Laboratory methods in equine research encompass a variety of techniques and procedures used to analyze biological samples from horses to study health, disease, genetics, and physiology. These methods include hematological analyses, biochemical assays, molecular biology techniques, and microbiological cultures. Commonly utilized laboratory techniques involve blood tests for complete blood count (CBC) and serum chemistry, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for genetic and infectious disease studies, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) for detecting specific proteins or antibodies. These methods provide valuable data that contribute to understanding equine health and disease mechanisms. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the application, development, and outcomes of laboratory methods in the context of equine research.
Fillion G, Beaudoin D, Rousselle JC, Jacob J.Glial cell membrane fractions were prepared using glial cells preparations isolated from horse brain striatum. [3H]5-HT binding was measured by the filtration technique and the adenylate cyclase activity determined by measuring the cAMP production using a radioimmunoassay. Serotonin binds to glial membrane fractions with an affinity corresponding to a dissociation constant Kd = nM. The corresponding site is serotoninergic specific: [3H]5-HT binding is inhibited by 5-HT agonists (5 OH NM-DMT, 5-MeOHT, 5-MeOH-DMT, NN-DMT) or antagonists (cinanserine, cyproheptadine, methysergide, LSD) and not (o...
Wooley RE, Shotts EB, McConnell JW.Yersinia enterocolitica was isolated from 5 of 1,002 fecal samples taken from laboratory rats and mice, hamsters, dogs, cats, pigs, cattle, horses, and deer. Two isolates were from dogs (2 of 202; 1%) and 1 from a pig (1 of 107; 0.9%). The 3 isolates were biotype 1. Atypical environmental Y enterocolitica was isolated from a cow (1 of 141; 0.7%) and a horse (1 of 101; 1%). Isolates were not recovered from the other animal species.
Pemberton DH, Thomas KW, Terry MJ.The prevalence of hypogammaglobulinaemia in 82 young foals was determined. Twelve foals were considered clinically abnormal at birth and ten died within two weeks. All of these foals were hypogammaglobulinaemic. Seven (10%) of the other 70 apparently normal foals were hypogammaglobulinaemic despite having suckled normally. Three of these foals developed significant disease and one died at one month of age. Rapid detection of foals with low serum immunoglobulin levels was achieved by adapting the zinc sulphate turbidity test to partially evacuated blood collection tubes. This permitted test to ...
Gasa S, Makita A.Gangliosides were isolated from equine kidney and spleen, and their carbohydrate and lipid moieties were characterized. Among the long-chain bases, considerable proportions of trihydroxy bases (42.3 to 61.2% of the total bases), in which phytosphingosine was predominant were found in all the ganglioside classes. The other major base was sphingosine. Among the constituent fatty acids, long-chain acids (with a carbon number of more than 20), comprised approximately half the total acids, with some alpha-hydroxy and mono-unsaturated acids. By means of sequential hydrolysis with glycosidases couple...
McDonald GK.A six year old Percheron mare was presented with a history of spontaneous unilateral epistaxis of 24 hours duration. The blood one stage prothrombin and partial thromboplastin times were markedly prolonged. A diagnosis of moldy sweetclover poisoning was made on the basis of the history and clinical and laboratory findings. A single whole blood transfusion and four daily intravenous injections of vitamin K(3) proved to be a successful treatment.
Maget-Dana R, Michalski JC.A simple method for the isolation of hematoside NeuNG1-Lac-Cer from horse erythrocytes is described. An aliquot of the crude ganglioside fraction was labeled by tritiated sodium borohydride after mild periodate oxidation. The compounds obtained were used as radioactive tracers in column chromatography. Gangliosides were applied onto a silicic acid column and eluted stepwise by solvents of steadily increasing polarity. The major ganglioside, NeuNG1-Lac-Cer, was eluted in a high yield by the solvent mixture chloroform/methanol/water (60:35:8, v/v/v).
Sahu SP, Dardiri AH.Uterine, cervical, and clitoral specimens on swabs from pony mares infected with contagious equine equine metritis (CEM) bacteria were streaked on agar plates. Colonies of CEM bacteria were observed under CO2 incubation in 2 days on Eugon chocolate agar and Eugon blood agar plates. The diameter of the colonies varied from 0.2 mm to 1 mm in 2 days which increased to 0.3 mm to 2.0 mm on day 4. The colonies on Eugon chocolate agar plates on days 2 to 4 were shiny, brown, round, and convex, and easily glided when pushed with a loop. The diameter of the colonies on chocolate and blood agar plates m...
