Genetics in horses encompasses the study of hereditary traits and the genetic makeup that influences various characteristics and health conditions in equine populations. This field involves the analysis of genes and their functions, inheritance patterns, and the impact of genetic variations on traits such as coat color, performance ability, and susceptibility to diseases. Research in equine genetics employs techniques such as genome mapping, sequencing, and genetic testing to identify specific genes and mutations associated with these traits. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the genetic basis of equine traits, the methodologies used in genetic research, and the implications for breeding, health management, and conservation of horse breeds.
Rüfenacht S, Straub R, Steinmann B, Winand N, Bidaut A, Stoffel MH, Gerber V, Wyder M, Müller E, Roosje PJ.Hereditary equine dermal asthenia (HERDA) is an autosomal recessive skin disease that affects predominantly Quarter Horses and related breeds. Typical symptoms are easy bruising and hyperextensible skin on the back. The prognosis is guarded, as affected horses cannot be ridden normally and are often euthanised. In the Quarter Horse, HERDA is associated with a mutation in cyclophilin B (PPIB), an enzyme involved in triple helix formation of collagen. Here we describe the case of a Swiss Warmblood filly with symptoms of HERDA without PPIB-mutation and in which we also could exclude Ehlers-Danlos...
Klukowska-Rötzler J, Marti E, Bugno M, Leeb T, Janda J.Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is a novel cytokine that plays a central role in T helper 2 (Th2) cell differentiation and allergic inflammation. It is predominantly expressed by epithelial cells, and its expression is increased in patients with atopic dermatitis and asthma. Mice overexpressing TSLP in the skin develop allergic dermatitis and mice overexpressing TSLP in lungs develop asthma-like disease. However, it is not known whether TSLP plays an important role in equine allergies. Therefore, we cloned and sequenced the complete translated region of equine TSLP gene and measured its ex...
Kirkland PD, Finlaison DS, Crispe E, Hurt AC.During the 2007 equine influenza outbreak in Australia, respiratory disease in dogs in close contact with infected horses was noted; influenza (H3N8) virus infection was confirmed. Nucleotide sequence of the virus from dogs was identical to that from horses. No evidence of dog-to-dog transmission or virus persistence in dogs was found.
Bellone RR, Forsyth G, Leeb T, Archer S, Sigurdsson S, Imsland F, Mauceli E, Engensteiner M, Bailey E, Sandmeyer L, Grahn B, Lindblad-Toh K, Wade CM.Leopard Complex spotting occurs in several breeds of horses and is caused by an incompletely dominant allele (LP). Homozygosity for LP is also associated with congenital stationary night blindness (CSNB) in Appaloosa horses. Previously, LP was mapped to a 6 cm region on ECA1 containing the candidate gene TRPM1 (Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel, Subfamily M, Member 1) and decreased expression of this gene, measured by qRT-PCR, was identified as the likely cause of both spotting and ocular phenotypes. This study describes investigations for a mutation causing or associated with the Le...
Quan M, Lourens CW, MacLachlan NJ, Gardner IA, Guthrie AJ.Nucleotide sequences of 52 South African isolates of African horse sickness virus (AHSV) collected during 2004-2005 and including viruses of all nine AHSV serotypes, were used to design and develop a duplex real-time reverse transcription quantitative PCR (RT-PCR) assay targeting the VP7 (S8) and NS2 (S9) genes of AHSV. The assay was optimized for detection of AHSV in fresh and frozen blood of naturally infected horses. Assay performance was enhanced using random hexamers rather than gene-specific primers for RT, and with denaturation of double-stranded RNA in the presence of random hexamers. ...
Yang H, Ma YH, Li B, Dugarjaviin M.There is unique genetic information belonging to various kinds of living beings. Understanding of the formation process of organisms and a variety of vital movement is associated with the achievements of genome study. As horse has a notable health condition and great record of the genealogy in the world, thus it becomes a valuable model animal for studying life science. Despite of a late start, the map of the horse genome has undergone unprecedented expansion during the last few years. The current progresses of the horse genome, including genetic map, physical map, comparative genomic map, and...
