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.
Skedros JG.Osteocytes, the most prevalent cell type in bone, appear to communicate via gap junctions. In limb-bone diaphyses, it has been hypothesized that these cellular networks have the capacity to monitor habitual strains, which can differ significantly between cortical locations of the same bone. Regional differences in microdamage associated with prevalent/predominant strain mode (tension, compression, or shear) and/or magnitude may represent an important "variable" detected by this network. This hypothesis was indirectly addressed by examining bones subjected to habitual bending for correlations o...
Gusson F, Carletti M, Albo AG, Dacasto M, Nebbia C.To complete a studyaimed at investigating the pattern of the basal activities of liver xenobioticmetabolizing enzymes in major and minor species intended for meat production, microsomal carboxylesterases and some conjugating enzyme activities were determined and compared in liver preparations from horses, cattle, pigs, rabbits and broiler chicks, using the rat as a reference species. Horses and broiler chicks exhibited a lower microsomal carboxylesterase activity towards indophenyl or p-nitrophenyl acetate than that measured in cattle or pig subfractions. Among food-producing species, the rate...
Lee SY, Cho GJ.The present study was to construct a parentage testing system for Thoroughbred (TB) horse. A total number of 1,285 TB horse samples including 962 foals for parentage testing, 9 sires and 314 dams for individual identification were genotyped. Genomic DNA was extracted from 5 hair roots and genotyped by using 14 microsatellite markers (AHT4, AHT5, ASB2, ASB17, ASB23, CA425, HMS1, HMS3, HMS6, HMS7, HTG4, HTG10, LEX3 and VHL20). This method consisted of multiplexing PCR procedure and showed reasonable amplification of all PCR products. Genotypes were determined by genetic analyzer. The number of a...
Dahlgren LA, Mohammed HO, Nixon AJ.he treatment of overuse tendon injuries with exogenous growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) may facilitate an improved return to sustained athletic function. The biological effects of IGF-I are exerted under the control of a complex of IGF receptors, binding proteins, and proteases. This IGF system includes a family of six structurally related high-affinity IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs) that protect IGF-I from local proteases and restrict access of IGF-I to its receptor. This study describes the expression of the IGFBPs in flexor tendon after acute injury and during heal...
Schneider N, Heimann M, Lejeune JP, Verwilghen DR, Deby-Dupont GP, Serteyn DA.In the human and equine species, different kinds of free floating intra-articular particles are related to certain disorders. Osteochondral fragments formed during osteochondrosis dissecans are the most common finding in the equine species, whereas in humans rice bodies due to rheumatoid arthritis are more frequent. Herein we report a third type of floating body inside the stifle of an adult draught horse stallion, in macroscopic appearance similar to articular rice bodies known in humans. As revealed by histologic examination, the two particles consist of polypoid degenerated structures deriv...
Schejter A, Ryan MD, Blizzard ER, Zhang C, Margoliash E, Feinberg BA.Contrary to most heme proteins, ferrous cytochrome c does not bind ligands such as cyanide and CO. In order to quantify this observation, the redox potential of the ferric/ferrous cytochrome c-cyanide redox couple was determined for the first time by cyclic voltammetry. Its E0' was -240 mV versus SHE, equivalent to -23.2 kJ/mol. The entropy of reaction for the reduction of the cyanide complex was also determined. From a thermodynamic cycle that included this new value for the cyt c cyanide complex E0', the binding constant of cyanide to the reduced protein was estimated to be 4.7 x 10(-3) L M(...
Fink C, Tatar M, Failing K, Hospes R, Kressin M, Klisch K.Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT), a regulatory amine of mucosal enterochromaffin cells plays an important role in the control of gastrointestinal smooth muscle contraction and epithelial secretion. Serotonin has also been associated with gastric ulcers, diarrhoea and abdominal pain. In spite of the high incidence of these gastrointestinal disorders in newborn foals and adult horses, no data are available regarding 5-HT immunoreactive cells (i.c.) in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of foals, and for adult horses, data are incomplete and contradictory. In this study, the distribution and r...
