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Topic:Equine Science
Equine Science encompasses the study of horses and their management, health, and performance. This field integrates various scientific disciplines such as biology, genetics, nutrition, physiology, and veterinary medicine to understand and improve the well-being and capabilities of horses. Areas of focus include equine anatomy, reproduction, behavior, and disease prevention. Research in equine science aims to enhance horse care, optimize training and performance, and address health challenges. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine science, providing insights into the latest advancements and methodologies in the field.
Day of cycle affects changes in equine intrauterine pressure in response to teasing. Oxytocin is released in response to teasing during both estrus and diestrus in mares, and at least during estrus, teasing results in an increase in electromyographic activity in the uterus. Exogenous oxytocin causes an increase in intrauterine pressure and prior studies have shown that this response is correlated to the day of the estrous cycle. To determine if teasing causes an increase in intrauterine pressure and if this response varies by day of the cycle, intrauterine pressure was measured while mares were teased with a stallion 2 days before ovulation, on the day ovulation was detected a...
Assessment of corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, optical corneal diameter, and axial globe dimensions in Miniature Horses. To determine corneal thickness, intraocular pressure (IOP), and horizontal and vertical corneal diameter (HCD and VCD) and to obtain axial measurements of the anterior chamber depth (ACD), crystalline lens thickness (CLT), vitreous chamber depth (VtCD), and axial globe length (AGL) in eyes of Miniature Horses. Methods: 41 healthy Miniature Horses. Methods: Ocular component measurements were obtained via ultrasonic pachymetry, applanation tonometry, ultrasound, and by use of a Jameson caliper. Results: Mean IOP and corneal thickness for all eyes were 26.0 mm Hg and 785.6 microm, respectively. T...
Comparison of nociceptive withdrawal reflexes and recruitment curves between the forelimbs and hind limbs in conscious horses. To compare nociceptive withdrawal reflexes (NWRs) evoked from the distal aspect of the left forelimb and hind limb in conscious standing horses and to investigate NWR recruitment for graded electrical stimulation intensities. Methods: 20 adult horses. Methods: Surface electromyographic (EMG) activity evoked by transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the digital palmar (or plantar) nerve was recorded from the common digital extensor and cranial tibial muscles. Stimuli consisted of 25-millisecond train-of-5 constant current pulses. Current intensity was gradually increased until NWR threshold i...
Histochemical detection of glycoconjugates in the male reproductive system of the horse. Lectins are glycoproteins of plant and animal origin that have the ability to bind specific carbohydrate residues of cell glycoconjugates, particularly in terminal positions. In this study, the binding of lectins, Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA), soybean agglutinin (SBA), Bandeiraea simplicifolia BS-1 (isolectin B4), Triticum vulgaris (WGA), Arachis hypogaea (PNA), and Ulex europaeus (UEA-I), was studied in the reproductive systems of male thoroughbred horses.DBA was detected in the stereocilia of the caput and corpus epididymis, and in the vas deferens. It was weakly detected in connective...
The effect of dietary energy source on serum concentration of insulin-like growth factor-I growth hormone, insulin, glucose, and fat metabolites in weanling horses. Feeding diets high in soluble carbohydrates to growing horses has been implicated in the development of orthopedic diseases; as a result, substitution of dietary fat for soluble carbohydrates has received attention. Because IGF-I is integral to growth and cartilage development and because it is influenced by nutrition, we evaluated the effect of dietary fat substitution on metabolic endpoints and circulating GH and IGF-I in growing horses. Twelve Quarter Horse weanlings, four female and eight male, 151 to 226 d old, were blocked by sex and age and assigned to two treatment groups. Group one (C...
Scintigraphic evaluation of the thoracic spine in the asymptomatic riding horse. Scintigraphic evaluation of the spinous processes of the equine spine has been done by subjective evaluation of radiotracer uptake in clinically abnormal horses. To determine the range of variation in asymptomatic riding horses, 33 normal horses were examined. Two 60 degrees oblique views of the thoracic and lumbar spine were evaluated subjectively, and a semi quantitative method based on standardized regions of interest in each spinous process in T10-L3 was also applied. A ratio between each spinous process and a reference area (Rib 15 or 16) was calculated. The effects of two different color...
Molecular cloning of equine muscle-type phosphofructokinase cDNA. 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.