Brooks AC, Menzies-Gow N, Bailey SR, Cunningham FM, Elliott J.Hypoxia may enhance the deleterious effects of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the endotoxaemic horse. This study has examined some of the actions of LPS and hypoxia, alone and in combination, on cultured equine digital vein endothelial cells (EDVEC) and the signalling molecules involved. Methods: EDVEC were exposed to LPS, 5% O(2) and LPS then 5% O(2) for up to 24 h. HIF-1alpha stabilisation, neutrophil adhesion and EDVEC permeability were assessed by immunoblotting, measurement of myeloperoxidase and movement of FITC-dextran, respectively. Pharmacological inhibitors were used to assess the roles...
Rourke KM, Coe S, Kohn CW, Rosol TJ, Mendoza FJ, Toribio RE.Epithelial calcium transport occurs by paracellular and transcellular mechanisms. Transcellular transport in intestinal and renal epithelia involves several transport proteins, including transient receptor potential vanilloid member 5 (TRPV5), member 6 (TRPV6), calbindin D9k (CB9), calbindin D28k (CB28), sodium calcium exchanger 1 (NCX1), plasma membrane calcium ATPase 1 (PMCA1), and the vitamin D receptor (VDR). We are interested in the horse because of its unique calcium physiology (high blood calcium, high intestinal calcium absorption, high renal excretion of calcium, low vitamin D concent...
Meehan M, Burke FM, Macken S, Owen P.Streptococcus equi possesses a haem-uptake system homologous to that of Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus zooepidemicus. The system consists of two ligand-binding proteins (Shr and Shp) and proteins (HtsA-C) with homology to an ABC transporter. The haem-uptake system of S. equi differs from that of S. pyogenes and S. zooepidemicus in that Shr is truncated by two-thirds. This study focused on the SeShr, SeShp and SeHtsA proteins of S. equi. Analysis of shr, shp and shphtsA knockout mutants showed that all three proteins were expressed in vitro and that expression was upregulated under co...
Ishihara A, Zekas LJ, Weisbrode SE, Bertone AL.Cell-mediated and direct adenoviral (Ad) vector gene therapies can induce bone regeneration, including dermal fibroblasts (DFbs). We compared two effective therapies, DFb-mediated and direct Ad vector delivery of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2), for relative efficacy in bone regeneration. Equine rib drill defects were treated by percutaneous injection of either DFb-BMP2 or an Ad-BMP2 vector. At week 6, both DFb-BMP2- and Ad-BMP2-treated rib defects had greater bone filling volume and mineral density, with DFb-BMP2 inducing greater bone volume and maturity in the cortical bone aspect of the...
Current HIV researchMarch 10, 2010
Volume 8, Issue 1 66-72 doi: 10.2174/157016210790416352
Payne SL, Fuller FJ.Equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a macrophage-tropic lentivirus that rapidly Induces disease in experimentally infected horses. Because EIAV infection and replication is centered on the monocyte/macrophage and has a pronounced acute disease stage, it is a useful model system for understanding the contribution of monocyte/macrophages to other lentivirus-induced diseases. Genetic mapping studies utilizing chimeric proviruses in which parental viruses are acutely virulent or avirulent have allowed the identification of important regions that influence acute virulence. U3 regions in the vi...
Tong T, Bai Y, Liu G, Wang Q, Zhang W, Xiao Y, Xu S, Liu N, Yang T, Wu D.IL-18 is a cytokine originally discovered as an important modulator of immune responses and subsequently shown to be pleiotropic. In this report, we expressed the recombinant equine mature interleukin-18 (rEMIL-18) in E. coli and purified it by nickel affinity gel column chromatography. Purified rEMIL-18 had biological activity commensurate with recombinant human IL-18, as determined by its synergistic effect with recombinant human IL-12 (rhIL-12) on the induction of IFN-gamma gene expression in equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Following intraperitoneal (i.p.) immunization of ...