Murray RC, Schramme MC, Dyson SJ, Branch MV, Blunden TS.Palmar foot pain is a common cause of lameness. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the potential to detect damage in all tissues of the equine foot, but an understanding of the differences in magnetic resonance (MR) images between feet from horses with and without palmar foot pain is required. This study aimed to describe MR findings in feet from horses with no history of foot-related lameness, and to compare these with MR findings in horses with lameness improved by palmar digital local analgesia. Thirty-four limbs from horses euthanized with a clinical diagnosis of navicular syndrome (amen...
Barnewitz D, Endres M, Krüger I, Becker A, Zimmermann J, Wilke I, Ringe J, Sittinger M, Kaps C.The objective of our study was to evaluate the integration of autologous cartilage tissue engineering transplants based on resorbable polyglactin/polydioxanone scaffolds into full-thickness cartilage defects of horses. Cartilage biopsies were taken from the non-load-bearing area of the lateral talus of the left tibiotarsal joint of eight healthy Haflinger horses. Tissue engineering cartilage transplants were generated by three-dimensional arrangement of autologous chondrocytes in biocompatible and resorbable polymer scaffolds. Full-thickness cartilage defects of 8 mm in diameter were created i...
Murray RC, Blunden TS, Schramme MC, Dyson SJ.Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is increasingly used in the diagnosis of equine foot pain, but improved understanding of how MR images represent tissue-level changes in the equine foot is required. We hypothesized that alterations in signal intensity and tissue contour would represent changes in tissue structure detected using histologic evaluation. The study objectives were to determine the significance of MR signal alterations in feet from horses with and without lameness, by comparison with histopathologic changes. Fifty-one cadaver feet from horses with a history of lameness improved by pa...
Englund L, Pringle J.Dogs and horses are transported within the European Union for a number of reasons. The transport per se may cause physical problems, exemplified by hyperthermia in dogs and pleuropneumonia in horses, and the stress may reactivate latent infections such as canine herpesvirus-1 and equine herpesvirus-1. Preventive treatments are vital to protect dogs from ticks and mosquitoes transmitting their potentially lethal infectious agents, such as Leishmania donovani infantum, Babesia canis, Ehrlichia canis, and Dirofilaria immitis. However, records show that the travelling dogs are not fully protected ...
Valdes-Martinez A, Eades SC, Strickland KN, Roberts ED.We describe the echocardiographic findings in a 4-day-old thoroughbred foal with an aortico-pulmonary septal defect. The foal had labored breathing, cyanotic mucous membranes and a continuous grade 5/6 heart murmur with point of maximal intensity over the base of the heart on the right side. Echocardiographically, there was a large communication between the aorta and the pulmonary artery just dorsal to the base of the heart. The cardiac anomaly seen during the echocardiographic exam was confirmed at necropsy where a large communication between the two great vessels was observed. These findings...
Deeg CA, Amann B, Raith AJ, Kaspers B.To test the hypothesis that inter- and intramolecular spreading to S-antigen (S-Ag) and interphotoreceptor retinoid binding protein (IRBP)-derived epitopes occurs in a spontaneous model of recurrent uveitis in the horse. Methods: The immune response of eight horses with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) was compared with that of five control horses with healthy eyes. Lymphocytes derived from peripheral blood (PBLs) were tested every 8 weeks for their reactivity against S-Ag and various S-Ag and IRBP-derived peptides for 12 to 39 months (median, 22 months). During uveitic episodes, additional bloo...
Janicek JC, Kramer J, Coates JR, Lattimer JC, Lacarrubba AM, Messer NT.A 4-month-old Missouri Fox Trotter colt was examined for a 5-week history of head tilt after treatment for suspected pulmonary Rhodococcus equi infection. Results: Computed tomography revealed osteolysis of the occipital, temporal, and caudal portion of the parietal bones of the left side of the cranium. A soft tissue mass compressing the occipital region of the cerebral cortex and cerebellum was associated with the osteolytic bone. Results: A rostrotentorial-suboccipital craniectomy approach was performed to remove fragmented occipital bone, debulk the intracranial mass, and obtain tissue sam...
Goodrich LR, Nixon AJ.The medical treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) in the horse is one of the most utilized therapeutic regimens in the equine practice. It is important to understand the anatomy of synovial joints and the pathophysiology of the disease process to treat OA adequately. Once a thorough understanding of the disease process is comprehended the proper combination of systemic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), intraarticular steroids, viscosupplementation and chondroprotectants can be used to treat the disease and inhibit further progression of degenerative changes to the cartilage surface. Th...
