Pathology in horses involves the study of diseases and abnormalities affecting equine health, encompassing a range of conditions that can impact various systems within the horse's body. This field examines the causes, mechanisms, and effects of diseases, as well as the structural and functional changes they induce in equine tissues and organs. Common pathological conditions in horses include laminitis, colic, equine infectious anemia, and respiratory disorders. Understanding these diseases involves evaluating clinical signs, diagnostic methods, and treatment options. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the etiology, pathogenesis, and clinical implications of pathological conditions in horses.
Sutherland RJ, Cambridge H, Bolton JR.A four-year-old Standardbred gelding presented with a 3.5 year history of intermittent epistaxis and spontaneous submucosal petechiae and ecchymoses in the nares and the mouth. Routine haematological and biochemical examinations were unremarkable. A thrombocytopathy was suspected when activated partial thromboplastin time, one stage prothrombin time, plasma fibrinogen and the platelet count were all normal. The patient's platelets failed to aggregate with serotonin, adenosine diphosphate, collagen (at 20 micrograms/ml) or the endoperoxide analogue U46619. Very high levels of collagen (100 micr...
Heath RB, Steffey EP, Thurmon JC, Wertz EM, Meagher DM, Hyyppa T, Van Slyke GL.Sequelae of routine orotracheal intubation under clinical conditions were characterised in 38 healthy horses presented at three veterinary medical teaching hospitals. Four of these were necropsied and their tissues studied histologically. To minimise variation, 30 mm id cuffed silicone endotracheal tubes or Cole cuffless tubes were used in all patients. Fibreoptic endoscopic examination of upper respiratory and tracheal areas was accomplished pre-intubation, immediately post extubation and after 24 h. Endoscopy revealed that intubation was associated with laryngeal and/or tracheal lesions in a...
Hinchcliff KW, McGuirk SM, MacWilliams PS, Cooley AJ.Changes in renal function, determined by pharmacokinetics of phenolsulfonphthalein (PSP), and renal morphologic features were examined in adult pony mares given 20 mg of gentamicin sulfate/kg of body weight, IV, q 8 h (group A) n = 7 or isotonic saline solution, IV, q 8 h, n = 5 (group B) for 14 days. Susceptibility of ponies to gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicosis was varied. Two group-A ponies developed acute renal failure and were euthanatized before treatment day 14, whereas 5 group-A A ponies did not develop physical or behavioral abnormalities after 14 days of gentamicin administration. Al...
Gaughan EM, Rendano VT, Ducharme NG.Over an 8-year period, 9 horses with septic pedal osteitis were admitted to the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine. Septic pedal osteitis was defined by the presence of purulent exudate combined with radiographic evidence of lysis of the distal phalanx. The condition described involved only the distal phalanx, the laminae and hoofwall, and the soft tissues of the sole. Treatment included curettage and removal of the affected portion of the distal phalanx through a ventral approach to the foot, combined with systemic administration of antibodies. Of the 9 horses, 7 returned to soundn...
Wallace KD, Selcer BA, Tyler DE, Brown J.Ninety-one equine aortic and cranial mesenteric arterial segments were evaluated ultrasonographically in a water bath. On the basis of pathologic evidence of verminous arteritis, arterial segments were classified into 4 categories, and the ultrasonographic characteristics of each group were evaluated. Normal arteries (class 1) were ultrasonographically characterized by a smooth luminal surface layer and uniform wall thickness and echogenicity. Arteries with only histopathologic evidence of verminous arteritis (class 2) were ultrasonographically characterized by a smooth luminal surface layer, ...
Martens JG, Martens RJ, Crandell RA, McConnell S, Kit S.Four pregnant mares were inoculated intranasally and/or intravenously with equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1), subtype 1 during the third trimester of gestation. One mare aborted on postinfection day 15, one mare delivered a sick, weak full term foal, and two mares delivered healthy, full term foals. EHV-1, subtype 1 was isolated from several tissues of the aborted fetus and from the thymus of the sick foal. DNA restriction endonuclease patterns of the recovered EHV-1 viruses were identical to those of the EHV-1 challenge strain, documenting the origin of the abortigenic viruses.