Jacobson CC, Choi YH, Hayden SS, Hinrichs K.Oocytes may be collected from live mares from either the stimulated preovulatory follicle or from all visible immature follicles. We evaluated the yield of mature oocytes, and of blastocysts after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), for both follicle types. In Experiment 1, mares were assigned to Progesterone (1.2g biorelease progesterone weekly) or Control treatments. Transvaginal aspiration of all follicles was performed every 14 d. Overall, 596 follicles were aspirated, with a 54% oocyte recovery rate. There was no difference between treatments in number of follicles punctured (9.0 to ...
Zhang J, Stein DA, Timoney PJ, Balasuriya UB.A significant consequence of equine arteritis virus (EAV) infection of horses is persistence of the virus in a variable percentage of infected stallions. We recently established an in vitro model of EAV persistence in cell culture for the purpose of furthering our understanding of EAV biology in general and viral persistence in the stallion in particular. In this study we investigated whether persistently infected HeLa cells could be cured of EAV infection by treatment with an antisense peptide-conjugated phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomer (PPMO) designed to target the 5'-terminal region o...
Ma G, Lu C, Osterrieder N.A single amino acid variation in the equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) DNA polymerase (Pol) (D752/N752) determines its neuropathogenic potential. Here, an EHV-1 strain RacL11 mutant with a deletion of Pol residue 752 was constructed. The deletion virus was then repaired to encode D752 or N752, respectively. The Delta752 mutant virus replicated with kinetics indistinguishable from those of D752 and N752 viruses. In addition, we could demonstrate that the deletion mutant was significantly more resistant to aphidicolin, a drug targeting Pol, compared with the N752 but not the D752 variant. In equ...
Heller MC, Jackson KA, Watson JL.Rhodococcus equi is a facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen of horses; infected foals develop pyogranulomatous pneumonia, however adult horses are largely unaffected. R. equi infects and proliferates within host macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). DCs initiate the appropriate adaptive immune response, thereby playing a critical role in determining the outcome of infection. Our aim was to identify genes that are differentially expressed in R. equi infected monocyte-derived DCs (mdDCs). Peripheral blood monocytes from mares and foals were used to derive mdDCs by culturing with recombin...
Grady JG, Elder SH, Ryan PL, Swiderski CE, Rashmir-Raven AM.Hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA) is an autosomal recessive skin disorder that has yet to be fully characterized. HERDA is predominately expressed in Quarter Horses, with the majority of these disseminating from elite cutting horse bloodlines, leading to the increased incidence of HERDA in recent years. Affected horses have loose, hyper-extensible, fragile skin and are frequently euthanized due to poor wound healing and disfiguring scars. This study sought to better characterize HERDA by analysis of the biomechanical parameters of tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, energ...
Solbrig MV.Borna disease (BD), caused by the neurotropic RNA virus, Borna Disease virus, is an affliction ranging from asymptomatic to fatal meningoencephalitis across naturally and experimentally infected warmblooded (mammalian and bird) species. More than 100 years after the first clinical descriptions of Borna disease in horses and studies beginning in the 1980's linking Borna disease virus to human neuropsychiatric diseases, experimentally infected rodents have been used as models for examining behavioral, neuropharmacological, and neurochemical responses to viral challenge at different stages of lif...
Viljoen A, Saulez MN, Donnellan CM, Bester L, Gummow B.Medical records of equine after-hours admissions from 1998 to 2007 are reviewed. Data extracted from the medical records included signalment, reason for admission, pre-admission treatment, clinical presentation, procedures performed, final diagnoses, complications occurring in hospital, length of stay and outcome. Eight hundred and twenty after-hours admissions were available of which 75% were classified as emergencies. Most horses originated from Gauteng province (82%), with Thoroughbred, Arabian, and Warmbloods representing 46%, 10% and 7% of horses. Horses had a median age of 7 years and we...