Parkin TD, Clegg PD, French NP, Proudman CJ, Riggs CM, Singer ER, Webbon PM, Morgan KL.The characteristics of, and pre-existing pathology associated with 75 cases of fatal lateral condylar fracture sustained by Thoroughbreds while racing in the UK were described. Cases were identified from 220 cases of fatal distal limb fracture submitted as part of studies designed to identify risk factors for all fatal distal limb fractures. Fractures were most common in hurdle races and affected the right forelimb twice as often as the left forelimb. Fracture dimensions were similar to previous reports, however there was a much greater prevalence of articular and diaphyseal comminution and of...
Marchiondo AA, White GW, Smith LL, Reinemeyer CR, Dascanio JJ, Johnson EG, Shugart JI.Clinical field trials were conducted at five geographical locations in the USA (Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Virginia and Idaho) to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pyrantel pamoate paste (19.13%, w/w, pyrantel base) administered at the recommended dosage of 13.2 mg pyrantel base/kg (6.0 mg pyrantel base/lb) body weight (b.w.) against tapeworm infections of Anoplocephala spp. in naturally infected horses. Horses at each study site were allocated by restricted randomization based on the cestode status (positive or negative) of pre-treatment fecal egg counts to complete sets of four animal...
Kaiser L, Heleski CR, Siegford J, Smith KA.To determine whether therapeutic riding resulted in higher levels of stress or frustration for horses than did recreational riding and whether therapeutic riding with at-risk individuals was more stressful for the horses than was therapeutic riding with individuals with physical or emotional handicaps. Methods: Observational study. Methods: 14 horses in a therapeutic riding program. Methods: An ethogram of equine behaviors was created, and horses were observed while ridden by 5 groups of riders (recreational riders, physically handicapped riders, psychologically handicapped riders, at risk chi...
Brazik EL, Luquire JT, Little D.16 horses treated daily with pyrantel tartrate (2.64 mg/kg [1.2 mg/lb], PO) as part of a prophylactic anthelmintic program. Results: Fecal worm egg counts (FWECs) were obtained on all 16 horses. Mean FWEC was 478 eggs/g (epg; range, 0 to 4,075 epg). Three of the 16 horses were responsible for 85% of the total fecal egg output for the herd on the day of sampling. Six horses had FWECs < 200 epg. Three horses that had arrived within 4 months of the sampling date had FWECs 100 epg (9 horses) were treated with pyrantel pamoate (6.6 mg/kg [3 mg/lb], PO), and 14 days later, the FWEC was repeated....
Wettstein D, Moens Y, Jaeggin-Schmucker N, Böhm SH, Rothen HU, Mosing M, Kästner SB, Schatzmann U.To evaluate pulmonary and cardiovascular effects of a recruitment maneuver (RM) combined with positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) during total intravenous anesthesia in ponies. Methods: 6 healthy adult Shetland ponies. Methods: After premedication with detomidine (10 microg/kg, IV), anesthesia was induced with climazolam (0.06 mg/kg, IV) and ketamine (2.2 mg/kg, IV) and maintained with a constant rate infusion of detomidine (0.024 mg/kg/h), climazolam (0.036 mg/kg/h), and ketamine (2.4 mg/kg/h). The RM was preceded by an incremental PEEP titration and followed by a decremental PEEP titrati...
Natalini CC, Linardi RL.To evaluate the effects of epidural administration of hydromorphone on avoidance threshold to noxious electrical stimulation of the perineal, sacral, lumbar, and thoracic regions in horses. Methods: 6 healthy adult horses. Methods: Horses were assigned to receive hydromorphone (0.04 mg/kg) or a control solution (20 mL of sterile water) administered epidurally into in the first intercoccygeal space. Treatments were administered at time intervals of > or = 7 days. Electrical stimulation was applied for 6 hours after epidural injection over the dermatomes of the perineal, sacral, lumbar, and t...
