Experimental methods in equine research encompass a variety of techniques and procedures used to investigate physiological, behavioral, and health-related aspects of horses. These methods are designed to collect data that can enhance the understanding of equine biology and inform veterinary practices. Common experimental approaches include controlled trials, observational studies, and laboratory-based experiments. Techniques may involve the use of non-invasive imaging, biochemical assays, and physiological monitoring to assess parameters such as metabolic function, locomotion, and disease progression. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the application, development, and evaluation of experimental methods in the study of equine science.
Hopster K, Watkins AR, Hurcombe SD.To compare the antinociceptive effects of morphine administered via cervical epidural catheter to intravenously administered morphine using a thermal threshold (TT) testing model in healthy adult horses. Methods: Prospective, randomized, blinded experimental study. Methods: A total of six university-owned adult horses. Methods: Horses were instrumented with a cervical (C1-C2) epidural catheter and TT testing device with probes at withers and thoracic limb coronary bands. All horses underwent three TT testing cycles including cervical epidural morphine administration (treatment EpiM; 0.1 mg kg-...
Regenerative medicine applied to skin lesions is a field in constant improvement. The use of biomaterials with integrin agonists could promote cell adhesion increasing tissue repair processes. The aim of this pilot study was to analyze the effect of an α4β1 integrin agonist on cell adhesion of equine adipose tissue (AT) and Wharton's jelly (WJ) derived MSCs and to investigate their adhesion ability to GM18 incorporated poly L-lactic acid (PLLA) scaffolds. Adhesion assays were performed after culturing AT- and WJ-MSCs with GM18 coating or soluble GM18. Cell adhesion on GM18 containing PLLA sc...
Fowler AL, Hayes SH, Crum AD, Lawrence LM.Titanium dioxide has been used as a marker for determining diet digestibility indirectly, but some authors have expressed difficulty in measuring TiO2 concentrations in fecal material. We developed an accurate and precise method to determine TiO2 concentrations in equine feces. The method includes dry-ashing samples, digestion with (NH4)2SO4 in concentrated sulfuric acid, followed by the addition of H2O2 to produce a yellow to orange color that can be read spectrophotometrically. Accuracy was tested by spike recovery, and precision was tested by examining the coefficient of variation (CV) betw...
Enke N, Brinkmann L, Südekum KH, Tholen E, Gerken M.Horses lose high amounts of Na through excessive sweating. These fluid losses can often not be replaced completely by voluntary water intake, requiring saline solutions as rehydration therapy to regain electrolyte balance. The experiment aimed to evaluate the sensitivity and tolerance of Shetland ponies towards different Na concentrations in their drinking water and contained three phases: (1) control: only fresh water provided; (2) pairwise-preference test: choice between fresh water and saline solution with stepwise increasing sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration (0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0%, 1...
Samimi AS, Molaei MM, Azari O, Rezaei MA, Hashemian A.The present study aimed to compare the sedative and analgesic effects of caudal epidural administration of lidocaine alone or in combination with four different α-adrenergic agonists in Mediterranean miniature donkeys. A total of ten clinically healthy (five males and five females) Mediterranean miniature donkeys with an age of 5 ± 1 years, a weight of 100 ± 2 kg and a height at the withers of 0.8 ± 0.06 m (mean ± standard deviation) were used in experimental, crossover (Latin square), randomized, and blinded study. Animals were assigned to five treatment groups including lidocaine alone ...
Janczarek I, Wiśniewska A, Tkaczyk E, Wnuk-Pawlak E, Kaczmarek B, Liss-Szczepanek M, Kędzierski W.Cooling a horse after intensive exercise under hot conditions is commonly recommended. The study aimed to analyze changes in the rectal and surface temperature of the horses subjected to various water cooling treatments. This followed medium-intensity exercise performed by leisure horses under moderate air temperature. The experiment involved a control group without water application, and three variants of water cooling applied to 19 warmblood geldings after medium-intensity effort. Cooling of lower, upper, and lower and upper body parts was performed. In each variant, the rectal and body surf...
Spriet M, Edwards L, Arndt S, Wilson SS, Galuppo LD, Stepanov P, Beylin D.A positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, with an openable ring of detectors, was specifically designed to image the distal limb of standing horses. The goals of this prospective, preclinical, experimental, methods comparison study were to validate the safety of the scanner, assess image quality, and optimize scanning protocols. Six research horses were imaged three times (twice standing, once anesthetized) and six horses in active race training were imaged once under standing sedation. Multiple scans of both front fetlocks were obtained with different scan durations and axial fields of vi...
