet Intern Med 2019; 33: 2739–2745 DIE INTRAVENöSE VERABREICHUNG VON LöSUNGEN DIENT ZUR ERHALTUNG ODER WIEDERHERSTELLUNG DES FLüSSIGKEITSVOLUMENS IN DEN GEFäßEN UND DER GEWEBEDURCHBLUTUNG. SIE IST ENTSCHEIDEND BEI DER BEHANDLUNG VON PFERDEN MIT ERKRANKUNGEN, DIE EINE HYPOVOLäMIE ZUR FOLGE HABEN. ZU DEN TYPISCHEN INDIKATIONEN GEHöREN EIN HOHER GASTROINTESTINALER WASSERVERLUST, EINE EINGESTELLTE WASSERAUFNAHME BZW. EINE NICHT TOLERIERTE ENTERALE FLüSSIGK...
Dahlgren AR, Scott EY, Mansour T, Hales EN, Ross PJ, Kalbfleisch TS, MacLeod JN, Petersen JL, Bellone RR, Finno CJ.Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are untranslated regulatory transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides that can play a role in transcriptional, post-translational, and epigenetic regulation. Traditionally, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) libraries have been created by isolating transcriptomic RNA via poly-A selection. In the past 10 years, methods to perform ribosomal RNA (rRNA) depletion of total RNA have been developed as an alternative, aiming for better coverage of whole transcriptomic RNA, both polyadenylated and non-polyadenylated transcripts. The purpose of this study was to determine which librar...
Kinsley R, Pronost S, De Bock M, Temperton N, Daly JM, Paillot R, Scott S.Equine influenza is a major respiratory disease of horses that is largely controlled by vaccination in some equine populations. Virus-neutralising antibodies, the mainstay of the protective immune response, are problematic in assaying for equine influenza virus, as most strains do not replicate efficiently in cell culture. Surrogate measures of protective antibody responses include the haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test and single radial haemolysis (SRH) assay. For this study, a pseudotyped virus, bearing an envelope containing the haemagglutinin (HA) from the Florida clade 2 equine influe...
Gugliandolo E, Barbagallo A, Peritore AF, Cuzzocrea S, Crupi R.Background: Four show jumping horses were evaluated for non-responsive lameness, which caused their withdrawal from show jumping competitions. The clinical evaluation was performed by radiographic examination, flexion tests, diagnostic anesthesia and lameness evaluation using the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) scale. The diagnoses were a case of navicular syndrome, a complicated case of chronic navicular syndrome and arthrosis of the distal interphalangeal joint of the right anterior limb and two cases of distal intertarsal joint arthritis. Nutraceuticals are often an impo...
Ferrer MS, Canisso IF, Ellerbrock RE, Podico G, Lister BN, Hurley DJ, Kline K, Palomares RA.Freezing cooled-transported semen allows veterinarians and breeders to collect and process the semen of stallions on farm, and then ship the semen to a semen freezing center. There, however, is a lack of standardization of shipping and freezing protocols. The objectives were to optimize and simplify protocols to freeze cooled-shipped semen. In Experiment 1, cooled-transported semen was centrifuged at room temperature or 5 °C before freezing. Sperm variables (motility, membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, membrane fluidity) were evaluated before and after freezing. Centrifugation temperat...
Dominguez EM, Moreno-Irusta A, Rodriguez MB, Salamone DF, de Arruda RP, Losinno L, Giojalas LC.The successful use of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) depends in part on the sperm physiological status. Several sperm selection procedures have been applied to improve quality of sperm population when using the ART. There has previously been development of a Sperm Selection Assay (SSA) for humans which is based on the attraction of capacitated sperm by chemotaxis towards progesterone (P), resulting in an enriched sperm population with an optimal physiological status similar to capacitated spermatozoa, with these cells having very little DNA fragmentation and optimal concentrations of r...
Paillot R, Prowse L, Donald C, Medcalf E, Montesso F, Bryant N, Watson J, Jeggo M, Elton D, Newton R, Trail P, Barnes H.An outbreak of H3N8 Equine Influenza virus (EIV) that occurred in vaccinated horses in Japan was caused by a genetically divergent EIV isolate of the Florida clade 1 sub-lineage. This virus subsequently entered Australia where it infected thousands of immunologically naïve horses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of a non-updated whole inactivated equine influenza (EI) vaccine to protect if used in the face of an outbreak induced by a virus similar to the ones circulating in Japan and Australia in 2007. Seven naïve Welsh mountain ponies were immunised twice with the co...