Vanderwall DK, Hyde KJ, Woods GL.To determine whether performance of transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration (TVUFA) repeatedly in mares adversely affects their fertility. Methods: Historical prospective study. Methods: 23 mares that had never undergone TVUFA and 59 mares that had undergone TVUFA on 1 to 11 occasions. Methods: Mares were classified into 4 groups according to the number of TVUFA procedures previously performed on the ovary in which ovulation occurred at the time of insemination as follows: group 1, 0 TVUFAs (control group, n = 23 mares); group 2, 1 or 2 TVUFAs (40 mare-cycles); group 3, 3 or 4 TVUFA...
Kaiser L, Smith KA, Heleski CR, Spence LJ.To determine the effects of a therapeutic riding program on psychosocial measurements among children considered at risk for poor performance or failure in school or life and among children in special education programs. Methods: Observational study. Methods: 17 at-risk children (6 boys and 11 girls) and 14 special education children (7 boys and 7 girls). Methods: For the at-risk children, anger, anxiety, perceived self-competence, and physical coordination were assessed. For the special education children, anger and cheerfulness were measured, and the children's and their mothers' perceptions ...
Durongphongtorn S, McDonell WN, Kerr CL, Neto FJ, Mirakhur KK.To compare hemodynamic, clinicopathologic, and gastrointestinal motility effects and recovery characteristics of halothane and isoflurane in horses undergoing arthroscopic surgery. Methods: 8 healthy adult horses. Methods: Anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane or halothane (crossover study). At 6 intervals during anesthesia and surgery, cardiopulmonary variables and related derived values were recorded. Recovery from anesthesia was assessed; gastrointestinal tract motility was subjectively monitored for 72 hours after anesthesia. Horses were administered chromium, and fecal chromium concen...
Weston MC, Collins ME, Cunningham FM.To assess the biological effects of purified recombinant equine CCL11 on equine eosinophil function. Methods: Following stimulation of eosinophils from normal horses, the polymerised form of actin was measured by flow cytometry using fluorescently labelled phalloidin. Migration was determined in a 96 well plate chemotaxis assay using 8 microm pore membranes, and adherence of eosinophils to serum-coated plastic was assessed using a colorimetric assay for eosinophil peroxidase. Superoxide generation was measured by the reduction of cytochrome C in a colorimetric assay. Results: Equine CCL11 indu...
Winter JC, Sponder G, Merle R, Aschenbach JR, Gehlen H.Equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) is a worldwide disease in horses that parallels human diabetes mellitus type 2. In both diseases, patients show an altered peripheral insulin sensitivity as a key feature. In humans, multiple studies have demonstrated the beneficial effect of magnesium supplementation on insulin sensitivity. However, serum magnesium levels vary and are therefore not a reliable indicator of the patients' magnesium status. Determining the intracellular free magnesium concentration appears to be a more sensitive diagnostic indicator. In this study, the free intracellular magnesium ...
Wendorff KM, Nishita T, Jabusch JR, Deutsch HF.The sequence of equine muscle carbonic anhydrase (CA-III) has been determined. The 2 reactive cysteines of the 5 such residues have been localized. A strong sequence homology to other mammalian carbonic anhydrases exists, and 91% of the residues in the equine and bovine muscle forms are identical.
Liu Y, Uboh CE, Li X, Guan F, You Y, Maylin GA, Zhu F, Soma LR.A rapid and sensitive method for simultaneous screening, quantification and confirmation of 17 barbiturates in horse plasma using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry is described. Analytes were recovered from plasma by liquid-liquid extraction using methyl tert-butyl ether, separated on a C18 column, and analyzed in negative electrospray ionization mode. Multiple-reaction monitoring was employed for screening and quantification. Confirmation for the presence of the analytes was achieved by comparing ion intensity ratio. The ranges for limits of detection, quantification and confirma...
Claunch KM, Eggleston RB, Baxter GM.To compare the effects of 2 approaches and 2 injection volumes on diffusion of mepivacaine hydrochloride for local analgesia of the deep branch of the lateral plantar nerve (DBLPN) in horses. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: 16 adult horses. Methods: Either 2 mL (low volume) or 8 mL (high volume) of mepivacaine hydrochloride-iohexol (50:50 mixture) was injected by means of 1 of 2 techniques to produce analgesia of the DBLPN. For technique 1, the needle was inserted 15 mm distal to the head of the fourth metatarsal bone and directed perpendicular to the limb. For technique 2, the needle wa...
