Topic:Heaves
Heaves, also known as recurrent airway obstruction (RAO), is a chronic respiratory condition in horses characterized by airway inflammation, mucus production, and bronchoconstriction. It is often triggered by inhalation of dust, mold, and other environmental allergens found in hay and bedding. Clinical signs include coughing, nasal discharge, and labored breathing, particularly during exercise or in dusty environments. Diagnosis typically involves clinical assessment, endoscopic examination, and pulmonary function testing. Management strategies focus on environmental modifications to reduce allergen exposure and may include pharmacological interventions such as corticosteroids and bronchodilators. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of heaves in horses.
Asthma “of horses and men”–how can equine heaves help us better understand human asthma immunopathology and its functional consequences? Animal models have been studied to unravel etiological, immunopathological, and genetic attributes leading to asthma. However, while experiments in which the disease is artificially induced have helped discovering biological and molecular pathways leading to allergic airway inflammation, their contribution to the understanding of the causality of the disease has been more limited. Horses naturally suffer from an asthma-like condition called "heaves" which presents sticking similarities with human asthma. It is characterized by reversible airway obstruction, airway neutrophilic inflammation, an...
Clenbuterol affects the expression of messenger RNA for interleukin 10 in peripheral leukocytes from horses challenged intrabronchially with lipopolysaccharides. On four occasions, four horses with heaves and four horses with small airway inflammatory diseases inhaled 0.9% saline based aerosol mixtures with or without lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Prior to the first saline and LPS inhalation, horses were untreated, while three and a half days prior to the third and forth inhalation horses had received 0.8 microg/kg clenbuterol intravenously twice daily. The messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin (IL)-1beta, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10 and interferon- gamma (IFN- gamma) was investigated by RT-PCR, all of which ...