Sharp DC, Thatcher MJ, Salute ME, Fuchs AR.The effect of transcervical endometrial biopsy on the concentrations of plasma immunoreactive oxytocin and 15-keto-13,14-dihydro-prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGFM) was studied in 18 pony mares on days 8, 12 and 14 after ovulation, days 12 and 14 of early pregnancy and at oestrus. Five biopsy specimens were taken within 15 min and consecutive specimens from each mare were pooled two (A) and three (B) together for measurement of the number of oxytocin receptors. Blood samples were collected at intervals of 5 min for 15 min beginning just before the initial biopsy. Biopsy procedure elicited prompt oxy...
Cross DL, Redmond LM, Strickland JR.Gravid mares grazing endophyte-infested (E+) tall fescue exhibit increased gestation lengths, agalactia, foal and mare mortality, tough and thickened placentas, weak and dysmature foals, increased sweating during warm weather, reduced serum prolactin and progesterone, and increased serum estradiol-17 beta levels. Also, E+ tall fescue hay is less digestible than endophyte-free (E-) hay. Unlike many other species, horses consuming E+ tall fescue do not exhibit increased body temperature. Young horses consuming only E+ pasture do not gain as well as those consuming E- pasture. There is little dif...
Cozzi B, De Giorgio A, Peruffo A, Montelli S, Panin M, Bombardi C, Grandis A, Pirone A, Zambenedetti P, Corain L, Granato A.The architecture of the neocortex classically consists of six layers, based on cytological criteria and on the layout of intra/interlaminar connections. Yet, the comparison of cortical cytoarchitectonic features across different species proves overwhelmingly difficult, due to the lack of a reliable model to analyze the connection patterns of neuronal ensembles forming the different layers. We first defined a set of suitable morphometric cell features, obtained in digitized Nissl-stained sections of the motor cortex of the horse, chimpanzee, and crab-eating macaque. We then modeled them using a...
Carvalho M, Derse D.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a lentivirus that causes a chronic disease of horses characterized by cyclic episodes of fever, anemia, and viremia. Although the genome and promoter of EIAV are much less complex than those of its relatives the primate immunodeficiency viruses, the cellular proteins that activate and regulate transcription of EIAV have not yet been identified. In this report, we show by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting that the EIAV promoter contains multiple binding sites for ubiquitous, cell type-specific, and inducible cellular proteins...
Speer CA, Dubey JP.The ultrastructure of Sarcocystis neurona schizonts and merozoites was studied in specimens derived from cell culture and from the brains of infected mice. Schizonts and merozoites were located in the host cell cytoplasm without a parasitophorous vacuole at any stage of development. Merozoites divided by endopolygeny. Fully formed merozoites had a pellicle, numerous polysomes and ribosomes, smooth and rough endoplasmic reticulum, 22 subpellicular microtubules, 9-16 dense granules, 25-75 micronemes, a plastid, a Golgi complex, 1-3 mitochondria, a conoid, 2 apical rings, 2 polar rings, 0-6 lipid...
McGowan C.Horses form a unique and special part of their owners' lives and aged horses are no exception. This review considers the health and management of aged horses, including the role of the owner and their perceptions of aged horses, potential threats or risks to their welfare and finally, factors affecting quality of life and euthanasia of aged horses. Owners of aged horses are concerned about the health, welfare and quality of life of their aged animals. Yet surveys of management and preventive healthcare reflect that there may be some limitations to what owners are actually achieving in practice...
Weishaupt MA, Byström A, von Peinen K, Wiestner T, Meyers H, Waldern N, Johnston C, van Weeren R, Roepstorff L.The load acting on the limbs and the load distribution between fore- and hindlimbs while performing specific dressage exercises lack objective assessment. Objective: The greater a horse's level of collection, the more load is shifted to the rear and that during the passage the vertical load on the limbs increases in relation to the accentuated vertical movement of the centre of mass. Methods: Back and limb kinematics, vertical ground reaction force and time parameters of each limb were measured in 6 Grand Prix dressage horses performing on an instrumented treadmill at the trot and the passage....