Peeters MWJ, Thursby JJ, Watson HE, Berner D.Palmaroproximal-palmarodistal oblique (PaPr-PaDiO) radiographs are regularly obtained for a full evaluation of the navicular bone (NB). Despite their routine use, different acquisition techniques are described. Objective: To determine optimal foot placement and beam angle for obtaining PaPr-PaDiO views. Methods: In vitro experiment. Methods: A convenience sample of 26 disarticulated forelimbs were placed in six different positions using a leg press to mimic the weight-bearing position. In each position, navicular PaPr-PaDiO images were obtained with eight different beam angles. The resulting 1...
Nielsen MK, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G, Kuzmina TA, van Doorn DCK, Meana A, Rehbein S, Elliott T, Reinemeyer CR.This guideline have been developed to assist in the design, execution, and interpretation of studies to assess the efficacy of anthelmintic drugs against internal parasites of equines, including nematodes, cestodes, and larval instars of Gasterophilus spp. The design and execution of critical and controlled studies are outlined, and their advantages and disadvantages are discussed. Unique considerations for specific target parasites are included. Information is also provided on selection of animals, procedures for randomization, housing, feeding, dosage titration, dosage confirmation and field...
Pressanto MC, Pascoletti G, Perkins JD, Zanetti EM, Beccati F, Santalucia V, Pepe M.To validate the use of a polyblend tape suture in equine laryngoplasty (PL). Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Thirty-two cadaveric larynges. Methods: Each larynx was randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: PL with polyblend tape suture (TigerTape), without (TT) or with a cannula (TTC) in the muscular process of the arytenoid cartilage, and PL with polyester suture (Ethibond), without (EB) or with a cannula (EBC). Construct stiffness, total migration, creep, and drift values were measured after 3000 cycles. The specimens were then loaded to failure to assess their residual properties: load a...
Abd El-Rahman SS, Amer MS, Hassan MH, Fahmy HM, Shamaa AA.Lyophilized equine platelet derived growth factors (LGF) is a novel advanced platelet rich protein growth factor. It has been successfully applied in various fields of regenerative medicine to treat a variety of inflammatory and degenerative musculoskeletal conditions. Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of intraarticularly injected LGF for the remedy of articular cartilage injury, commonly characterized by progressive pain and loss of joint function in osteoarthritic rabbits. Full-thickness cylindrical cartilage defects were generated in both femoral condylar articular surfaces in twenty...
Moreno CR, Santschi EM, Younkin JT, Larson RL, Litsky AS.To determine the failure method of simulated equine medial femoral condyle (MFC) subchondral bone defects under compression and the influence of screw placement on failure resistance. Methods: In vitro study. Methods: Composite disks (CD) simulating the moduli of yearling bone in the MFC. Methods: Four CD conditions were tested, all with a 12.7 mm void (n = 6 per condition): intact (no void), void only, void with a 4.5 mm screw placed in neutral fashion, and void with a 4.5 mm screw placed in lag fashion. Composite disks of each condition were tested under monotonic compression to 6000...
Moorman VJ, Pezzanite LM, Griffenhagen GM.To compare the efficacy and duration of action for perineural analgesia with liposomal bupivacaine (LB) versus bupivacaine hydrochloride (BHCl) in a sole-pressure induced model of forelimb lameness in horses. Methods: 6 healthy adult research horses. Methods: In 1 randomly assigned forelimb, grade 3/5 lameness was induced by use of a sole-pressure lameness model. Objective lameness (vector sum [VS]) was determined with an inertial sensor system at 0, 1, 6, and 24 hours after lameness induction to evaluate the model. Mechanical nociceptive thresholds (MNTs) and objective lameness (VS and force ...
Schulze N, Werpy N, Gernhardt J, Fritsch G, Hildebrandt T, Vanderperren K, Klopfleisch R, Ben Romdhane R, Lischer C, Ehrle A.Dynamic computed tomography (CT) imaging has been introduced in human orthopaedics and is continuing to gain popularity. With dynamic CT, video sequences of anatomical structures can be evaluated in motion. Objective: To investigate the feasibility of dynamic CT for diagnostic imaging of the equine cervical articular process joints (APJs) and to give a detailed description of the APJ movement pattern. Methods: Descriptive cadaver imaging. Methods: Cervical specimens of twelve Warmblood horses were included. A custom-made motorised testing device was used to position and manipulate the neck spe...