Madej JP, Nowacki W, Boratyński J, Borkowski J, Włodarczyk-Szydłowska A, Musiał E.Vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) participates in the actin scavenger system, it is a carrier of vitamin D and its derivatives, it manifests the capacity to bind mainly monounsaturated and saturated fatty acids, it binds to the surface of several cells and enhances chemotactic activity of C5a of the complement. The present study was aimed at answering the question whether serum DBP level in mares is related to levels of this protein in colostrum and in serum of its progeny. For this purpose, sera from 77 mares, colostra from 72 mares and sera from 69 Thoroughbred foals were collected. Mother's a...
Matayoshi M, Kudaka J.Between 1992 and 2007, a total of 86 isolates of Salmonella enterica Weltevreden were obtained from clinical human samples (n = 41), 45 farm animals and their environment on 20 farms, including poultry (n = 25), beef cattle (n = 5), swine (n = 5), dairy cattle (n = 3), mice (n = 2), pony (n = 1), fly (n = 1) and feed samples (n = 3), in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Only seven isolates (8.1%) of the isolates were resistance to one or more antimicrobial agents tested; six streptomycin (7.0%), six oxytetracycline (7.0%), two ampicillin (2.3%), two kanamycin, (2.3%), two chloramphenicol (2.3%), two ...
Morita H, Nakano A, Shimazu M, Toh H, Nakajima F, Nagayama M, Hisamatsu S, Kato Y, Takagi M, Takami H, Akita H, Matsumoto M, Masaoka T, Murakami M.To detect the predominant lactobacilli in the intestinal flora of healthy thoroughbreds, we isolated lactobacilli from the feces of nine thoroughbreds (five males and four females; 0-15-year-old). The isolated lactobacilli comprise 17 species (37 strains), and they were classified into five groups: Lactobacillus salivarius (6 species), L. reuteri (6 species), Lactobacillus delbrueckii (3 species), L. buchneri (1 species) and L. vitulinus (1 species). On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequences, we identified 3 other phylogenetic relatives belonging to the genus Lactobacillus. These results suggest...
Wright A, Beard L, Bawa B, Bras J.Equine dysautonomia, also known as equine grass sickness (EGS), is a well documented disease in several countries. To the authors' knowledge, EGS has not been reported previously in North America. This report describes EGS in a 6-year-old female mule in the USA. Failure initially to consider EGS resulted in a delayed diagnosis. EGS should be considered as a differential diagnosis and appropriate diagnostic tests performed in similar cases in North America.
Moura I, Radhouani H, Torres C, Poeta P, Igrejas G.Lusitano horses were investigated in order to detect the presence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci. vanA isolates showed high level vancomycin (Minimum inhibitory concentration; MIC > or = 128 mg/l) and teicoplanin resistance (MIC 64 mg/l), as well as resistance to ciprofloxacin, erythromycin and tetracycline. The tet(L) and erm(B) genes, associated with tetracycline and erythromycin resistance, respectively, were found in all vanA isolates. The intestinal tract of Lusitano horses can be a potential reservoir for vanA-containing enterococci.
Laumen E, Doherr MG, Gerber V.The horse owner assessed respiratory signs index (HOARSI-1-4, healthy, mildly, moderately and severely affected, respectively) is based on owner-reported clinical history and has been used for the investigation of recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) genetics utilising large sample sizes. Reliable phenotype identification is of paramount importance in genetic studies. Owner reports of respiratory signs have shown good repeatability, but the agreement of HOARSI with an in-depth examination of the lower respiratory tract has not been investigated. Objective: To determine the correlation of HOARSI ...