Del Campo MR, Del Campo CH, Mapletoft RJ, Ginther OJ.Morphology and location of the attached cumulus-oocyte complex (COC) were studied in slaughter-house ovaries in horses (49 follicles, 9 to 44 mm), cattle (68 follicles, 6 to 18 mm), and llamas (38 follicles, 3 to 14 mm). The expected point of ovulation was marked, using the ovulation fossa in mares and the center of the projecting follicular surface in cattle and llamas. A follicle was dissected from an ovary, and tissue was removed from the follicle until the COC became visible by transillumination. However, most llama follicles protruded prominently from the ovarian surface so that dissectio...
Koch DW, Ericksen KA, Easley JT, Hackett ES.To report the clinical outcomes of horses with chronic guttural pouch infection characterized by accumulation of mucopurulent material following transpharyngeal diode laser fenestration. 13 client-owned horses. Horses undergoing diode laser fenestration for chronic guttural pouch infection were identified by medical record search. Signalment, disease history, presence of mucopurulent empyema or chondroids, and pre- and postoperative therapy were recorded. Owners were contacted for follow-up information at a minimum of 6 months following surgery. 13 horses underwent laser fenestration for chron...
Todhunter RJ, Altman NS, Kallfelz FA, Nersesian P, Lust G.Combined blood pool and delayed images produced by use of 99mTc-methylene diphosphonate (99mTcMDP) were evaluated as an objective measurement of the response of equine joints with osteochondral defects to postoperative exercise and intra-articularly administered polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSGAG). Osteochondral defects (approx 2.4 x 0.9 cm) were induced arthroscopically in the dorsodistal radial carpal bones of 18 ponies. These ponies were randomized (while balancing for age [range 2 to 15; median, 5.0; mean, 5.1 years]) to 2 treatment groups. Nine ponies were assigned to be exercised, and...
Boakari YL, El-Sheikh Ali H, Schnobrich M, Lofrumento K, Scoggin C, Bradecamp E, Scoggin K, Esteller-Vico A, Claes A, Lawrence L, Ball B.High blood urea nitrogen (BUN) concentration is linked to low fertility in cows and ewes; however, this relationship has not been reported in mares. The study characterized the relationship between BUN and follicular fluid urea nitrogen (FUN) during follicle growth (Experiment 1) and the impact of BUN from embryo donors on the pregnancy outcome of recipient mares (Experiment 2). In experiment one, follicular fluid and blood samples were collected from mares during diestrus with growing follicles and during estrus with pre-ovulatory follicles (n = 16 and 10 mares, respectively). In experiment...
Willoughby RA, Ecker GL, McKee SL, Riddolls LJ.Mucociliary clearance rates from the trachea were determined in normal, sedated, diseased and exercised horses from scintigraphs obtained after an injection of technetium-99m sulphide colloid into the tracheal lumen. The group mean tracheal clearance rate of eight clinically normal horses during 42 trials was 2.06 +/- 0.38 cm/min. Significant between horse differences were found (p less than 0.05). When six and seven of these horses were given xylazine and detomidine hydrochloride, respectively, mean group tracheal clearance rates dropped significantly (p less than 0.05). The decreases from ea...
Murray RC, Debowes RM, Gaughan EM, Bramlage LR.Closed fractures of the proximal aspect of the ulna were repaired in 10 horses younger than or equal to 6 months of age by application of a hook plate using a tension band principle. Ulnar fractures were classified as type 1A (2 horses), type 1B (4 horses), type 2 (1 horse), type 3 (1 horse), and type 4 (2 horses); all fractures had displacement of a proximal fragment. Complications were implant deformation (4 horses), screw pullout (1 horse), osseous sequestration (1 horse), ulnar fracture through a hole used to apply a tension device (1 horse), and metacarpophalangeal deformity associated wi...
Fintl C, Pearson GT, Ricketts SW, Mayhew IG, Hudson NP.This study set out to determine the pattern of development and distribution of the interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC) in the intestinal tract of the equine fetus and neonate. Intestinal tissue samples from 12 naturally aborted equine fetuses and three euthanized neonates were collected and fixed in formalin prior to applying standard immunohistochemical labelling techniques targeting the c-Kit protein of the ICC. At 6 months of gestation, a network of ICC was present in the myenteric plexus region of both the small and the large intestine. ICC were also present within the circular muscle layer....