Cheng X, Kong X, Fan Y, Wang X, Li Z, Wu H.Generally, adequate motor coordination (MC) ability is one among the critical factors for the overall development of children. In this paper, we have thoroughly analyzed the effects of equine-assistant activity (EAA) training on MC in children. For this purpose, MC test, specifically for children, was used to the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK), and a total of 100 children, particularly those in 8 to 10 age, were equally separated into equine-assistant activity group (EAAG) and control group (CG), respectively. The EAAG group has attended a 14-week EAA training program, while the CG...
Hagen A, Holland H, Brandt VP, Doll CU, Häußler TC, Melzer M, Moellerberndt J, Lehmann H, Burk J.Platelet lysate (PL) is an attractive platelet-based therapeutic tool and has shown promise as xeno-free replacement for fetal bovine serum (FBS) in human and equine mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) culture. Here, we established a scalable buffy-coat-based protocol for canine PL (cPL) production (n = 12). The cPL was tested in canine adipose MSC (n = 5) culture compared to FBS. For further comparison, equine adipose MSC (n = 5) were cultured with analogous equine PL (ePL) or FBS. During canine blood processing, platelet and transforming growth factor-β1 concentrations increased ( < 0.05 and < ...
Potter SJ, Bamford NJ, Baskerville CL, Harris PA, Bailey SR.Ponies and some horse breeds such as Andalusians exhibit an 'easy keeper' phenotype and tend to become obese more readily than other breeds such as Standardbreds. Various hypotheses have been proposed, including differences in appetite or metabolic efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the effect of breed on nutrient digestibility. Ponies, Standardbreds and Andalusian horses were adapted to consuming either a control fibre-based diet ( = 9), a hypercaloric cereal-rich diet ( = 12) or a hypercaloric fat-rich diet ( = 12) over 20 weeks. Total faecal collection was performed over 24 h to de...
Leemans B, Bromfield EG, Stout TAE, Vos M, Van Der Ham H, Van Beek R, Van Soom A, Gadella BM, Henning H.We describe the development of two methods for obtaining confluent monolayers of polarized, differentiated equine oviduct epithelial cells (EOEC) in Transwell inserts and microfluidic chips. EOECs from the ampulla were isolated post-mortem and seeded either (1) directly onto a microporous membrane as differentiated EOECs (direct seeding protocol) or (2) first cultured to a confluent de-differentiated monolayer in conventional wells, then trypsinized and seeded onto a microporous membrane (re-differentiation protocol). Maintenance or induction of EOEC differentiation in these systems was achiev...
Macêdo IN, Arruda LCP, de Santana BB, de Moura TCM, Guerra MMP, Bezerra DG, Carneiro GF, Silva SV.The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the addition of different concentrations of ozone to quarter horse semen submitted to cryopreservation. Six ejaculates from four stallions were collected and were divided in four experimental groups: a control group (BotuCRIO® extender) and three other groups with BotuCRIO® ozonized at concentrations of 6, 8 and 12 μg of O/mL. The semen samples were diluted (200 x 10 spermatozoa/mL), filled in straws and frozen. After thawing (37 ºC, 30s), the samples were evaluated at 0, 30 and 60 minutes of incubation regarding sperm kinetics by ...
Nichols CL, Doherty TJ, Schumacher J, Jones PD, Sun X.To determine whether palmar digital nerve (PDN) blockade in horses with a combination of dexmedetomidine and mepivacaine would block the response to mechanical force applied to the digit longer than would anesthetizing these nerves with mepivacaine alone or dexmedetomidine alone. Methods: 8 mares with no signs of lameness. Methods: In a randomized, crossover, blinded, experimental study, both PDNs of the same forelimb of each horse were anesthetized by perineural injection with either 30 mg mepivacaine alone, 250 µg of dexmedetomidine alone, or 30 mg mepivacaine combined with 250 µg of dexme...
Fojtík L, Fiala J, Pompach P, Chmelík J, Matoušek V, Beier P, Kukačka Z, Novák P.Covalent labeling of proteins in combination with mass spectrometry has been established as a complementary technique to classical structural methods, such as X-ray, NMR, or cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), used for protein structure determination. Although the current covalent labeling techniques enable the protein solvent accessible areas with sufficient spatial resolution to be monitored, there is still high demand for alternative, less complicated, and inexpensive approaches. Here, we introduce a new covalent labeling method based on fast fluoroalkylation of proteins (FFAP). FFAP u...