Johnson L, Amann RP, Pickett BW.Spermatozoa from four regions of the epididymis and from ejaculated semen were evaluated for their resistance to cold shock, progressive motility, and structural stability. Spermatozoa were incubated at 38 C and their percentage of eosinophilia was compared with that of spermatozoa cooled to 0 C in 2 minutes, 10 C in 12 minutes, or 4 C in 22 minutes. Spermatozoa motility was estimated visually under phase-contrast microscopy and was recorded by cinematography. Structural stability of spermatozoa incubated in 0.05 M sodium borate buffer, 0.035 M sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 0.002 M dithiothrei...
Cappugi G, Manao G, Camici G, Ramponi G.The amino acid sequence of horse muscle acylphosphatase is given in the present paper. The carboxymethylated enzyme consists of a single polypeptide chain of 98 amino acid residues with an acetyl group blocking the NH2 terminus and a tyrosine at the COOH terminus. The calculated molecular weight of the native protein, a mixed disulfide with glutathione, is 11,365. The carboxymethylated protein was cleaved by cyanogen bromide. The three expected fragments were purified; moreover, an additional fragment, derived from a partial failure of cleavage at methionine-24, was purified and characterized....
Otsuka S, Listowsky I, Niitsu Y, Urushizaki I.An intraspecies hybrid apoferritin was assembled by mixing subunits of horse heart ferritin, which consists mainly of H-type subunits, and horse spleen ferritin, in which L-type subunits predominate. Interspecies hybrid apoferritins were reconstituted from subunits of human liver-horse spleen ferritins and from rat liver-horse spleen ferritins. All the hybrid ferritins migrated as single zones with electrophoretic mobilities intermediate between those of the parent ferritins. Isoelectric focusing data and immunological patterns were consistent with the view that the reassembled apoferritins we...
Arko RJ, Wong KH.An infection model in laboratory mice for studying the bacterium (proposed name Haemophilus equigenitalis) causing contagious equine metritis is described. Small porous chambers were implanted subcutaneously into mice and after 1 to 3 weeks were inoculated with H equigenitalis. Infections that persisted for > 30 days were established by direct transfer of infective chamber fluid or by injection of laboratory-grown cultures. Immunization of mice with formaldehyde-treated cells induced significant, strain-related immunity to infection and did not appear to require complement as a protection medi...
Henion JD, Maylin GA.A sensitive, quantitative method has been developed for the determination of hydrochlorothiazide in equine plasma and urine. Thin-layer chromatography is used to screen for the presence of the drug in unknown samples. The TLC screening methods described provide minimum detection limits of 50 ng/mL in plasma and 25 ng/mL in urine. A silica micro chromatography column is used to clean up ethyl acetate extracts for HPLC analysis and mass spectral confirmation. An internal standard, trichloromethiazide, is used to derive quantitative data at concentrations as low as 25 ng/mL for plasma disappearan...
Reuter G, Pfeil R, Kamerling JP, Vliegenthart JF, Schauer R.The novel sialic acid 4-O-acetyl-9-O-lactyl-N-acetylneuraminic acid has been identified as a constituent of horse submandibular gland glycoproteins in addition to the already known equine sialic acids, N-acetylneuraminic acid, 4-O-acetyl-N-acetylneuraminic acid, 9-O-acetyl-N-acetylneuraminic acid, 4,9-di-O-acetyl-N-acetylneuraminic acid, N-glycolylneuraminic acid, 4-O-acetyl-N-glycolylneuraminic acid and 9-O-acetyl-N-glycolylneuraminic acid. The structure has been established by combined gas-liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.
Steffey EP, Farver T, Zinkl J, Wheat JD, Meagher DM, Brown MP.Quantitative changes in hematologic and serum biochemical values associated with prolonged general anesthesia produced by known alveolar doses of halothane in oxygen were determined in six young, healthy horses under laboratory conditions. In addition, 25 young equine patients anesthetized for shorter periods under clinical conditions were similarly (except hematologic values) prospectively evaluated. In normal horses, muscle- and hepatic-derived serum biochemical values were mildly increased immediately after anesthesia. Values after anesthesia remained at greater than base-line values for up...
Potgieter LN, Rouse BT, Webb-Martin TA.A modification of the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed which used staphylococcal protein A linked to horseradish peroxidase. Virus antibodies in equine, bovine, porcine, feline, canine, lagomorphic (rabbit), and human sera were detected, using the indirect ELISA in which the antiglobulin enzyme conjugate was replaced by protein A linked to horseradish peroxidase. Results of the ELISA were compared with the results of the serum-virus neutralization test. The application of the test in laboratories performing serologic assays with sera from diverse animal species ...