Palm F, Walter I, Budik S, Kolodziejek J, Nowotny N, Aurich C.After artificial insemination or mating an inflammatory response is induced by spermatozoa and components of the inseminate or ejaculate. In order to investigate the inflammatory reaction of the endometrium to different semen extenders, phosphate buffered saline (PBS), seminal plasma (SP), skim milk-based extender (SM) or egg yolk semen extender (EY) was inoculated into the uterus of oestrous mares (n=8) during four consecutive cycles in alternating order. Twelve hours after treatment, a uterine lavage was performed and an endometrial biopsy was taken. An additional biopsy was taken in the oes...
Jenkins E, Backwell AL, Bellaw J, Colpitts J, Liboiron A, McRuer D, Medill S, Parker S, Shury T, Smith M, Tschritter C, Wagner B, Poissant J....Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada hosts one of few natural populations of feral horses (Equus caballus) never exposed to anthelmintics. Coproculture revealed cyathostomes, Strongylus equinus, S. edentatus, and S. vulgaris, with S. equinus (unusually) dominating in adult horses and cyathostomes dominating in young horses (<3 years of age). We examined 35 horses found dead in the springs of 2017 and 2018, as well as fecal samples from live horses in spring (n = 45) and summer 2018 (n = 236) using McMaster fecal flotation and Baermann larval sedimentation on fresh samples, and modified Wiscon...
Gibson SJ, Polak JM, Anand P, Blank MA, Morrison JF, Kelly JS, Bloom SR.The distribution of VIP-immunoreactivity was studied in the spinal cord and dorsal root ganglia of 6 mammalian species. Immunoreactive fibres and cell bodies were most apparent in the dorsal horn, dorsolateral funiculus, intermediolateral cell columns and the area around the central canal. The distribution of VIP immunoreactivity was similar in all species studied, mouse, rat, guinea pig, cat, horse and the marmoset monkey. There were fewer VIP fibres in the dorsal horn of cervical and thoracic segments than in lumbosacral segments. Using radioimmunoassay this gradient increase was quantitativ...
Southwood LL.Although the use of antimicrobials has had an insurmountable impact on preventing patient morbidity and mortality, problems with antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial-induced diarrhea are becoming more apparent in human and veterinary medicine. The mortality associated with nosocomial infection with antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in human patients is alarming. Similarly, in veterinary medicine, the morbidity and high cost of treatment of patients with postoperative infection, for example, are concerns. Specifically in equine medicine, the high morbidity and mortality associated with ant...
Stepnik MW, Radtke CL, Scollay MC, Oshel PE, Albrecht RM, Santschi EM, Markel MD, Muir P.To examine the fracture failure surfaces from Thoroughbred horses that had sustained a catastrophic condylar fracture. Methods: Bone specimens from the failure surface were obtained from 12 Thoroughbred racehorses with catastrophic injury and 2 non-racing horses with accidental long bone fracture. Methods: Bone specimens from the failure surface of each fracture were incubated with gold microspheres to label microcracks before examination at x50 to x60,000 using scanning electron microscopy. Microcracking at the failure surface was assessed using a visual analog scale. Results: Branching array...
Ballagi-Pordány A, Klingeborn B, Flensburg J, Belák S.Primers and probes were selected from the gene encoding glycoprotein 13 (gp 13) of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1). The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was run on infected and noninfected cultured cells and on 63 specimens from 29 aborted equine fetuses. The results were evaluated by electrophoresis and dot-blot hybridization using an oligonucleotide probe labeled with biotin. In the infected samples electrophoresis showed a PCR product of about 280 base pairs. The dot-blot hybridization confirmed that this product contained EHV-1 DNA sequences. PCR took 4 h and hybridization another 14 h; the re...
Moro LN, Amin G, Furmento V, Waisman A, Garate X, Neiman G, La Greca A, Santín Velazque NL, Luzzani C, Sevlever GE, Vichera G, Miriuka SG.Cell reprogramming has been well described in mouse and human cells. The expression of specific microRNAs has demonstrated to be essential for pluripotent maintenance and cell differentiation, but not much information is available in domestic species. We aim to generate horse iPSCs, characterize them and evaluate the expression of different microRNAs (miR-302a,b,c,d, miR-205, miR-145, miR-9, miR-96, miR-125b and miR-296). Two equine iPSC lines (L2 and L3) were characterized after the reprogramming of equine fibroblasts with the four human Yamanaka's factors (OCT-4/SOX-2/c-MYC/KLF4). The plurip...
