Colbath AC, Goodrich L, Frye C, Dow S.Neurological diseases and injuries in veterinary patients (horses, dogs, and cats) are complex, and effective treatment options are limited. Neuronal loss, damage to nerve conduction pathways, and inflammation and scarring associated with spinal cord injury pose major challenges in managing many neurological diseases. Furthermore, most of these neuropathologies lack definitive pharmacological treatments, driving interest and research into novel interventions. Our objective is to provide a narrative review of the current literature surrounding cellular therapies including neuronal and glial ste...
Alshammari A, Gattan HS, Marzok M, Selim A.Neospora infections in equine are associated with reproductive disorders and neurological diseases. Nevertheless, Egypt has no epidemiological information on this parasite in equine. This study determined the prevalence of Neospora spp. infection in 325 equines from three Egyptian governorates located at Northern Egypt using cELISA. The prevalence of antibodies against Neospora spp. was 19% (95% CI: 14.09-25.05) in horse, 34.1% (95%CI: 24.92-44.69) in donkey and 26.7% (95% CI: 15.97-41.04) in mule. In comparison to horse, donkey had a considerably higher chance of contracting Neospora spp. in...
Enriquez CK, Morrow JK, Graves A, Johnson A.Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) caused by Sarcocystis neurona remains an antemortem diagnostic challenge in some horses. Recent work suggested the use of real-time PCR (rtPCR) on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) as a promising diagnostic tool. Objective: To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of S. neurona rtPCR on CSF for EPM diagnosis using horses with EPM and S. neurona-seropositive horses with other neurologic conditions. Methods: Ninety-nine horses with neurologic disease that underwent complete neurologic examination, CSF collection, and, if euthanized, necropsy including the cent...
Langsjoen RM, Key A, Shariatzadeh N, Jackson CR, Mahmood F, Arkun K, Alexandrescu S, Solomon IH, Piantadosi A.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a relatively little-studied alphavirus that can cause devastating viral encephalitis, potentially leading to severe neurological sequelae or death. Although case numbers have historically been low, outbreaks have been increasing in frequency and scale since the 2000 s. It is critical to investigate EEEV evolutionary patterns, especially within human hosts, to understand patterns of emergence, host adaptation, and within-host evolution. To this end, we obtained formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from discrete brain regions from five contem...
Valberg SJ, Williams ZJ, Henry ML, Finno CJ.Shivers in horses is characterized by abnormal hindlimb movement when walking backward and is proposed to be caused by a Purkinje cell (PC) axonopathy based on histopathology. Objective: Define region-specific differences in gene expression within the lateral cerebellar hemisphere and compare cerebellar protein expression between Shivers horses and controls. Methods: Case-control study of 5 Shivers and 4 control geldings ≥16.2 hands in height. Methods: Using spatial transcriptomics, gene expression was compared between Shivers and control horses in PC soma and lateral cerebellar hemisphere w...
Ferreira LVO, Kamura BDC, Oliveira JPM, Chimenes ND, Carvalho M, Santos LAD, Dias-Melicio LA, Amorim RL, Amorim RM.Schwann cells (SCs) are essential for the regenerative processes of peripheral nerve injuries. However, their use in cell therapy is limited. In this context, several studies have demonstrated the ability of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to transdifferentiate into Schwann-like cells (SLCs) using chemical protocols or co-culture with SCs. Here, we describe for the first time the in vitro transdifferentiation potential of MSCs derived from equine adipose tissue (AT) and equine bone marrow (BM) into SLCs using a practical method. In this study, the facial nerve of a horse was collected, cut into ...
Equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) is a neurological disease caused by Sarcocystis neurona. Immunofluorescence antibody tests (IFATs) have been widely used to identify exposure of horses to S. neurona in Brazil. Here we used IFAT to search for IgG antibodies against Sarcocystis falcatula-like (Dal-CG23) and S. neurona (SN138) in sera from 342 horses sampled in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul state (Midwestern), and São Paulo, São Paulo state (Southeastern), Brazil. The 1:25 cutoff value was chosen to maximize sensitivity of the test. IgG antibodies against S. neurona were detected in ...
Black JB, Frampton AR.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is a highly transmissible pathogen that leads to a variety of clinical disease outcomes in infected horses. A major sequela that can occur after an EHV-1 infection is a neurological disease termed equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy (EHM). Clinical manifestations of EHM include fever, ataxia, incontinence, and partial to full paralysis, which may ultimately lead to the euthanization of the infected horse. To develop an effective treatment strategy for EHM, it is critical that the specific virus-host interactions that lead to EHM be investigated so that safe...