Optimising vaccination strategies in equine influenza. A stochastic model of equine influenza (EI) is constructed to assess the risk of an outbreak in a Thoroughbred population at a typical flat race training yard. The model is parameterised using data from equine challenge experiments conducted by the Animal Health Trust (relating to the latent and infectious period of animals) and also published data on previous epidemics (to estimate the transmission rate for equine influenza). Using 89 ponies, an empirical relationship between pre-challenge antibody and the probability of becoming infectious is established using logistic regression. Changes in...
Are uniform regional safety factors an objective of adaptive modeling/remodeling in cortical bone? It has been hypothesized that a major objective of morphological adaptation in limb-bone diaphyses is the achievement of uniform regional safety factors between discrete cortical locations (e.g. between cranial and caudal cortices at mid-diaphysis). This hypothesis has been tested, and appears to be supported in the diaphyses of ovine and equine radii. The present study more rigorously examined this question using the equine third metacarpal (MC3), which has had functionally generated intracortical strains estimated by a sophisticated finite element model. Mechanical properties of multiple mid...
Effects of novelty stress on neuroendocrine activities and running performance in thoroughbred horses. This study investigated the effects of novelty stress on neuroendocrine activities and running performance in Thoroughbred horses. First, to examine the neuroendocrine responses to novelty stress, we exposed horses to two types of novel environmental stimuli (audiovisual or novel field stimuli). After the stimuli, plasma concentrations of vasopressin, catecholamines and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), as well as heart rates, were significantly increased in each experiment. Second, we investigated neuroendocrine activities during incremental exercise. Plasma concentrations of vasopressin, catechola...
Equine telomeres and telomerase in cellular immortalisation and ageing. To determine the role of telomeres in cellular ageing in equids, we analysed telomere lengths in peripheral blood derived DNA samples from a panel of donkeys (Equus asinus) ranging from 2 to 30 years of age. The average telomere lengths ranged from 7 to 21 kbp and a statistically significant inverse correlation between telomere lengths and donor age was demonstrated. Similarly, telomere lengths in primary fibroblasts isolated from a horse (Equus equus) demonstrated telomeric loss with in vitro ageing when cultured to senescence. We extended this study to evaluate activity of the enzyme telomer...
Tenoscopic release of the equine carpal canal. To develop a tenoscopic method to divide the carpal flexor retinaculum and decompress the carpal canal. Methods: Cadaver specimen study and prospective trial. Methods: Twelve cadaveric limbs, 4 clinically normal horses, and 2 clinically affected horses. Methods-A tenoscopic approach to the proximolateral aspect of the carpal sheath was used to identify and facilitate endoscopic division of the inner and outer layers of the carpal flexor retinaculum in cadaver limbs. The technique was further evaluated in 4 normal and 2 clinically affected horses. Results: Anatomic dissection, intraoperative ob...
Production of capsular material by equine trophoblast transplanted into immunodeficient mice. A novel xenogeneic transplantation approach was used to determine whether it is embryonic or maternal tissue that produces the material that gives rise to the mucin-like glycoprotein of the equine embryonic capsule. Endometrial biopsy samples and conceptuses from six mares at days 13-15 after ovulation were prepared as 1 mm(3) grafts of endometrium, trophoblast and capsule for transplantation, alone or in combination, into various sites in 88 immunodeficient (severe combined immunodeficient or RAG2/gamma(c) double mutant) mice. The overall recovery rate of grafts was over 50%, reaching 100% wi...
Mapping epitopes in equine rhinitis A virus VP1 recognized by antibodies elicited in response to infection of the natural host. Equine rhinitis A virus (ERAV) is an important respiratory pathogen of horses and is of additional interest because of its close relationship and common classification with foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV). As is the case with FMDV, the VP1 capsid protein of ERAV has been shown to be a target of neutralizing antibodies. In FMDV VP1, such antibodies commonly recognize linear epitopes present in the betaG-betaH loop region. To map linear B cell epitopes in ERAV VP1, overlapping fragments spanning its length were expressed in Escherichia coli as glutathione S-transferase (GST) fusion proteins....
Effect of growth hormone (GH) on in vitro nuclear and cytoplasmic oocyte maturation, cumulus expansion, hyaluronan synthases, and connexins 32 and 43 expression, and GH receptor messenger RNA expression in equine and porcine species. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of growth hormone (GH) on in vitro cumulus expansion and oocyte maturation in equine and porcine cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs), and to approach its way of action. Equine COCs were cultured in a control medium (TCM199, 5 mg/ml BSA, 1 microg/ml estradiol, and antibiotics) supplemented with either 0.5 microg/ml equine GH or 5 microg/ml equine LH. Porcine COCs were cultured in a basal medium (TCM199 with 570 microM cysteamine) supplemented with 0, 0.1, 0.5, or 1 microg/ml porcine GH or in a control medium (basal medium with 10 ng/ml epidermal gro...