Aggarwal BB, Farmer SW, Papkoff H, Stewart F, Allen WR.Serum of the pregnant donkey, like that of the mare, contains a gonadotrophin of chorionic origin. The chorionic gonaditrophin of the donkey (dCG) has been isolated in purified form from the serum of pregnant donkeys using methodology previously employed for the purification of pregnant mare chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG). Unlike eCG, dCG is predominatly an LH in biological tests. In the in-vitro rat Leydig cell assay, dCG was as active as eCG, but in the in-vitro rat seminiferous tubule assay for FSH and in the augmentation assay, dCG was considerably less potent than eCG (1-10%). Specific rat...
Downing DT, Colton SW.Skin surface lipids from the sides of male and female horses (Equus caballus) were collected in acetone and analyzed by thin layer chromatography and gas liquid chromatography. The sole components in both sexes were cholesterol, cholesteryl esters and the lactones of 32-, 32- and 36-carbon omega-hydroxy acids, each including a methyl group in the n-1 position. Most of the lactones were monounsaturated (either n-8 or n-10), but small amounts of saturated and dienoic species were present. A pooled sample of the skin surface lipids contained 14% cholesterol, 38% cholesteryl esters and 48% lactone...
McGowan JJ, Allen GP, Barnett JM, Gentry GA.Infection of horse KyED cells with equine herpesvirus type 3 (EHV-3) resulted in a sevenfold increase in cytosol deoxythymidine kinase (dTK) activity. The EHV-3 dTK was purified from KyED cytosol dTK by affinity chromatography on deoxythymidine-Sepharose and characterized with respect to its electrophoretic mobility, molecular weight, substrate specificity, phosphate donor specificity, and immunological specificity. The purified EHV-3 dTK migrated in polyacrylamide gels with an Rf of 0.30 and sedimented in glycerol gradients with an S value of 5.13, corresponding to a molecular weight of 83,00...
Makinde AA.The reverse single radial immunodiffusion technique was used to detect Dermatophilus congolensis antibody in sera collected from animals previously infected to varying levels with D congolensis. Ammonium sulphate and trichloroacetic acid extracts of five different strains of D congolensis obtained from different geographical locations were used as antigens. All the extracts showed variations in their sensitivities in detecting D congolensis antibody in the various serum samples. Multiple antibodies were detected by some extracts while some showed negative antibody reaction to all extracts. Two...
England JJ, Reed DE.Negative contrast electron microscopy (NCEM) was utilized as a routine tool in the diagnosis of viral infections of domestic and wild animals. Viruses identified by this technique were observed in infected culture systems or clinical specimens from several species including horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, cats, pigs, deer, Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, antelope, and several avian species. Viruses were identified by NCEM based on their size, morphology, and symmetry and consisted of adenoviruses, herpesviruses, paramyxoviruses, myxoviruses, picornaviruses, parvoviruses, coronaviruses, reoviruses, ...
Aho R.Hairsamples of domestic and laboratory animals suspected of dermatophytosis were examined for the presence of dermatophytes. A nutritionally poor base-medium developed by the author was successfully used in the isolation and identification of dermatophytes. Casein-medium supplemented with vitamins and Sabouraud-liquid medium were used in special cases. Dermatophytes were isolated in 36 of 331 samples (10.9%). The dermatophytes recovered were Microsporum canis: 13 isolates from cat. 4 from dog. 1 from horse; Trichophyton mentagrophytes var. granulare: 3 isolates from dog, 3 from horse, 2 from g...
Smith HT, Millett F.Spectrophotometric titrations of five singly modified horse heart ferricytochromes c, specifically (trifluoromethyl)phenylcarbamylated (CF3PhNHCO-) or trifluoroacetylated (CF3CO-) at lysines-13, -72, and -79, were carried out. The CF3PhNHCO-Lys-13, Lys-79, and CF3CO-Lys-79 derivatives all underwent alkaline isomerization with loss of the 695-nm band to low-spin species with an apparent pK of about 8.9, as did the unmodified cytochrome. However, modification of lysine-72 appeared to alter the reaction pathway since the CF3PhNHCO-Lys-72 derivative isomerized to a high-spin form with an apparent ...