Ciosek J, Kimes A, Vinardell T, Miller DC, Antczak DF, Brooks S.Valued for their temperament, beauty, athletic ability, and exhibition in the show ring, Arabian horses are an important component of the horse industry. Juvenile idiopathic epilepsy (JIE), a seizure disorder, is most often reported in Arabian foals from birth to 6 months of age. Affected foals exhibit tonic-clonic seizures lasting as long as 5 min and risking secondary complications like temporary blindness and disorientation. Some foals outgrow this condition, while others die or suffer lifelong complications if not treated. Previous work suggested a strong genetic component to JIE and propo...
Barton CK, Hughes KL, Cowan C, Nout-Lomas YS, Nelson BB.A 21-year-old Quarter Horse mare presented with a chronic, progressively worsening left pelvic limb lameness of 3 weeks duration. The initial examination identified a consistent lameness at a walk. Neurological examination showed sensory and gait abnormalities consistent with left femoral nerve dysfunction. The horse minimally advanced the leg cranially and had a shortened stride length at the walk. During the stance phase, the heels of the left hind foot did not contact the ground and the horse quickly took weight off of the limb. Diagnostic imaging (ultrasound and nuclear scintigraphy) exami...
Luethy D, Colmer S, Jodzio D, Bender S, Porter E, Hemmen Z, Fultz L, Craft W, Walker R, Johnson A, Holbrook T.Ultrasound-guided cervical centesis has gained popularity as a method for collecting cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from standing horses. There are anecdotal reports of neck stiffness, regional swelling, sensitivity to palpation, and fever after the procedure. We report 2 horses with complications that occurred within days of C1-C2 centesis and ultimately resulted in euthanasia. Both C1-C2 centesis were performed routinely, with CSF cytologic analysis providing no evidence of blood contamination. Post-mortem examination revealed equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy as the primary disorder causin...
Mannaa M, Shamaa AA, Shawky A, Hassan IM, Refaey AM, Abu-Seida AM.Cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM), also known as equine wobbler syndrome or cervical ataxia, is a devastating neurological syndrome resulting from compression of the spinal cord at the cervical region. This report describes a novel surgical technique for treatment of 16-month-old Arabian filly with CVSM. The filly showed grade 4 ataxia, hypermetria, weakness of the hind limbs, stumbling during walking, and abnormal gait. Case history, clinical signs and myelography revealed spinal cord compression between the C3 and C4 and C4-C5. The filly underwent a novel surgical interference fo...
Cao X, Yang D, Parvathareddy J, Chu YK, Kim EJ, Fitz-Henley JN, Li X, Lukka PB, Parmar KR, Temrikar ZH, Dhole P, Adcock RS, Gabbard J, Bansal S....Venezuelan and eastern equine encephalitis viruses (VEEV and EEEV, respectively) are mosquito-borne, neuroinvasive human pathogens for which no FDA-approved therapeutic exists. Besides the biothreat posed by these viruses when aerosolized, arthropod transmission presents serious health risks to humans, as demonstrated by the 2019 outbreak of EEE disease in the United States that resulted in 38 confirmed cases, 19 deaths, and neurological effects in survivors. Here, we describe the discovery of a 2-pyrrolidinoquinazolinone scaffold, efficiently synthesized in two to five steps, whose structural...
Phelps S, Chong D, McKenzie E, Kiupel M, Gorman E.Clinical disease caused by infection with is rare in adult horses, and there is a paucity of ante-mortem clinicopathologic changes for this species reported in the literature. Confirmatory diagnosis is difficult and often requires post-mortem sampling of the brainstem. This report details a case of meningoencephalitis caused by in an adult American quarter horse gelding presenting with central neurologic signs. Pre-mortem analysis of the cerebrospinal fluid revealed a mononuclear, primarily lymphocytic, pleocytosis, which is a reported finding in other species with listeriosis. Post-mortem h...
Fujiwara Y, Kusakabe KT, Baba K, Sasaki N.Currently, treatment for peripheral nerve injuries in horses primarily relies upon physical therapy and anti-inflammatory drugs. In humans, various treatments using mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are being attempted. Therefore, in this study, Schwann-like cell differentiation cultures of equine MSCs were prepared using fetal bovine serum (FBS) and equine platelet lysate (ePL). ePL increased the platelet count to 1 × 10/μl, the optimal concentration for culture. In both groups, an elongated morphology at both ends, characteristic of Schwann cells, was observed under the microscope. Real-time...