Rejmanek D, Miller MA, Grigg ME, Crosbie PR, Conrad PA.Sarcocystis neurona is a significant cause of neurological disease in horses and other animals, including the threatened Southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis). Opossums (Didelphis virginiana), the only known definitive hosts for S. neurona in North America, are an introduced species in California. S. neurona DNA isolated from sporocysts and/or infected tissues of 10 opossums, 6 horses, 1 cat, 23 Southern sea otters, and 1 harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) with natural infections was analyzed based on 15 genetic markers, including the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS-1) region; the...
Liu MA.Gene-based vaccines are under development for a broad variety of applications, ranging from vaccines to immunotherapies for infectious diseases, cancer, autoimmune diseases and allergy. In addition, following the licensing of DNA vaccines for use in fish and horses, and DNA immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer in dogs, several veterinary uses of vaccines have been demonstrated for species ranging from fish and shrimp to cattle and horses. A variety of publications describing preclinical and clinical studies of the technologies used to increase the potency of gene-based vaccines, and resea...
Berghaus LJ, Cathcart J, Berghaus RD, Hart KA.The vitamin D receptor (VDR)-vitamin D axis modulates pulmonary immunity in people but its role in equine immunity is unknown. Bacterial pneumonia causes high morbidity/mortality in foals and alveolar macrophages (AMφ) are important for pulmonary defenses. Age-related variations in vitamin D-mediated function of AMφ might contribute to the foal's susceptibility to pneumonia. Our aim was to assess the impact of age on equine vitamin D metabolism and VDR expression in AMφ. AMφ and plasma was collected from healthy foals (2, 4 and 8 weeks old) and adult horses (once). AMφ VDR expression was ...
Patterson SD, Bell K.Three cases of abnormal expression of the equine protease inhibitory alleles, Pi F, L, and S1, were observed following the examination of 30,000 plasma samples by one-dimensional acid (pH 4.6) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Characterization of the abnormal proteins in terms of isoelectric point, molecular mass, inhibitory spectra, and sialic acid content was performed using one- and two-dimensional electrophoretic techniques. The Pi F and S1 abnormalities were postulated to be the result of amino acid substitutions causing alterations in the processing of the carbohydrate side chains. No ...
Schneider DA, Sayegh AI.There exists individual enteroendocrine cells spread throughout the gastrointestinal mucosa that release specific peptide, as well as nonpeptide, hormones to have various endocrine action on target cells bearing cell surface receptors selectively sensitive to these regulatory substances. Following receptor activation, a series of events is set into motion that serves to transduce the information imparted to the target cell. Such transduction mechanisms are numerous, and may be excitatory or inhibitory to the cell depending upon which G-protein subunits the receptor is coupled.
Crispin SM.The iris is derived from interaction between neural crest tissue and the adjacent neuroectoderm of the optic cup. Developmental anomalies of the equine iris are common, and include congenital miosis, iris cysts, various manifestations of iris hypoplasia, heterochromia, and persistent pupillary membrane remnants. They may be found alone or in combination with other ocular defects.
Woodie B, Johnson AL, Grant B.Cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy is a common cause of ataxia in horses secondary to spinal cord compression. Early articles describing this problem indicate genetic predisposition as a known risk factor. Further studies have shown the problem is a developmental abnormality which might have genetic predisposition and environmental influences.
Paris DB, Kuijk EW, Roelen BA, Stout TA.Real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) is invaluable for investigating changes in gene expression during early development, since it can be performed on the limited quantities of mRNA contained in individual embryos. However, the reliability of this method depends on the use of validated stably expressed reference genes for accurate data normalisation. The aim of the present study was to identify and validate a set of reference genes suitable for studying gene expression during equine embryo development. The stable expression of four carefully selected reference genes and one developmentally regula...