Carvalho JRG, Conde G, Antonioli ML, Santana CH, Littiere TO, Dias PP, Chinelatto MA, Canola PA, Zara FJ, Ferraz GC.In horses, there is an increasing interest in developing long-lasting drug formulations, with biopolymers as viable carrier alternatives in addition to their use as scaffolds, suture threads, screws, pins, and plates for orthopedic surgeries. This communication focuses on the prolonged biocompatibility and biodegradation of PLA, prepared by hot pressing at 180 °C. Six samples were implanted subcutaneously on the lateral surface of the neck of one horse. The polymers remained implanted for 24 to 57 weeks. Physical examination, plasma fibrinogen, and the mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) w...
Philip M, Karakka Kal AK, Subhahar MB, Karatt TK, Mathew B, Perwad Z.Performance-enhancing substances and methods have become a serious problem in competitive sports. The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) stabilizers can enhance the organism's capacity for molecular oxygen transport and are likely to be abused as performance-enhancing agents in sports. This paper describes the metabolic conversion of the popular hypoxia inducible factor-prolyl hydroxylase (HIF-PH) inhibitors, namely, daprodustat, desidustat, and vadadustat using equine liver microsomes, determined on a QExactive high-resolution mass spectrometer. During this study, a total of 10 metabolites for da...
Kuroda T, Minamijima Y, Nomura M, Yamashita S, Yamada M, Nagata S, Mita H, Tamura N, Fukuda K, Kuwano A, Kusano K, Toutain PL, Sato F.For medication control in several jurisdictions, withdrawal time is the period of refrain from racing after drug administration. It is set by adding a safety period to an experimental detection time. However, there are no reports of statistical analyses of detection time for the determination of withdrawal time in flunixin meglumine-treated horses. Objective: To analyse the population pharmacokinetics of flunixin in horses through the generation of a dataset for detection time statistical analysis and predictions via Monte Carlo simulation. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Drug plasma and...
Amado-Fuentes M, Gozalo M, Garcia-Gomez A, Barrios-Fernandez S.People with disabilities due to genetic origin often present high levels of stress: non-pharmacological interventions such as Equine-Assisted Interventions (EAI) may be a useful strategy. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate stress levels in two participants with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome diagnosis, immediately after carrying out the EAI. A single case experimental design methodology was chosen due to the small sample size. Two participants with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome, a rare disease, with different comorbidities were included. The present study considered the EAI as the indepe...
Lepage OM, Di Francesco P, Moulin N, Gangl M, Texier G, Marchi J, Cadoré JL.Background: The management of bleeding originating from the guttural pouch (GP) has a high success rate, but the resolution of the macroscopic inflammatory lesions in the case of mycosis (GPM) is highly variable; the resolution of neurological disorders is inconstant and challenging. Objectives: Our aim was to test the feasibility and safety of topical oxygen therapy (TOT) in horses after induction of GPM and in cases with naturally occurring disease. Study design: This study was an in vivo experimental and retrospective two-phase study. Methods: During phase 1, the pilot study, both GPs were ...
Hermans H, van den Berg EMH, Slenter IJM, Vendrig DJC, de Nijs-Tjon LJL, Vernooij JCM, Brommer H, Boevé MH, Gehring R.Topical dexamethasone and prednisolone are currently the mainstay treatment for equine ophthalmic inflammatory diseases, such as equine recurrent uveitis. Comparative pharmacokinetic studies in horses are lacking and current guidelines are mainly based on empirical data and extrapolation from other species. Objective: To investigate the penetration and local concentrations of topically applied dexamethasone and prednisolone in normal equine ocular fluids and serum. Methods: Prospective randomised experimental pharmacokinetic study. Methods: Twenty-one Shetland ponies without ophthalmic disease...
Boss CK, Gibson DJ, Schultz G, Whitley RD, Hernandez JA, Abbott JR, Plummer CE.To investigate the therapeutic effects of topical equine amniotic membrane (eAM) suspension following corneal wounding in a controlled experimental setting. Methods: Equine amniotic membrane was collected, gamma irradiated, homogenized for topical suspension preparation, and cryopreserved. Corneoscleral rims harvested from fresh rabbit globes were wounded via keratectomy and were maintained in an air-liquid interface ex vivo corneal culture model. Treatment groups included topical gamma irradiated eAM suspension (n = 20) and a control group (n = 20). Re-epithelialization of the wound was a...