Bernardino PN, Pusterla N, Conrad PA, Packham AE, Tamez-Trevino E, Aleman M, James K, Smith WA.Among the recognized neurologic diseases in horses, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) has been reported around the world and still presents challenges in diagnosis and treatment. Horses can present with clinical neurologic signs consistent with EPM while testing negative for the two main causative agents, Sarcocystis neurona or Neospora hughesi, and may still be clinically responsive to anti-parasitic drug therapy. This context led to our hypothesis that another protozoal parasite, Toxoplasma gondii, which is known to cause toxoplasmosis in other mammalian species, is a potential pathog...
Donnelly CG, Johnson AL, Reed S, Finno CJ.Cervical vertebral compressive myelopathy (CVCM) and equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/degenerative myeloencephalopathy (eNAD/EDM) are leading causes of spinal ataxia in horses. The conditions can be difficult to differentiate, and there is currently no diagnostic modality that offers a definitive antemortem diagnosis. Objective: Evaluate novel proteomic techniques and machine learning algorithms to predict biomarkers that can aid in the antemortem diagnosis of noninfectious spinal ataxia in horses. Methods: Banked serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from necropsy-confirmed adult eNAD/EDM (...
Millis DL, Bergh A.Light therapy, or photobiomodulation, is a collective name for methods where tissue is irradiated with different types of light, with the aim of stimulating healing. Despite being frequently used, there is no consensus regarding the optimal treatment protocols for light therapy, nor its clinical efficacy. A systematic literature review was conducted, searching the relevant literature regarding light therapy in three databases, published between 1980-2020. The risk of bias in each article was evaluated. Forty-five articles met the inclusion criteria; 24 articles were regarding dogs, 1 was regar...
Baker E, Geick A, Hines M, Gerhold R, Cordero-Aponte C.A 17-year-old female grade pony presented to University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center in May of 2021 for evaluation of multifocal, firm, sessile, circular lesions of various diameters on the ventrum and flank. The lesions had been present for two weeks at presentation. An excisional biopsy found numerous adult and larval rhabditid nematodes most consistent with Halicephalobus gingivalis. PCR targeting a portion of the large ribosomal subunit confirmed this diagnosis. The patient was treated with a high dose course of ivermectin followed by fenbendazole. The patient began showing neuro...
Pusterla N, Barnum S, Lawton K, Wademan C, Corbin R, Hodzic E.Contemporary data on equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) genotype (non-neuropathogenic or N, neuropathogenic or D and new variant or H) in clinically diseased equids is important in order to determine the frequency of these genotypes and their association with disease expression. A total of 297 EHV-1 qPCR-positive swabs collected from 2019 to 2022 from horses with respiratory disease (EHV-1), neurological disease (equine herpesvirus-1 myeloencephalopathy [EHM]) and abortion were tested for the three different EHV-1 genotypes (N, D and H) using qPCR allelic discrimination assays. All submissions origi...
Oliver A, Conrado FO, Nolen-Walston R.Equine granulocytic anaplasmosis is a clinically significant and common disease of equids that has a broader prevalence than was once thought. The most common clinical signs include high fever and edema, with mild to mderate thrombocytopenia and lymphopenia typically noted on complete blood count. Subclinical cases are reported and many are self-limiting. Rare clinical presentations include neurologic disease, vasculitis, dysphagia, rhabdomyolysis, or bicavitary effusion. Most cases resolve rapidly with appropriate antimicrobial intervention.
Murer S, Polidori G, Beaumont F, Bogard F, Hakim H, Legrand F.Pudendal Neuralgia (PN) is a rare, debilitating disease caused by damage to the pudendal nerve, which innervates the anus, rectum, perineum, lower urinary tract, and genitalia. Although its etiology remains scientifically unknown, a number of sports practices, including horse-riding, are reported as triggering and/or aggravating factors. The present work summarizes the experimental measurements of the contact pressure at the interface between the rider and saddle, for a population of 12 experienced female riders. These tests reveal that dynamic horseback-riding leads to high levels of peak pre...
Booth AD, Hidalgo FL, Bellezzo F, Young JM, Bianco AW, Hughes LE, Maher M, Trumble TN, Ernst N.To describe outcomes of horses with temporohyoid osteoarthropathy (THO) treated with partial ceratohyoidectomy. 10 client-owned horses. Medical records from 2 institutions were examined for records of horses with THO treated with partial ceratohyoidectomy between 2010 and 2021. History, signalment, clinical signs, diagnostics, medications, and surgery-related details were recorded. Horses with a minimum of 6 months follow-up were recruited for neurologic and imaging examinations in the hospital or field where radiography of the basihyoid-ceratohyoid articulation were performed along with CT, w...