Conti A, Godovac-Zimmermann J, Liberatori J, Braunitzer G.beta-Lactoglobulin-like proteins were detected in horse colostrum and normal milk using immunological techniques. In contrast to the beta-lactoglobulins sequenced so far these proteins are monomeric and genetically not homogenous. In this paper we report the first primary structure of a monomeric beta-lactoglobulin from horse colostrum. By means of an automatic liquid-phase sequenator the sequence of peptides obtained by tryptic digestion and by cyanogen bromide cleavage was determined. A limited tryptic digestion and hydrolysis with chymotrypsin provided the necessary overlapping peptides. Th...
Hunter DJ, Macmaster R, Roszak AW, Riboldi-Tunnicliffe A, Griffiths IR, Freer AA.Equine P2 protein has been isolated from horse spinal cord and its structure determined to 2.1 A. Since equine myelin is a viable alternative to bovine tissue for large-scale preparations, characterization of the proteins from equine spinal cord myelin has been initiated. There is an unusually high amount of P2 protein in equine CNS myelin compared with other species. The structure was determined by molecular replacement and subsequently refined to an R value of 0.187 (Rfree=0.233). The structure contains a molecule of the detergent LDAO and HEPES buffer in the binding cavity and is otherwise ...
Chen JW, Uboh CE, Soma LR, Li X, Guan F, You Y, Liu Y.Proper identification of racehorses competing in an official race and maintenance of defensible chain of custody are important in doping control regulations. The purpose of this study was to develop a reliable multiplex PCR method for providing genetic evidence for matching donors to test samples by using short tandem repeat (STR) loci. Amplification of 21 STR loci from blood, urine or hair root was achieved in a single tube and STR length polymorphism was analyzed using fluorescent labeled capillary electrophoresis. This novel approach showed an allele confidence interval of 0.19-0.43 bp and ...
Thorsteinsdóttir L, Torfason EG, Torsteinsdóttir S, Svansson V.Horses are hosts to 2 types of gammaherpesviruses, Equid herpesvirus 2 and 5 (EHV-2 and EHV-5, respectively). Both EHV-2 and EHV-5 are common in horses in Iceland. An Icelandic EHV-5 isolate was recovered by sequential culture in primary fetal horse kidney and rabbit kidney cells. Glycoprotein B, glycoprotein H, and DNA terminase genes of the isolate were fully sequenced, and the DNA polymerase gene was partly sequenced. To date, the glycoprotein B gene of EHV-5 was the only gene that has been reported to be completely sequenced in addition to small parts of the glycoprotein H, DNA polymerase,...
McDowell KJ, Sharp DC, Fazleabas AT, Roberts RM.Conceptuses were obtained from pony mares on each day of pregnancy between Days 12 and 28, and on Days 39, 45, 65 and 100. Endometrium was obtained from mares at Days 12, 14, 16, 18, 39, 45, 65 and 100 of pregnancy, and from non-pregnant mares during anoestrus, during transition into the breeding season, at oestrus, or during dioestrus. Tissues were incubated in vitro for 24 h with L-[3H]leucine. Proteins synthesized and released into the culture medium were analysed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-D PAGE) and fluorography. Conceptuses obtained before Day 14 after ovul...
Kasuya K, Tanaka N, Oshima F, Fujisawa N, Saito M, Tagami K, Niwa H, Sasai K.Strangles is a commonly diagnosed and important infectious disease of equids worldwide, caused by Streptococcus equi subsp. equi. We determined the SeM genotypes of S. equi isolated from imported horses at the Japanese border within the past 8 years, which allowed us to classify 12 strains isolated from these horses from each exporter into four allelic groups. These alleles were different from the alleles of past isolates found in Japan. Furthermore, four strains classified into the same allele were isolated from horses from one exporter over several years. In this study, S. equi isolates from...