Ball JM, Henry NL, Montelaro RC, Newman MJ.A simple, versatile and very inexpensive procedure for cross-linking synthetic peptides to the polystyrene surfaces of micro-well assay plates for use in ELISA was developed. The method is based on the use of poly-L-lysine (PLL) as the anchor protein for synthetic peptides which were then easily and covalently linked to the PLL using glutaraldehyde. The synthetic peptides used for the study were based on the amino acid sequence of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) envelope sequence and evaluated as antigens in an ELISA designed to detect antibodies in serum of EIAV-infected horses and ...
Weese JS, Staempfli HR, Prescott JF.An environmental survey of a veterinary teaching hospital for the presence of Clostridium difficile was performed using contact plates and cycloserine-cefoxitin-fructose with 0.1% sodium taurocholate agar. Clostridium difficile was isolated from 24 of 381 sites (6.3%). Growth was obtained from 4.5% (9/202) of sites sampled in the Large Animal Clinic, from 8.1% (13/160) of sites within the Small Animal Clinic, and from 20% (2/10) of sites sampled elsewhere. Fourteen of 21 strains tested produced toxins in vitro. A geographic association was found with areas in the large animal clinic where noso...
Yoon J, Park T, Kim A, Song H, Park BJ, Ahn HS, Go HJ, Kim DH, Lee JB, Park SY, Song CS, Lee SW, Choi IS.Equine parvovirus-hepatitis (EqPV-H) and equine hepacivirus (EqHV) are etiologically associated with Theiler's disease (TD), causing fulminant equine hepatitis, but the transmission route and co-infection effect remain unclear. We determined EqPV-H and EqHV prevalence and coinfection rate in 160 serum and 114 faecal samples using nested polymerase chain reaction. Amino acid and nucleotide analyses were performed and phylogenetic trees were constructed. By measuring liver-specific parameters (AST, GGT, TBIL and A/G ratio), hepatopathological changes in viremia status were compared. We found a h...
Boyle AG, Stefanovski D, Rankin SC.Streptococcus equi subsp equi (S. equi) is the cause of "equine strangles" which is a highly infectious upper respiratory disease. Detection of S. equi is influenced by site of specimen collection, method of sampling, and type of diagnostic test that is performed. We hypothesized i) that a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay that targets the S. equi-specific eqbE gene would be more sensitive than a realtime PCR assay that targets the S. equi-specific seeI gene and ii) that LAMP of specimens obtained by guttural pouch lavage (GPL) would be more sensitive than LAMP of nasopharyng...
Löfgren M, Svala E, Lindahl A, Skiöldebrand E, Ekman S.Osteoarthritis is an inflammatory and degenerative joint disease commonly affecting horses. To identify genes of relevance for cartilage pathology in osteoarthritis we studied the time-course effects of interleukin (IL)-1β on equine articular cartilage. Articular cartilage explants from the distal third metacarpal bone were collected postmortem from three horses without evidence of joint disease. The explants were stimulated with IL-1β for 27 days and global gene expression was measured by microarray. Gene expression was compared to that of unstimulated explants at days 3, 9, 15, 21 and 27...
Pezzanite L, Chow L, Piquini G, Griffenhagen G, Ramirez D, Dow S, Goodrich L.Intra-articular (IA) antibiotic usage is prevalent in equine practice. However, recent emergence of antimicrobial resistance prompts re-evaluation of antibiotic selection, particularly when used prophylactically. Furthermore, many commonly used antibiotics exert direct cytotoxicity to equine cells, and appropriate IA doses have not been defined. Objective: To screen antibiotics in vitro as an initial assessment of cytotoxicity against normal equine joint cells in monolayer culture and explant tissues. Methods: In vitro experimental study. Methods: Chondrocytes and synovial cells were harvested...
Maury W, Perryman S, Oaks JL, Seid BK, Crawford T, McGuire T, Carpenter S.The role of in vivo long terminal repeat (LTR) sequence variation of the lentivirus equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) has not been explored. In this study, we investigated the heterogeneity found in the LTR sequences from seven EIAV-seropositive horses: three horses with clinical disease and four horses without any detectable signs of disease. LTR sequences were targeted in this study because the LTR U3 enhancer region of tissue culture-derived isolates has been identified as one of the few hypervariable regions of the EIAV genome. Furthermore, LTR variation may regulate EIAV expression in...