Donnelly CG, Finno CJ.Phosphorylated neurofilament heavy, a marker of neuroaxonal damage, is increased in horses with equine neuroaxonal dystrophy. However, the temporal dynamics of this biomarker during the post-natal risk period are not understood. Objective: To measure serum and cerebrospinal fluid phosphorylated neurofilament heavy concentrations in juvenile foals across the post-natal window of susceptibility for equine neuroaxonal dystrophy. Methods: Case-control in vivo experimental study. Methods: Concentrations of phosphorylated neurofilament heavy were measured using frozen serum and cerebrospinal fluid c...
Vandersmissen M, Wimmer-Scherr CM, Lecoq L, Busoni V, Evrard L.A 15-year-old pony was presented for acute neurological signs. Neurological examination suggested a brainstem lesion, blood laboratory tests detected an active inflammatory process, and upper respiratory endoscopy identified a suppurative lesion at the dorsal aspect of the right guttural pouch. Computed tomography was performed and findings were consistent with pituitary abscess, meningitis, and atlanto-occipital joint septic arthritis. Imaging findings were confirmed based on cerebrospinal and synovial fluid cultures and necropsy. Computed tomography provided important information for identif...
Ribeiro MG, Pereira TT, de Lima Paz PJ, de Almeida BO, Cerviu00f1o CSA, Rodrigues CA, Santos GTS, de Souza Freire LM, Portilho FVR, Filho MFu00c1....Central nervous system (CNS) infections comprise life-threatening clinical conditions in domestic species, and are commonly related to severe sequelae, disability, or high fatality rates. A set of bacterial pathogens have been identified in central nervous infections in livestock and companion animals, although the most of descriptions are restricted to case reports and a lack of comprehensive studies involving CNS-related bacterial infections have been focused on a great number of domestic species. In this scenario, we retrospectively investigated selected epidemiological data, clinical findi...
Barbosa JD, Lins AMC, Bomjardim HDA, Silveira NDSES, Barbosa CC, Beuttemmuller EA, Brito MF, Salvarani FM.An investigative and epidemiological study was carried out for equine herpesvirus type 1 (HVE-1) in 10 outbreaks of neurological disease from different farms in the state of Pará, Brazil. 25 horses were studied: six male and 19 females, aged between one and 13 years. A necropsy of six horses was performed, and the others recovered either with or without treatment (T1-vitamin B1 + dexamentasone; T2-vitamin B1 + flunixim meglumine). Animals that received treatment recovered after eight days. The main clinical signs observed were motor incoordination, progressive paresis, thoracic and/or pelvic ...
Lohmann KL, Sieg M, Landmann M, Ganzenberg S, Arnold C, Vahlenkamp T, Ulrich RG.The presenting complaints, clinical signs, diagnostic evaluation, therapy, and outcome of 12 horses with clinically apparent West-Nile-Virus (WNV) infection are described. Methods: Case series RESULTS: The adult horses (age 6-18 years, 7 mares, 5 geldings) from Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt were presented with various clinical histories between September 2018 and September 2020. All horses were presented in August or September and no horse was vaccinated against WNV. Fever as the most common general clinical sign was present in 8/12 horses. The most common neurological signs were muscle fascicula...
Pillai VV, Mudd LJ, Sola MF.A 19-y-old American Saddlebred gelding was evaluated for epiphora of the right eye and generalized cachexia. Initial examination revealed anterior uveitis without ulceration, for which treatment was initiated. Despite the initial response to treatment, the signs progressively worsened to blindness. Histologic examination of the enucleated eye revealed granulomatous panuveitis and optic neuritis with intralesional nematode larvae identified as . Over time and despite anthelmintic treatment, blindness developed in the left eye along with neurologic signs, and the horse was euthanized. Disseminat...
Zakia LS, Albertino LG, Andrade DGA, Amorim RM, Takahira RR, Oliveira-Filho JP, Borges AS.This study aimed to characterize the findings in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) analysis of horses, cattle, and sheep diagnosed with rabies. The study included 62 animals (horses, cattle, and sheep) diagnosed with rabies at a referral hospital. This was a retrospective study using medical records from large animals with neurological signs and confirmed positive direct immunofluorescence test for rabies from 2003 to 2020. The results of CSF analysis are presented descriptively. Cerebral spinal fluid samples (N = 67) from 62 animals (31 horses, 24 cattle, and 7 sheep) were retrospectively evaluated...