Piličiauskienė G, Kurila L, Ežerinskis Ž, Šapolaitė J, Garbaras A, Zagurskytė A, Micelicaitė V.The tradition of burying horses in Lithuania lasted from the Early Roman period until the late 14th C AD. It was the longest-lasting custom in Europe, which has left about 2000 known horse burials. This paper publishes the osteometric data and age of horses found in Lithuanian cemeteries and castles of the 3rd-14th C AD, over 200 individuals in total. These are the remains of all the horses still stored in Lithuanian institutions. The paper discusses the dynamics of horse body size in order to test previously suggested hypotheses regarding the relationship between large horse body size and its...
Safir JM, Loy RG, Fitzgerald BP.To investigate the hypothesis that the onset of the breeding season in the mare may be due to a daylength-induced seasonal increase in LHRH pulse frequency, 5 mares were immunized against LHRH. Beginning 1 December, 5 immunized and 5 untreated control mares were exposed to an abrupt, artificial increase in daylength (16L:8D) to advance the onset of the breeding season. In control mares ovulation occurred 49.6 +/- 3.5 (s.e.m.) days later (18 January), whereas in 3/5 immunized mares ovulation had not occurred by 1 April. In the remaining 2 mares, although ovulation occurred once (Mare 79) or twi...
Dobiáš R, Jahn P, Tóthová K, Dobešová O, Višňovská D, Patil R, Škríba A, Jaworská P, Škorič M, Podojil L, Kantorová M, Mrázek J....Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) may be a rare cause of granulomatous pneumonia in horses. The mortality of IPA is almost 100%; direct diagnostic tools in horses are needed. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and serum samples were collected from 18 horses, including individuals suffering from IPA (n = 1), equine asthma (EA, n = 12), and 5 healthy controls. Serum samples were collected from another 6 healthy controls. Samples of BALF (n = 18) were analyzed for spp. DNA, fungal galactomannan (GM), ferricrocin (Fc), triacetylfusarinin C (TafC), and gliotoxin (Gtx). Analysis of 24 serum s...
Ziegler A, Olzhausen J, Hamza E, Stojiljkovic A, Stoffel MH, Garbani M, Rhyner C, Marti E.Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) constitutes the only curative approach for allergy treatment. There is need for improvement of AIT in veterinary medicine, such as in horses suffering from insect bite hypersensitivity, an IgE-mediated dermatitis to Culicoides. Dendritic cell (DC)-targeting represents an efficient method to increase antigen immunogenicity. It is studied primarily for its use in improvement of cancer therapy and vaccines, but may also be useful for improving AIT efficacy. Immunomodulators, like the Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) agonist monophosphoryl lipid-A (MPLA) has been ...
Moll HD, Slone DE, Juzwiak JS, Garrett PD.A diagonal paramedian approach to the abdomen was used for unilateral ovariectomy in 15 mares. In each case, surgery was performed for removal of a granulosa cell tumor. All horses recovered from surgery with minimal complications. Surgical exposure of the affected ovary was adequate to allow exteriorization and ligation. Other advantages of this approach were ease of closure and lack of postsurgical complications.
Henshall C, Randle H, Francis N, Freire R.Horse training exposes horses to an array of cognitive and ethological challenges. Horses are routinely required to perform behaviours that are not aligned to aspects of their ethology, which may delay learning. While horses readily form habits during training, not all of these responses are considered desirable, resulting in the horse being subject to retraining. This is a form of cognitive flexibility and is critical to the extinction of habits and the learning of new responses. It is underpinned by complex neural processes which can be impaired by chronic or repeated stress. Domestic horses...
Ostevik L, de Souza GA, Wien TN, Gunnes G, Sørby R.Two horses with chronic uveitis and histological lesions consistent with equine recurrent uveitis (ERU) were examined. Microscopical findings in the ciliary body included deposits of amyloid lining the non-pigmented epithelium, intracytoplasmic, rod-shaped, eosinophilic inclusions and intraepithelial infiltration of T lymphocytes. Ultrastructural examination of the ciliary body of one horse confirmed the presence of abundant extracellular deposits of non-branching fibrils (9-11 nm in diameter) consistent with amyloid. Immunohistochemistry revealed strong positive labelling for AA amyloid and m...