Klett D, Combarnous Y.In previous studies, we had shown the synergistic effect of 10 M forskolin (FSK) on the detection threshold of the cyclic AMP response to luteinizing hormones (LH) and chorionic gonadotropins (CG) from various species in the mouse Leydig tumor cell (mLTC) cell line. Independently, we started to study the effect of 10-10 M oxytocin (OXT) also on the cyclic AMP response to LH and CG preparations on these same cells and found an amplifying effect on the luminescence response caused by gonadotropins. The aim was then to explore the effects of 10-10 M OXT on the gonadotropin-induced cAMP response, ...
Pereira RR, Nogueira BG, Milan B, Acacio BR, Freitas-Dell'Aqua CP, Souza MI, Sampaio BF.The aim of this study was to determine an ozone dosage capable of inducing pro-oxidation, and to verify its action on sperm cells during the process of cooling and cryopreservation of equine semen. In this study, we evaluated the ozone concentrations of 2µg/mL,15µg/mL, 30µg/mL e 60 µg/mL added in equine semen cooling and freezing extenders. Samples were evaluated for sperm kinetics patterns, function of sperm structures and lipid peroxidation. In the experiment, the concentration of 15 µg/mL showed higher total and progressive motility when comparing to control (60.3±3 and 40.7±3.4 vs. ...
Garner HE, Coffman JR, Hahn AW, Hutcheson DP, Tumbleson ME.Acute alimentary form of laminitis was uniformly induced in 11 of 12 horses by administration of a starch and wood flour gruel and could be graded by previously established (Obel) and presently defined criteria. The experimentally induced laminitis was similar to naturally occurring laminitis, as determined on the basis of lameness severity and vital signs. Packed cell volume, leukocyte count, and total protein were significantly increased (P smaller than 0.05) at 24 and 40 hours after administration of gruel. Arterial systolic and diastolic pressures increased, central venous pressure decreas...
Hobbs SJ, Licka T, Polman R.Locomotion adaptation mechanisms have been observed in horses, but little information is available in relation to banked and nonbanked curve locomotion, which might be important to optimise training environments. Objective: To determine if adaptation mechanisms in horses existed when moving on a banked compared to a flat curve and whether adaptation was similar in different gaits. Methods: Eight infrared cameras were positioned on the outside of a 10 m lungeing circle and calibrated. Retroreflective markers were used to define left and right metacarpus (McIII) and proximal phalanges (P1), meta...
Schaffartzik A, Marti E, Torsteinsdottir S, Mellor PS, Crameri R, Rhyner C.Salivary gland proteins of Culicoides spp. have been suggested to be among the main allergens inducing IgE-mediated insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH), an allergic dermatitis of the horse. The aim of our study was to identify, produce and characterize IgE-binding salivary gland proteins of Culicoides nubeculosus relevant for IBH by phage surface display technology. A cDNA library constructed with mRNA derived from C. nubeculosus salivary glands was displayed on the surface of filamentous phage M13 and enriched for clones binding serum IgE of IBH-affected horses. Ten cDNA inserts encoding putat...
Sole A, Spriet M, Padgett KA, Vaughan B, Galuppo LD, Borjesson DL, Wisner ER, Vidal MA.Intralesional (i.l.) injection is currently the most commonly used technique for stem cell therapy in equine tendon injury. A comparison of different techniques of injection of mesenchymal stem cells for the treatment of tendon lesions is required. Objective: We hypothesised that vascular perfusion of the equine distal limb with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) would result in preferential distribution of MSCs to acute tendon injuries. Methods: In vivo experimental study. Methods: Lesions were surgically induced in forelimb superficial digital flexor tendons of 8 horses. Three or 10 days after le...
Reesink HL, Watts AE, Mohammed HO, Jay GD, Nixon AJ.The goals of this study were (1) to quantify proteoglycan 4 (PRG4) gene expression; (2) to assess lubricin immunostaining; and (3) to measure synovial fluid lubricin concentrations in clinical and experimental models of equine carpal osteoarthritis (OA). Lubricin synovial fluid concentrations and cartilage and synovial membrane PRG4 expression were analyzed in research horses undergoing experimental OA induction (n = 8) and in equine clinical patients with carpal OA (n = 58). Lubricin concentrations were measured using a custom sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and PRG4 expressio...