Giudicelli J, Emiliozzi R, Vannier C, de Burlet G, Sudaka P.A horse kidney neutral alpha-D-glucosidase (alpha-D-glucoside glucohydrolase, EC 3.2.1.20) was purified about 580-fold with a yield of 33% by an affinity chromatography technique using the p-aminophenyl-beta-D-maltoside, a substrate derivative, as ligand. The purified enzyme, homogeneous in polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, was a glycoprotein with a molecular weight of 280 000 as calculated by gel filtration and its isoelectric focusing points was found to be pH 4.1. The purified enzyme was able to hydrolyze various substrates having (alpha-1,2), (alpha-1,3), (alpha-1,4), and (alpha-1,6) glu...
Kovár J.Single biochemical analyses can be used for the diagnosis of animal diseases only with the knowledge of the effects that may distort the single result. The study of the repeatability of analyses is described in the four basic enzymes (AST, ALP, GMT, LD), which are most frequently used for diagnosis. The experiment was conducted in a group of ten Kladrub mares. Six blood samples were taken from each of the mares within ten days. The measured values were subjected to statistical processing and repeatability coefficients (r op) were calculated. All the r op values were high (ALP--0.96, LD--0.93, ...
Granon S.Pig and horse colipases contain three tyrosine residues. In addition, horse colipase possesses a tryptophan residue. Some of the tyrosine residues are involved in the association of colipase and a bile salt micelle. The present report demonstrates that the aromatic residues responsible for colipase fluorescence are in an aqueous environment. In the presence of bile salt micelles, changes in colipase fluorescence properties indicate that the intrinsic fluorophores are located in a more hydrophobic environment upon colipase-micelle complex formation. In addition, the fluorescence of an NBD group...
Welles EG, Prasse KW, Duncan A, Morris MJ.An antigenic assay was developed for determination of protein C in horses. Protein C, a natural, vitamin K-dependent anticoagulant component in blood, was isolated from equine plasma, a specific antibody was produced in goats, and a rocket electroimmunophoresis assay was established. Tests were performed to verify the identity of the isolated protein C and to determine the purity of the antibody. Protein C antigen was measured in plasma from 34 clinically normal horses, and values were compared with amidolytic function values. The mean (+/- SD) values for the 2 test methods were similar (antig...
Slais K, Nielen MW, Brinkman UA, Frei RW.Amphetamine-type drugs with a wide polarity range have been screened in both human and horse urine using on-line pre-concentration on pre-columns packed with hydrophobic and cation-exchange sorbents in series and gradient microbore high-performance liquid chromatography. The underivatized amphetamines were identified by UV detection at 210 nm. The method has potential for the automated liquid chromatographic screening of amphetamines in urine, e.g., for doping control.
Singh AK, McArdle C, Ashraf M, Granley K, Mishra U, Gordon B.Equine plasma and urine samples were analyzed by using a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and particle concentration fluorescence assay (PCFIA). Although ELISA and PCFIA were rapid, simple and sensitive for the screening of furosemide, they did not give reproducible quantitative results. The HPLC method, which required relatively longer analysis time, provided simple and reproducible quantitative analysis of furosemide in plasma and urine. The performance of the three methods was compared for the quantitation of furosemide in plasma obtai...
Buntain B, Greig WA, Thompson H.The clinical and pathological features of a case of chronic nephritis in a 17-year-old pony was described. Measurement of fluid intake and laboratory analysis of sequential blood and urine samples helped in establishing an accurate diagnosis. The case demonstrates that although chronic renal disease is not well documented in the horse it should nevertheless be considered in the differential diagnosis of conditions characterised by progressive loss of weight.
Jackson DS.This paper reviews some of the biochemical modifications involved in fibrous tissue formation and discusses possible ways of controlling fibrosis in clinical conditions. The lathyritic agents, beta-aminoproprionitrile (BAPN) and penicillamine, appear in certain situations to be able to control fibrosis by blocking the biosynthesis of collagen. There are no compounds that are yet known which are capable of reversing pre-existing fibrosis and future research may perhaps be more profitably directed towards the stimulation of collagen catabolism rather than the inhibition of its synthesis.
Blancquaert AB, Colgan SP, Bruyninckx WJ.To identify the influence of technical factors on the in vitro motility of equine neutrophils towards streptococcus culture supernatant in an under-agarose assay, we studied the changes in eight cell migration parameters. The distances the phagocytes travelled by directed, random and spontaneous migration increased with incubation time, cell concentration and the gelatin and serum contents of the migration plates. The contribution of chemotaxis to the phagocyte migrations, however, decreased simultaneously. The directed and random, though not the spontaneous, migrations of the phagocytes incre...