Tauro LB, Rivarola ME, Lucca E, Mariu00f1o B, Mazzini R, Cardoso JF, Barrandeguy ME, Teixeira Nunes MR, Contigiani MS.Bunyamwera virus (BUNV) is the prototype virus for both the Orthobunyavirus genus and the Bunyaviridae family. Different strains of BUNV have been associated with clinical diseases in domestic animals, mainly ruminants. During 2013, in Argentina's Santa Fe Province, three new isolates of BUNV were recovered from the brain and spleen of two horses with encephalitis, and from the brain of an aborted equine fetus. This isolation of BUNV from domestic animals provided the first association of BUNV infection with disease of the central nervous system and abortion in equines in Argentina.
Meregillano G.Hippotherapy refers to the use of the movement of the horse asa treatment tool by physical therapists, occupational therapists,and speech-language therapists to address impairments, functional limitations, and disabilities in clients with neuromusculoskeletal dysfunction, such as cerebral palsy. Hippotherapy is used as part of an integrated treatment program to achieve functional outcomes. Hippotherapy engages the client in activities on the horse that are enjoyable and challenging. In the controlled hippotherapyenvironment, the therapist modifies the horse's movement and carefully grades sens...
Ishihara A, Reed SM, Rajala-Schultz PJ, Robertson JT, Bertone AL.To evaluate use of kinetic gait analysis for detection, quantification, and differentiation of hind limb lameness and spinal ataxia in horses. Methods: Prospective clinical study. Methods: 36 horses. Procedures-Kinetic gait analysis with a force plate was performed for 12 clinically normal horses, 12 horses with hind limb lameness, and 12 horses with spinal ataxia. Kinetic variables were compared among groups, correlated to subjective grading, and used to build predictive models to assess the accuracy of discrimination. Results: Subsets of kinetic variables were characteristically altered in a...
Aru00e9chiga-Ceballos N, Aguilar-Setiu00e9n A.Summary Alphaviral equine encephalomyelitis is a mosquito-borne infection that causes severe neurological disease and fatalities in horses and humans in the Americas. Consequently, the equine alphaviruses (Eastern, Western and Venezuelan) are of considerable concern worldwide and are notifiable to the World Organisation for Animal Health. In addition, these diseases are considered a potent potential biological weapon, emphasising the need to develop an effective vaccine. Alphaviral equine encephalomyelitis is caused by Eastern equine encephalomyelitis virus (EEEV), Western equine encephalomyel...
Cheadle MA, Tanhauser SM, Dame JB, Sellon DC, Hines M, Ginn PE, MacKay RJ, Greiner EC.The nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) is an intermediate host of at least three species of Sarcocystis, Sarcocystis dasypi, Sarcocystis diminuta, and an unidentified species; however, life cycles of these species have not been determined. Following feeding of armadillo muscles containing sarcocysts to the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), the opossums shed sporulated Sarcocystis sporocysts in their faeces. Mean dimensions for sporocysts were 11.0x7.5 microm and each contained four sporozoites and a residual body. Sporocysts were identified as Sarcocystis neurona using PCR and...
Mayhew IG, Brown CM, Stowe HD, Trapp AL, Derksen FJ, Clement SF.Two horse farms, on which there was a high incidence of proven and suspected equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM), were studied. Symmetric ataxia and paresis, along with laryngeal adductor, cervicofacial, local cervical, and cutaneous trunci hyporeflexia, characterized the syndrome. Serum vitamin E concentration reflected a deficient state in affected and unaffected horses on both farms when compared with selected reference groups and with published values. A high incidence of the disease was evident in offspring of two particular sires on one farm. Vitamin E supplementation resulted ...
Mayhew IG, Whitlock RH, Tasker JB.Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected from the atlanto-occipital (AO) and lumbosacral (LS) subarachnoid spaces of 24 horses and 21 ponies that had no clinical evidence of neurologic disease. Depth of needle insertion, pressures, refractive index, rapid reagent strip test (protein, glucose, blood, pH) results, cell counts, content of protein, glucose, sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, urea nitrogen, and cholesterol, and activities of creatine phosphokinase, aspartate transaminase, lactic dehydrogenase, and alkaline phosphatase were determined. The resulting clinical r...