Filannino A, Stout TA, Gadella BM, Sostaric E, Pizzi F, Colenbrander B, Dell'Aquila ME, Minervini F.The aim of this study was to investigate the in vitro effects of the Fusarium fungus-derived mycotoxin, zearalenone and its derivatives alpha-zearalenol and beta-zearalenol on motility parameters and the acrosome reaction of stallion sperm. Since the toxic effects of zearalenone and its derivatives are thought to result from their structural similarity to 17beta-estradiol, 17beta-estradiol was used as a positive control for 'estrogen-like' effects. Methods: Stallion spermatozoa were exposed in vitro to zearalenone, alpha-zearalenol, beta-zearalenol or 17beta-estradiol at concentrations ranging...
Mumford JA, Wood J.Shortcomings in the original methods (based on haemagglutination of erythrocytes) used to measure potency of equine influenza vaccines and antibody responses stimulated by vaccines, coupled with the lack of a reliable challenge system in the target species, has hindered progress in identifying the antigenic content required to provide protection. Reliable methods are now available for measuring the haemagglutinin (HA) content of vaccines and the antibody responses they elicit. The development of challenge systems in the target species has allowed antibody levels consistent with protection to b...
Carslake HB, Pinchbeck GL, McGowan CM.Many diagnostic tests for insulin dysregulation use reference intervals established with an insulin radioimmunoassay (RIA) that is no longer available. A chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) is commonly used for the measurement of serum insulin concentration in clinical practice but requires further validation, especially at clinically relevant reference intervals. Objective: To evaluate the CLIA for measurement of equine insulin and compare it to the previously validated, but now unavailable RIA. Methods: Equine serum samples (n = 78) from clinical and experimental studies. Methods: In this ex...
Luo QH, Chen ML, Chen ZL, Huang C, Cheng AC, Fang J, Tang L, Geng Y.The aminolycoside Gentamicin is a widely used antibiotic, applied in equine medicine. Despite its clinical use, concerns remain regarding the potential toxic side-effects, such as nephrotoxicity. Early detection of renal damage is critical in preclinical drug development. This study was aimed to determine whether kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) may be early indicators in the assessment of Gentamycin-induced nephrotoxicity. Methods: In our study, a model of Gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity in male Sprague Dawley rats treated for up to 7 da...
Ahrberg AB, Horstmeier C, Berner D, Brehm W, Gittel C, Hillmann A, Josten C, Rossi G, Schubert S, Winter K, Burk J.Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) have shown promising results in the treatment of tendinopathy in equine medicine, making this therapeutic approach seem favorable for translation to human medicine. Having demonstrated that MSC engraft within the tendon lesions after local injection in an equine model, we hypothesized that they would improve tendon healing superior to serum injection alone. Methods: Quadrilateral tendon lesions were induced in six horses by mechanical tissue disruption combined with collagenase application 3 weeks before treatment. Adipose-derived MSC suspended in serum or seru...
Caniglia CJ, Schramme MC, Smith RK.Collagen fibril size is decreased in repair tissue following tendon injury compared to normal tendon matrix in horses. Mesenchymal stem cells have been suggested to promote regeneration of tendon matrix rather than fibrotic repair following injury, although this concept remains unproven. Objective: To explore the hypothesis that implantation of autologous mesenchymal stem cells derived from bone marrow into a surgically created central core defect in the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) of horses would induce the formation of a matrix with greater ultrastructural similarities to tendon...
Fureix C, Pagès M, Bon R, Lassalle JM, Kuntz P, Gonzalez G.Handling is a crucial component of the human-horse relationship. Here, we report data from an experiment conducted to assess and compare the effect of two training methods. Two groups of six Welsh mares were trained during four sessions of 50 min, one handled with traditional exercises (halter leading, grooming/brushing, lifting feet, lunging and pseudo-saddling (using only girth and saddle pad) and the second group with natural horsemanship exercises (desensitization, yielding to body pressure, lunging and free-lunging). Emotional reactivity (ER) and the human-horse relationship (HHR) were as...
Baquero-Perez B, Kuchipudi SV, Nelli RK, Chang KC.Current methods of isolation of muscle satellite cells from different animal species are highly variable making inter-species comparisons problematic. This variation mainly stems from the use of different proteolytic enzymes to release the satellite cells from the muscle tissue (sometimes a single enzyme is used but often a combination of enzymes is preferred) and the different extracellular matrix proteins used to coat culture ware. In addition, isolation of satellite cells is frequently laborious and sometimes may require pre-plating of the cell preparation on uncoated flasks or Percoll cent...