Khan A, Mushtaq MH, Ahmad MUD, Nazir J, Farooqi SH, Khan A.A widespread epidemic of equine influenza (EI) occurred in nonvaccinated equine population across multiple districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan during 2015-2016. An epidemiological surveillance study was conducted from Oct 2015 to April 2016 to investigate the outbreak. EI virus strains were isolated in embryonated eggs from suspected equines swab samples and were subjected to genome sequencing using M13 tagged segment specific primers. Phylogenetic analyses of the nucleotide sequences were concluded using Geneious. Haemagglutinin (HA), Neuraminidase (NA), Matrix (M) and nucleo...
Ferrante A, Thong YH.Results presented show that highly purified populations of mononuclear (MN) and polymorphonuclear (PMN) leucocytes can be obtained from horse blood by a procedure similar to that previously described for the separation of these leucocytes from human blood. This involved centrifugation of horse blood on a Ficoll-Hypaque medium with a density of 1.095 g/ml. The procedure required approximately 1 h for completion and resulted in the simultaneous preparation of MN (greater than 98% purity) and PMN (greater than 96% purity) leucocytes. Cell viability exceeded 95% and cells retained immunological fu...
Zhang Y, Chahan B, Liu S, Song R, Li Y, Huercha , Guo Q, Wu H, Zhu Y.In order to found the epidemiological situation of T. equi in the horse herds in Ili Prefecture of Xinjiang Province, 723 blood samples collected from 4 counties and districts were test for T. equi through microscopic detection and Polymerase chain Reaction (PCR). In the result, we found that the 295 of 723 blood samples (40.8%) were positive for T. equi infection. The results showed that the choosed counties have a varying degrees infection. To our knowledge, this is the first time that we detected T. equi infection using the molecular techniques from Ili in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region.
Wright A, Beard L, Bawa B, Bras J.Equine dysautonomia, also known as equine grass sickness (EGS), is a well documented disease in several countries. To the authors' knowledge, EGS has not been reported previously in North America. This report describes EGS in a 6-year-old female mule in the USA. Failure initially to consider EGS resulted in a delayed diagnosis. EGS should be considered as a differential diagnosis and appropriate diagnostic tests performed in similar cases in North America.
Hirsbrunner G, Reist M, Couto SS, Steiner A, Snyder J, Vanleeuwen E, Liu I.Uterine smooth muscle specimens were collected from euthanatized mares in estrus and diestrus. Longitudinal and circular specimens were mounted in organ baths and the signals transcribed to a Grass polygraph. After equilibration time and 2 g preload, their physiologic isometric contractility was recorded for a continuous 2.0 h. Area under the curve, frequency and time occupied by contractions were studied. Differences between cycle phases, between muscle layers, and over the recorded time periods were statistically evaluated using linear mixed-effect models. In the mare, physiologic contractil...
Long SE.A 1;30 tandem translocation was found in an 8-yr-old thoroughbred stallion referred because of reduced fertility. The diagnosis was confirmed by GTG and CBG staining. This is the first report of a tandem translocation in the horse.
Chaffin MK, Schumacher J, Hooper N.A 5-month-old male Quarter Horse was examined because of multicentric, granulomatous, cutaneous lesions of the dorsum and prepuce. The cutaneous lesions were excised, and sodium iodide was administered orally for 2 weeks. Multicentric cutaneous pythiosis was diagnosed by histologic examination and immunoperoxidase staining of excised tissues. By 3 months after surgery, all lesions had healed.
Mlodawska W, Slomczynska M.Ovarian steroidogenesis from the neonatal to pubertal period in horses is poorly understood. This study was designed to immunolocalize cytochrome P450 aromatase in the ovarian follicles of slaughtered fillies ages approximately (I) 6-9 mo (5 mm in diameter. Staining intensity was dependent on the size and morphology of the follicle. In nonatretic follicles 5-10 mm in diameter, the reaction was weak and heterogeneous, while most intense staining was observed in preovulatory follicles. In follicles (diameter <20 mm) in the groups <10MF and 1YF, the reaction was less intense than in adult m...