Davis LE, Beckham JD, Tyler KL.Arboviruses continue to be a major cause of encephalitis in North America, and West Nile virus neuroinvasive disease is now the dominant cause of encephalitis. Transmission to humans of North American arboviruses occurs by infected mosquitoes or ticks. Most infections are asymptomatic or produce a flulike illness. Rapid serum or cerebrospinal fluid IgM antibody capture ELISA assays are available to diagnosis the acute infection for all North American arboviruses. Unfortunately, no antiviral drugs are approved for the treatment of arbovirus infection and current therapy is supportive.
Finno CJ, Famula T, Aleman M, Higgins RJ, Madigan JE, Bannasch DL.Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (NAD/EDM) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting young horses of various breeds that resembles ataxia with vitamin E deficiency in humans, an inherited disorder caused by mutations in the alpha-tocopherol transfer protein gene (TTPA). To evaluate variants found upon sequencing TTPA in the horse, the mode of inheritance for NAD/EDM had to be established. Objective: NAD/EDM in the American Quarter Horse (QH) is caused by a mutation in TTPA. Methods: 88 clinically phenotyped (35 affected [ataxia score ≥2], 53 unaffected) QH...
McFarlane D.Parkinson's disease (PD) is a leading cause of neurologic disability in the aged population. Remarkable progress has been made in the past decade to understand the cellular and molecular events that occur in PD. However attempts to unravel the early, initiating factors in the pathogenesis of dopaminergic neurodegeneration and PD have been limited by the lack of a suitable animal model. Models in which there has been genetic or environmental manipulation are not of use in determining the natural cause of a disease. While a large scale prospective human study would be ideal, the relatively low p...
Rosa R, Costa EA, Marques RE, Oliveira TS, Furtini R, Bomfim MR, Teixeira MM, Paixu00e3o TA, Santos RL.St. Louis encephalitis virus (SLEV) is a causative agent of encephalitis in humans in the Western hemisphere. SLEV is a positive-sense RNA virus that belongs to the Flavivirus genus, which includes West Nile encephalitis virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, Dengue virus and other medically important viruses. Recently, we isolated a SLEV strain from the brain of a horse with neurological signs in the countryside of Minas Gerais, Brazil. The SLEV isolation was confirmed by reverse-transcription RT-PCR and sequencing of the E protein gene. Virus identity was also confirmed by indirect immunofluore...
Silkwood-Sherer D, Warmbier H.The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the effectiveness of hippotherapy as an intervention for the treatment of postural instability in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: A sample of convenience of 15 individuals with MS (24-72 years) were recruited from support groups and assessed for balance deficits. Methods: This study was a nonequivalent pretest-posttest comparison group design. Nine individuals (4 males, 5 females) received weekly hippotherapy intervention for 14 weeks. The other 6 individuals (2 males, 4 females) served as a comparison group. All participants we...
Finno CJ, Bordbari MH, Valberg SJ, Lee D, Herron J, Hines K, Monsour T, Scott E, Bannasch DL, Mickelson J, Xu L.Specific spontaneous heritable neurodegenerative diseases have been associated with lower serum and cerebrospinal fluid α-tocopherol (α-TOH) concentrations. Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy (eNAD) has similar histologic lesions to human ataxia with vitamin E deficiency caused by mutations in the α-TOH transfer protein gene (TTPA). Mutations in TTPA are not present with eNAD and the molecular basis remains unknown. Given the neuropathologic phenotypic similarity of the conditions, we assessed the molecular basis of eNAD by global transcriptome sequencing of the cervical spinal cord. Differential...
Venter M, Human S, van Niekerk S, Williams J, van Eeden C, Freeman F.In 2010, lineage 1 West Nile virus was detected in South Africa in the brain of a pregnant mare that succumbed to neurologic disease and in her aborted fetus, suggesting an association with abortion in horses. All West Nile virus strains previously detected in horses and humans in South Africa were lineage 2.
Venter M, Pretorius M, Fuller JA, Botha E, Rakgotho M, Stivaktas V, Weyer C, Romito M, Williams J.During 2008-2015 in South Africa, we conducted West Nile virus surveillance in 1,407 animals with neurologic disease and identified mostly lineage 2 cases in horses (7.4%, 79/1,069), livestock (1.5%, 2/132), and wildlife (0.5%, 1/206); 35% were fatal. Geographic correlation of horse cases with seropositive veterinarians suggests disease in horses can predict risk in humans.