Smith T.The foregoing and earlier data taken together demonstrate that an active immunity lasting several years can be produced in guinea-pigs, by the injection of toxin-antitoxin mixtures which have no recognizable harmful effect either immediate or remote. They also show, what might have been anticipated, that under the same conditions mixtures which produce local lesions and which, therefore, contain an excess of toxin produce a much higher degree of immunity than the neutral mixtures, and that an excess of antitoxin reduces the possibility of producing an active immunity, and may extinguish it alt...
Henderson BE, Chappell WA, Johnston JG, Sudia WD.Henderson, B. E., W. A. Chappell, J. G. Johnston, Jr. and W. D. Sudia (CDC, Atlanta, Ga. 30333). Experimental Infection of horses with three strains of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus. I. Clinical and virological studies. Amer J Epidem 93: 194–205, 1971.—Clinical effect, viremias and antibody responses were compared in horses inoculated with the following strains of Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis (VEE) virus: Fe3-7C, isolated from Culex (Melano-conion) spp. mosquitoes collected In 1963 in the Florida Everglades; TC-83, the Fort Detrick live, attenuated vaccine strain; and GJ...
Edmunds DH, Whittaker DK, Green RM.The progress of artificial caries-like lesions created in human, bovine, equine, and ovine enamel has been studied. Lesions were produced by exposure to an acid gel system or by 5-day exposure to a sequential batch culture technique using Streptococcus mutans NCTC 10832. Longitudinal ground sections were prepared. The lesions were of similar appearance in all species when examined in polarized light. The depth in human enamel was approximately half that in the animal species. Microradiography confirmed subsurface demineralization in all four species. Similar depth ratios were seen in the scann...
Anderson JR, Phelan MM, Foddy L, Clegg PD, Peffers MJ.Osteoarthritis is an age-related degenerative musculoskeletal disease characterized by loss of articular cartilage, synovitis, and subchondral bone sclerosis. Osteoarthritis pathogenesis is yet to be fully elucidated with no osteoarthritis-specific biomarkers in clinical use. equine cartilage explants ( = 5) were incubated in tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)/interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-supplemented culture media for 8 days, with the media removed and replaced at 2, 5, and 8 days. Acetonitrile metabolite extractions of 8 day cartilage explants and media samples at all time points underwent one-d...
Kim KH, Oang KY, Kim J, Lee JH, Kim Y, Ihee H.Here we report structural dynamics of equine myoglobin (Mb) in response to the CO photodissociation visualized by picosecond time-resolved X-ray solution scattering. The data clearly reveal new structural dynamics that occur in the timescale of ∼360 picoseconds (ps) and ∼9 nanoseconds (ns), which have not been clearly detected in previous studies.
Hanggi EB, Ingersoll JF.Three horses (Equus caballus) with a history of performing cognitive tasks including discrimination learning, categorization, and concept use were tested to evaluate their long-term memory (LTM) in three experiments. In addition, use of LCD multi-displays for stimulus presentation was incorporated into cognition testing protocol for the first time with horses. Experiment 1 tested LTM for discrimination learning that originally occurred 6 years earlier. Five sets of stimuli were used and the two horses tested showed no decrement in performance on four of the sets; however, both horses did score...
Nixon AJ, Lust G, Vernier-Singer M.Equine articular chondrocytes were isolated from explant cartilage cultures by digestion in a 0.075% collagenase solution for 15 to 19 hours. Cartilage from late-term fetal and neonatal foals resulted in mean chondrocyte yield of 51.99 x 10(6) cells/g of cartilage (wet weight), compared with a yield of 17.83 x 10(6) cells/g for foals 3 to 12 months old. Propagation of chondrocytes in monolayer and 3-dimensional culture was accomplished, using Ham's F-12 as the basal medium, with supplements of fetal bovine serum (10%), ascorbic acid, alpha-ketoglutarate, and L-glutamine. The medium was buffere...
Glynn ER, Londono AS, Zinn SA, Hoagland TA, Govoni KE.The use of equine bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSC) is a novel method to improve fracture healing in horses. However, additional research is needed to identify optimal culture conditions and to determine the mechanisms involved in regulating BMSC differentiation into osteoblasts. The objectives of the experiments were to determine: 1) if autologous or commercial serum is better for proliferation and differentiation of equine BMSC into osteoblasts, and 2) the expression of key transcription factors during the differentiation of equine BMSC into osteoblasts. Equine BMSC were isolated fro...