Seasonal changes in semen quality and freezability in the Warmblood stallion. The objective of this study was to investigate seasonal changes in stallion semen quality and to determine the best time for semen cryopreservation. Experiments were performed using 10 Warmblood stallions from the National Stud Farm in Avenches (Switzerland). Ejaculates were collected and frozen every other week during 1 year from January to December 1999. Volume, concentration, and motility, and the number of morphologically normal sperm and sperm with major defects (abnormal heads, acrosome defects, nuclear vacuoles, proximal droplets, abnormal midpieces) were evaluated. For all frozen-thawe...
Case-control study to investigate risk factors for horse falls in hurdle racing in England and Wales. Between March 1, 2000 and August 31, 2001, a case-control study was conducted on 12 racecourses in England and Wales to identify and quantify the risk factors associated with horse falls in hurdle races. The cases and controls were defined so that variables relating to the horse, the jockey, the race and racecourse, and the jump could be considered. The cases were defined as a jumping effort at a hurdle flight that resulted in a fall, and the controls were defined as a successful jump over a hurdle at any of the 12 racecourses within 14 days before or after the case fall. Conditional logistic ...
The second generation of the International Equine Gene Mapping Workshop half-sibling linkage map. A low-density, male-based linkage map was constructed as one of the objectives of the International Equine Gene Mapping Workshop. Here we report the second generation map based on testing 503 half-sibling offspring from 13 sire families for 344 informative markers using the CRIMAP program. The multipoint linkage analysis localized 310 markers (90%) with 257 markers being linearly ordered. The map included 34 linkage groups representing all 31 autosomes and spanning 2262 cM with an average interval between loci of 10.1 cM. This map is a milestone in that it is the first map with linkage groups ...
Are the material properties and matrix composition of equine flexor and extensor tendons determined by their functions? Injury to the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is common in competition horses. The SDFT contributes to locomotory efficiency by storing energy; such tendons have low safety margins. Tendons which merely position the limb, including the opposing common digital extensor tendon (CDET), are rarely injured. The current failure of strategies to prevent or effectively treat injury to the SDFT indicates the importance of understanding how it differs from tendons which are not injury-prone. Objective: That the structural and material properties and matrix composition of the SDFT and CDET diffe...
Influence of dietary beetpulp on the plasma level of triacylglycerols in horses. In a cross-over study with six adult horses, the effect of isoenergetic replacement of dietary glucose by beetpulp on the concentration of plasma triacylglycerols was studied. The test ration contained 25% beetpulp in the dietary dry matter. The feeding of beet pulp lowered plasma triacylglycerol concentrations (p = 0.058) in the fasting state and raised the activity of heparin-released lipoprotein lipase (LPL) (p = 0.059) and the concentration of HDL2 cholesterol (p = 0.058). In the fasting state, the plasma concentrations of free fatty acids (p = 0.073) and those of beta-hydroxybutyrate (p =...
IgA and secretory component (SC) in the third eyelid of domestic animals: a comparative study. The third eyelid of domestic animals is important for the production and distribution of tears, in removing ocular debris and in protection of the globe, and has significant immunologic functions. Although it is known that tears contain antibodies of the immunoglobulin A (IgA) isotype which are produced mainly by plasma cells of the lacrimal gland, very little is known about the antibody repertoires in the third eyelid of domestic animals. To assess whether IgA is derived from local synthesis, we analyzed the location of IgA-producing cells and the cellular distribution of secretory component ...
The effect of three types of rasps on the occlusal surface of equine cheek teeth: a scanning electron microscopic study. Two hand rasps (tungsten chip blade, solid carbide blade) and an electrically-driven solid carbide axial bur were used to treat the cheek teeth of 2 horses immediately postmortem. All teeth were normal and were rasped to a standard considered satisfactory in practice. Six teeth from each horse served as untreated controls. Following treatment, the teeth were extracted and the clinical crown removed and prepared for scanning electron microscopy. Teeth were also extracted and examined from a horse that had excessive dental treatment previously. Dental debris created by the procedures was collect...