The Journal of traumaJuly 1, 1997
Volume 43, Issue 1 97-99 doi: 10.1097/00005373-199707000-00022
Kriss TC, Kriss VM.Thirty million Americans ride horses; 50,000 of these riders are treated in emergency rooms annually. Equestrian activities are uniquely dangerous because the participant is unrestrained, often helmetless, and riding large, unpredictable animals capable of 40-mph speeds and kicking with up to 1 ton of force. Neurologic injuries in equestrians constitute the majority of severe injuries and fatalities. We prospectively studied all patients admitted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center with equine-related neurosurgical trauma from July 1992 to January 1996. Eighteen of 30 patients were ma...
It is currently unknown if the intrathecal administration of a high dose of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is safe, how MSCs migrate throughout the vertebral canal after intrathecal administration, and whether MSCs are able to home to a site of injury. The aims of the study were: 1) to evaluate the safety of intrathecal injection of 100 million allogeneic adipose-derived MSCs (ASCs); 2) to assess the distribution of ASCs after atlanto-occipital (AO) and lumbosacral (LS) injection in healthy horses; and 3) to determine if ASCs homed to the site of injury in neurologically diseased hor...
Gonzalez-Salazar D, Estrada-Franco JG, Carrara AS, Aronson JF, Weaver SC.To assess the role of horses as amplification hosts during the 1993 and 1996 Mexican Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) epizootics, we subcutaneously infected 10 horses by using four different equine isolates. Most horses showed little or no disease and low or nonexistent viremia. Neurologic disease developed in only 1 horse, and brain histopathologic examination showed meningeal lymphocytic infiltration, perivascular cuffing, and focal encephalitis. Three animals showed mild meningoencephalitis without clinical disease. Viral RNA was detected in the brain of several animals 12-14 days after...
Wagner B, Wimer C, Freer H, Osterrieder N, Erb HN.The recent increase in incidence, morbidity, and mortality of neurological disease induced by equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) has suggested a change of virulence of the virus. The exact mechanisms by which EHV-1 induces neurologic disease are not known. Environmental, viral, and host risk factors might contribute to neurological manifestation. Here, we investigated innate interferon-α (IFN-α), interleukin-10 (IL-10) and IL-4 responses after infection of equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with EHV-1 using an available cytokine multiplex assay. Three viral strains representing ...
Calzolari M, Monaco F, Montarsi F, Bonilauri P, Ravagnan S, Bellini R, Cattoli G, Cordioli P, Cazzin S, Pinoni C, Marini V, Natalini S, Goffredo M....West Nile virus (WNV) is one of the most serious public health threats that Europe and the Mediterranean countries are currently facing. In Italy, WNV emerged in 1998 and has been circulating since 2008. To tackle its continuous incursions, Italian national and regional institutions set up a surveillance program, which includes the serological screening of sentinel horses, sentinel-chickens and backyard poultry flocks and the surveillance on all equine neurological cases, resident captured and wild dead birds, and vectors. This communication aims to assess the importance of the entomological s...
Newton SA, Knottenbelt DC, Eldridge PR.Twenty mature horses with typical headshaking of 2 week-7 year duration were studied. Clinical examinations included radiography of the head and nasopharyngeal endoscopy. All were assessed at rest and at exercise, both before and after fitting an occlusive nasal mask, application of tinted contact lenses and the perineural anaesthesia of the infraorbital and posterior ethmoidal branches of the trigeminal nerve. Infraorbital anaesthesia had no effect in 6/7 cases but 11/17 (65%) cases showed a 90-100% improvement following posterior ethmoidal nerve anaesthesia. Tinted contact lenses had no appa...
Allen GP, Bolin DC, Bryant U, Carter CN, Giles RC, Harrison LR, Hong CB, Jackson CB, Poonacha K, Wharton R, Williams NM.An emerging problem of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) infection in horses in the USA is a high-mortality myeloencephalopathy that commonly occurs where large numbers of horses are stabled. EHV-1 isolates recovered from recent neurological outbreaks represent a mutant virus strain that possesses enhanced neuropathogenicity. A central question of EHV-1 myeloencephalopathy is the latency carriage rate for these mutants of EHV-1 in USA horse populations. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of neuropathogenic strains of EHV-1 as latent infections in the Thoroughbred broodmare population of central ...