Gorji FF, Sadr S, Borji H.Eimeria is a genus of protozoan parasites that infect many animal species, including horses. We conducted a cross-sectional study of indigenous breeds of horses from the North and Northeast of Iran to establish the prevalence and distribution of Eimeria species. Methods: Using standard coprological techniques, 340 faecal samples from randomly selected horses (141 from North Iran and 199 from Northeast Iran) were examined for Eimeria oocyst. Results: Out of 340 samples, only three from north Iran were positive for coccidiosis. Infections occurred by Eimeria leuckarti. The mean intensity of oocy...
Leisson K, Alev K, Kaasik P, Jaakma Ü, Seene T.This study investigates the myosin heavy chain (MyHC) isoform composition in the gluteus medius muscle of the Akhal-Teke horses using SDS-PAGE (sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis). Fifteen horses aged between 1.5 and 23.5 years were used in this study and divided into three age groups: 1.5 to 4 (n = 6), 9 to 13 (n = 5) and 18.5 to 23.5 years (n = 4). The average content of the MyHC I isoform was 11.72 ± 1.07% (variation between individuals: 7.09% to 20.14%). The relative content of the MyHC IIa and IIx isoforms was subsequently 38.20 ± 1.46% (30.73% to 48.78%) and 50.0...
Gumber S, Baia P, Wakamatsu N.A 15-year-old female gray Appaloosa horse was presented with history of a mass over the right dorsal commissure of vulva for the past 7 months. Based on histopathological examination, and positive staining with factor VIII-related antigen, vimentin, and Verhoeff-van Gieson stain, the vulvar mass was diagnosed as hemangiosarcoma with marked solar elastosis.
Inui T, Haneda S, Sasaki M, Furuoka H, Ito M, Yanagawa M, Hiyama M, Tabata Y, Sasaki N.In human cartilage tissue engineering, three-dimensional zirconia substrata have the potential advantage of producing many uniform cell clusters of controlled size without xenobiotic material, allowing easy clinical application. The objective of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using zirconia porous three-dimensional microwell substrata for chondrogenic differentiation of equine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs) in vitro. In regular medium, 8 × 10, 2 × 10, and 5 × 10 equine BMMSCs from five thoroughbred horses were cultured on zirconia microwell su...
Cruz A, Sullivan DB, Doty KF, Hess RA, Canisso IF, Reddi PP.The acrosome plays a critical role in sperm-oocyte interactions during fertilization. SP-10 is an acrosomal matrix protein, which is evolutionarily conserved among mammals. The SP-10 antibody has been shown to be useful for staging the seminiferous cycle in the mouse and human. A canonical acrosomal marker; however, has never been used for staging in the horse. The objectives of the present study were to investigate the presence of SP-10 within the horse acrosome using an anti-mouse SP-10 antibody, to classify spermatids based on the shape of the acrosome, and then to use that information to a...
Stock KF, Distl O.Results of mare performance tests in the field (MPT-F) of 10,949 mares, mare performance tests at station (MPT-S) of 1,712 mares, and inspections of horses intended for sale at riding horse auctions (AU) of 4,772 horses were used to investigate genetic correlations between corresponding performance traits. Mare performance tests were held in 1995 to 2004 and auction inspections in 1999 to 2004. Scores on a scale from 0 to 10 were given for gaits under rider (walk, trot, canter), rideability (evaluated by judging commission and test rider), free-jumping (ability, style, total), and character. R...
Peeters LM, Janssens S, Brebels M, Buys N.Genetic factors involved in susceptibility to insect bite hypersensitivity (IBH) in Belgian Warmblood horses (BWP) were investigated. Data relating to 3409 horses were collected using a questionnaire, administered to owners during sport competitions, BWP breeding days, breeder visits and after phone calls. Horses were classified as IBH-affected or unaffected, based on two 'disease classifiers': a lifetime record, based on owner information (life_status) and another based on whether or not the horse was showing clinical signs at the time of questioning (clin_status). IBH prevalence was 10% base...