Gregg AJ, Schenkel AR.Platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (PECAM, CD31) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1, CD106) are essential for leukocyte emigration and diapedesis. PECAM is an essential histologic marker of endothelial cells; VCAM-1 is a prototype marker for endothelial cell activation. In this study, equine PECAM and VCAM mRNA were cloned and sequenced. Both genes are highly conserved amongst several species. This study also revealed conserved structural and regulatory motifs, emphasizing the importance of these genes' physiological roles in immunological responses.
Sato T, Itou T, Sakai T.The complete coding region sequence of equine muscle-type phosphofructokinase (ePFKM) was obtained from skeletal muscle of a thoroughbred horse. The deduced amino acid sequence of ePFKM showed 97%, 96%, 96%, 96% and 95% identity to canine, human, mouse, rabbit and rat PFKM, respectively. The amino and carboxyl terminal halves of ePFKM presented a structure of tandem repeat, as other mammalian PFKMs. As the amino acid residues constituting various ligand-binding sites were also conserved, it is thought that ePFKM has enzymatic activity similar to PFKM in other mammals.
Welch RD, DeBowes RM, Liepold HW.To evaluate the effects of intra-articular injection of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) on normal equine articular structures, 7 adult horses with clinically normal carpi were allotted to 2 treatment groups (group A, n = 4; group B, n = 3). In each horse after collection of synovial fluid samples, the right antebrachial carpal and middle carpal joints were aseptically injected with 2 ml of a 40% solution of 90% medical grade DMSO in lactated Ringer solution, and the corresponding joints of the left forelimb (controls) were injected with 2 ml of lactated Ringer solution. In group-A horses, 2 ml of syn...
Paraschou G, Vogel PE, Lee AM, Trawford RF, Priestnall SL.Multisystemic eosinophilic epitheliotropic disease (MEED) is a rare condition of equids characterized by eosinophilic infiltration of multiple organs. Clinical signs are variable depending on the affected organs. The most common clinical signs include chronic weight loss, diarrhoea and exfoliative dermatitis. Respiratory distress and raised liver enzymes are less frequently seen. The cause is unknown and the pathogenesis is poorly understood. There are less than 50 reported cases of horses with MEED. We now document the lesions in three donkeys with fluctuating or chronic loss of weight, letha...
Greet TR.Radiological features of the oesophagus of 7 normal horses and 13 with oesophageal lesions are described. The use of barium sulphate as a contrast agent and the techniqes of its administration are discussed. It is suggested that chronic intermittent oesophageal impaction with food material was a predisposing factor in the development of a localised oesophageal dilation in 3 horses and that one other probably resulted from an injury. A similar dilatation was seen which resulted from oesophageal constriction by a vascular ring. Megaoesophagus was seen in 2 ponies associated with grass sickness a...
Blaga R, Cretu CM, Gherman C, Draghici A, Pozio E, Noeckler K, Kapel CM, Dida I, Cozma V, Boireau P.Herbivorous animals are usually, by virtue of their diet, outside the major transmission cycles of Trichinella spp. However, since 1975, the year of the first report of human trichinellosis caused by the consumption of infected horse meat, the domestic horse has appeared as a novel vector of Trichinella spp. infection to humans, with 15 outbreaks documented in France and Italy. Romania, one of the main countries exporting horses into the European Union (EU), experienced a dramatic increase of Trichinella spp. infection in both domestic pigs and humans in the 1990s. Some Trichinella spiralis-in...
Oleksiewicz MB, Snijder EJ, Normann P.A putative zinc finger (ZF) domain in the Equine arteritis virus (EAV) nsp1 protein was described recently to be required for viral transcription. The nsp1 ZF (50 aa) was expressed on the surface of M13KE gIII phage, fused to the N terminus of the phage pIII protein. To evaluate the functionality of the ZF domain, a binding assay was developed, based on the use of immobilized Ni(2+) ions (Ni-NTA). Phages displaying ZF bound significantly better to Ni-NTA than did phages displaying negative-control peptides, which also contained metal-coordinating residues. Also, binding of ZF-displaying phages...