Finno CJ, Estell KE, Katzman S, Winfield L, Rendahl A, Textor J, Bannasch DL, Puschner B.Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy/equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (NAD/EDM) is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting genetically predisposed foals maintained on α-tocopherol (α-TP)-deficient diet. Objective: Intramuscular α-TP and selenium (Se) administration at 4 days of age would have no significant effect on serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) α-TP in healthy foals. Serum and CSF α-TP, but not Se, would be significantly decreased in NAD/EDM-affected foals during first year of life. Methods: Fourteen Quarter horse foals; 10 healthy foals supplemented with 0.02 mL/kg injectable α-TP ...
Finno CJ, Aleman M, Higgins RJ, Madigan JE, Bannasch DL.Genome-wide association (GWA) studies are widely used to investigate the genetic etiology of diseases in domestic animals. In the horse, GWA studies using 40-50,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in sample sizes of 30-40 individuals, consisting of only 6-14 affected horses, have led to the discovery of genetic mutations for simple monogenic traits. Equine neuroaxonal dystrophy is a common inherited neurological disorder characterized by symmetric ataxia. A case-control GWA study was performed using genotypes from 42,819 SNP marker loci distributed across the genome in 99 clinically phe...
Wendell LC, Potter NS, Roth JL, Salloway SP, Thompson BB.Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus is an arbovirus that mostly causes asymptomatic infection in humans; however, some people can develop a neuroinvasive infection associated with a high mortality. Methods: We present a case of a patient with severe neuroinvasive EEE. Results: A 21-year-old man initially presented with headache, fever, and vomiting and was found to have a neutrophilic pleocytosis in his cerebrospinal fluid. He eventually was diagnosed with EEE, treated with high-dose methylprednisolone and intravenous immunoglobulin. His course in the NeuroIntensive Care Unit was complicat...
Carbone KM, Rubin SA, Nishino Y, Pletnikov MV.Studies of the pathogenesis of neurobehavioral diseases following Borna disease virus infections have been increasing rapidly over the past ten years. Recent major advances have included a report of vertical transmission of the virus in its natural host, the horse, and a report of isolation of a novel variant, No/98, in that same species. In rats infected neonatally with the Borna disease virus that lack blood-borne inflammation in the brain, evidence of an "endogenous" brain inflammatory response is abundant, with elevated expression of cytokine and chemokine mRNA. Infection in these rats is ...
Carrera JP, Bagamian KH, Travassos da Rosa AP, Wang E, Beltran D, Gundaker ND, Armien B, Arroyo G, Sosa N, Pascale JM, Valderrama A, Tesh RB....Members of the genera (family ) and (family ) are important zoonotic human and equine etiologic agents of neurologic diseases in the New World. In 2010, an outbreak of Madariaga virus (MADV; formerly eastern equine encephalitis virus) and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) infections was reported in eastern Panamá. We further characterized the epidemiology of the outbreak by studying household contacts of confirmed human cases and of equine cases with neurological disease signs. Serum samples were screened using a hemagglutination inhibition test, and human results were confirmed u...
Steinman A, Banet C, Sutton GA, Yadin H, Hadar S, Brill A.Between August and October 2000, 76 horses were reported by veterinary practitioners as having signs of a neurological disorder, varying from an involvement of the spinal cord alone to the entire central nervous system; 15 of the horses died or were euthanased as a result of their grave prognosis or secondary complications. At the same time, an outbreak of West Nile virus infection affected people and birds, principally domestic geese. West Nile virus was isolated from four of the horses with encephalomyelitis and five other horses seroconverted, indicating that the virus was the probable caus...
Mohammed HO, Divers TJ, Summers BA, de Lahunta A.Equine motor neuron disease (EMND) is a spontaneous neurologic disorder of adult horses which results from the degeneration of motor neurons in the spinal cord and brain stem. Clinical manifestations, pathological findings, and epidemiologic attributes resemble those of human motor neuron disease (MND). As in MND the etiology of the disease is not known. We evaluated the predisposition role of vitamin E deficiency on the risk of EMND. Methods: Eleven horses at risk of EMND were identified and enrolled in a field trial at different times. The horses were maintained on a diet deficient in vitami...
Brault LS, Cooper CA, Famula TR, Murray JD, Penedo MC.Equine Cerebellar Abiotrophy (CA) is a neurological disease found in Arabian horses. CA is characterized by post-natal degeneration of the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. Signs of CA include ataxia, head tremors, and a lack of balance equilibrium. We have discovered a linkage of the CA phenotype to a microsatellite marker on ECA2 and identified a region of conserved homozygosity spanning approximately 142 kb. Complete sequencing of the four genes in this region identified one SNP found only in Arabian horses, located in exon 4 of TOE1 and approximately 1200 base pairs upstream of MUTYH, adja...
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