Canè V, Botti P, Soana S.The influence of pulsed low-frequency electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) on bone formation was investigated in studies of the healing process of transcortical holes, bored at the diaphyseal region of metacarpal bones of six adult horses, exposed for 30 days to PEMFs (28 G peak amplitude, 1.3 ms rise time, and 75 Hz repetition rate). A pair of Helmholtz coils, continuously powered by a pulse generator, was applied for 30 days to the left metacarpal bone, through which two holes, of equal diameter and depth, had been bored at the diaphyseal region. Two equal holes, bored at the same level in the rig...
Donnelly KS, Giuliano EA, Sharm A, Mohan RR.To explore the effect of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) (i) on corneal fibroblast differentiation, morphology, and viability; and (ii) on the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) 2 and 9 using an in vitro model of equine corneal fibrosis. Methods: Healthy donor corneas were used to generate primary cultures of equine corneal fibroblasts. The fibroblasts were exposed to 5 ng/mL TGFβ1 to induce myofibroblast formation. The cultures were treated with either 5 μm or 10 μm SAHA for 72 h in the presence of TGFβ1. Real-time PCR and immunocytochemistry were used to determi...
Beeler-Marfisi J, Clark ME, Wen X, Sears W, Huber L, Ackerley C, Viel L, Bienzle D.To evaluate experimental induction of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) with inhaled fungal spores, lipopolysaccharide, and silica microspheres in horses. Methods: 7 horses with and 3 horses without a history of RAO. Methods: RAO-susceptible horses ranged in age from 17 to approximately 30 years, and control horses ranged in age from 7 to approximately 15 years. Pure mold cultures were derived from repeated culture of hay and identified via gene amplification and sequencing. Pulmonary function testing and bronchoalveolar lavage were performed before and after nebulization with a suspension of...
Spiesz EM, Thorpe CT, Thurner PJ, Screen HRC.Structure-function relationships in tendons are directly influenced by the arrangement of collagen fibres. However, the details of such arrangements in functionally distinct tendons remain obscure. This study demonstrates the use of quantitative polarised light microscopy (qPLM) to identify structural differences in two major tendon compartments at the mesoscale: fascicles and interfascicular matrix (IFM). It contrasts functionally distinct positional and energy storing tendons, and considers changes with age. Of particular note, the technique facilitates the analysis of crimp parameters, in w...
Russell KA, Koch TG.Multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are often culture-expanded in vitro. Presently, expansion medium (EM) for MSC is supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS). However, increasing cost, variable composition and potential risks associated with bovine antigens call for alternatives. Platelet lysate (PL) has shown promise as an alternative supplement. Objective: To determine how equine umbilical cord blood (CB) MSC proliferate in EM enriched with PL or FBS at various concentrations. Methods: Randomised dose escalation study. Methods: Platelet concentrate was generated from 5 equine whol...
Malavasi R, Huber L.Referential communication occurs when a sender elaborates its gestures to direct the attention of a recipient to its role in pursuit of the desired goal, e.g. by pointing or showing an object, thereby informing the recipient what it wants. If the gesture is successful, the sender and the recipient focus their attention simultaneously on a third entity, the target. Here we investigated the ability of domestic horses (Equus caballus) to communicate referentially with a human observer about the location of a desired target, a bucket of food out of reach. In order to test six operational criteria ...
Hale BW, Goodrich LR, Frisbie DD, McIlwraith CW, Kisiday JD.To evaluate the effect of fibrin concentrations on mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) migration out of autologous and commercial fibrin hydrogels. Methods: Blood and bone marrow from six 2- to 4-year-old horses. Methods: Autologous fibrinogen was precipitated from plasma and solubilized into a concentrated solution. Mesenchymal stem cells were resuspended in fibrinogen solutions containing 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% of the fibrinogen precipitate solution. Fibrin hydrogels were created by mixing the fibrinogen solutions with MSCs and thrombin on tissue culture plates. After incubation for 24 hours in cel...
Kasel JA, Couch RB.The recognition of an antigenic relationship between the haemagglutinins of A/Equi-2 and A2/Hong Kong/68 viruses led to experimental studies in man and horses with these virus types.Human volunteers were inoculated with A/Equi-2/Miami/63 virus and virus shedding ensued in all subjects. The most common clinical response was a febrile illness indistinguishable from naturally occurring human influenza. After administration of A2/Hong Kong/68 virus to 10 ponies there was virus shedding from 9 and a febrile response in 6.When the human subjects previously inoculated with equine virus were challenge...