Hobbs SJ, Robinson MA, Clayton HM.Ground reaction forces (GRF) measured during equine gait analysis are typically evaluated by analyzing discrete values obtained from continuous force-time data for the vertical, longitudinal and transverse GRF components. This paper describes a simple, temporo-spatial method of displaying and analyzing sagittal plane GRF vectors. In addition, the application of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) is introduced to analyse differences between contra-lateral fore and hindlimb force-time curves throughout the stance phase. The overall aim of the study was to demonstrate alternative methods of eva...
Song R, Ma Y, Hu Z, Li Y, Li M, Wu L, Li C, Dao E, Fan X, Hao Y, Bayin C.Dermacentor marginatus Sulkzer is a common tick species found in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China, and is a vector for a variety of pathogens. To determine the potential distribution of this tick species in Xinjiang, a metadata containing 84 D. marginatus presence records combined with four localities from field collection were used for MaxEnt modeling to predict potential distribution of this tick species. Identification of tick samples showed 756 of 988 (76%) were D. marginatus. MaxEnt modeling results indicated that the potential distribution of this tick species was mai...
McConnico RS, Weinstock D, Poston ME, Roberts MC.To determine whether quantification of myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity could be a useful laboratory technique to detect granulocyte infiltration in equine intestinal tissues. Methods: Intestinal tissue (inflamed or healthy) collected from 16 age- and sex-matched Shetland Ponies. Methods: Intestinal tissue MPO activity was determined, and histologic assessment of adjacent specimens from healthy and inflamed intestine was done. Results: Intestinal tissue MPO activity and histopathologic score increased with time after castor oil challenge and peaked at 16 hours in an equine diarrhea model in whic...
El-Sheikh Ali H, Dini P, Scoggin K, Loux S, Fedorka C, Boakari Y, Norris J, Esteller-Vico A, Kalbfleisch T, Ball B.Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying ascending equine placentitis holds the potential for the development of new diagnostic tools and therapies to forestall placentitis-induced preterm labor. The current study characterized the equine placental transcriptome (chorioallantois [CA] and endometrium [EN]) during placentitis (placentitis group, n = 6) in comparison to gestationally-matched controls (control group, n = 6). Transcriptome analysis identified 2953 and 805 differentially expressed genes in CA and EN during placentitis, respectively. Upstream regulator analys...
Balasuriya UB, Dobbe JC, Heidner HW, Smalley VL, Navarrette A, Snijder EJ, MacLachlan NJ.We have used an infectious cDNA clone of equine arteritis virus (EAV) and reverse genetics technology to further characterize the neutralization determinants in the GP5 envelope glycoprotein of the virus. We generated a panel of 20 recombinant viruses, including 10 chimeric viruses that each contained the ORF5 (which encodes GP5) of different laboratory, field, and vaccine strains of EAV, a chimeric virus containing the N-terminal ectodomain of GP5 of a European strain of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, and 9 mutant viruses with site-specific substitutions in their GP5 pro...
Hapke HJ, Strathmann W.Hordenine is an ingredient of some plants which are used as feed for animals, i.e. in sprouting barley. After ingestion of such feed hordenine may be detected in blood or urine of horses which in case of racing horses may be the facts of using prohibited compounds. Results of some experiments in pharmacological models show that hordenine is an indirectly acting adrenergic drug. It liberates norepinephrine from stores. In isolated organs and those structures with reduced epinephrine contents the hordenine-effect is only very poor. Experiments in intact animals (rats, dogs) show that hordenine h...
SHORT RV.A comparison has been made between the steroids present in equine follicular fluid and luteal tissue. Follicular fluid was found to contain progesterone, 17α-hydroxyprogesterone, androstenedione, epitestosterone, 19-norandrostenedione, oestrone, oestradiol-17β and 6α-hydroxyoestradiol-17β, in confirmation of previous studies. On the other hand, luteal tissue contained large amounts of progesterone and 20α-hydroxypregn-4-en-3-one, and a small quantity of 17α-hydroxyprogesterone. No C18 or C19 steroids could be detected.
These findings are therefore interpreted as evidence in favour of ...