Snyder JR, Pascoe JR, Olander HJ, Spier SJ, Meagher DM, Bleifer DR.Of 57 horses with strangulating volvulus of the ascending colon, 42 were mares (including 21 postparturient mares), 8 were stallions, and 7 were geldings. Volvulus occurred most frequently in the summer (n = 24) and spring (n = 17). Pain was evaluated as severe in 41 horses, moderate in 9, and mild in 4. The abdominal fluid from 30 horses varied from clear yellow in 19 horses, to cloudy yellow in 3 horses, and serosanguineous in 8 horses. Protein content and nucleated cell count in the abdominal fluid were 2.5 +/- 1 g/dl and 1,000 +/- 900 microliters, respectively. Fifty horses had greater tha...
Cudd TA, Mayhew IG, Cottrill CM.DORSAL midline dysgenesis of the human brain, a complex
pattern of maldevelopment of sulcation and neuronal migration
occurring before 74 days gestation, has been recognised for over
fifty years. The association (68 per cent) of the so-called Dandy-
Walker syndrome (cystic dilatation of the fourth ventricle and
hypoplasia of the cerebellum) with other brain malformations is
common and often includes agenesis of the corpus callosum
(Hart, Malamud and Ellis 1972; Ral et a1 1980). This report
describes the first pre-mortem identification of such a structural
brain anomaly in a Thoroughbr...
Burbidge HM, Kannegieter N, Dickson LR, Goulden BE, Badcoe L.Iohexol, a water soluble non-ionic contrast agent, was evaluated for myelography in the horse. Both 300 and 350 mg iodine/ml iohexol gave diagnostic cervical myelograms. Pathological changes were limited to extradural oedema and an increase in the number of white blood cells and specific gravity in the cerebrospinal fluid two days after myelography. This increase in white blood cells in the cerebrospinal fluid was, however, much less than that recorded by other authors using metrizamide and iopamidol contrast media. These findings indicate that iohexol is a less irritant myelographic contrast ...
Brusie RW, Sullins KE, Silverman DG, Rosenberger JL.Arteriovenous (ischaemic strangulating obstruction, ISO) and venous obstructions (haemorrhagic strangulating obstruction, HSO) were created for 70 min in the small intestine of eight anaesthetised horses, and ISO was created in four horses for 2 h and four horses for 3 h at the sternal and diaphragmatic flexures of the large colon. Five minutes following release of the occlusions, sodium fluorescein 20 per cent (0.5 mg/kg bodyweight intravenously) was administered. Serial quantitative measurements of serosal surface fluorescence of the injured segments and a control segment were made at 2, 10,...
Kirberger RM, Gottschalk RD.The clinical, radiological and anatomical changes in a yearling foal with kyphoscoliosis are described. The lesion was due to a primary malformation of the eleventh, twelfth, fourteenth and fifteenth thoracic vertebral bodies resulting in hemivertebrae. Secondary changes occurred in the laminae, pedicles, spinous and articular processes of the affected vertebrae and the adjacent vertebrae. The possible pathogenesis and differential diagnosis are discussed.
Huntington PJ, Jeffcott LB, Friend SC, Luff AR, Finkelstein DI, Flynn RJ.An investigation of 78 cases of typical Australian Stringhalt from 52 properties in Victoria was carried out from 1985 to 1987. Horses were either examined in the field (n = 52), referred to the Veterinary Clinical Centre (n = 13) or clinical details were obtained verbally (n = 13). In addition 10 cases of false or atypical stringhalt were examined. Detailed soil and pasture analysis was carried out on 14 properties where Australian Stringhalt had occurred. Information was also obtained on epidemiology of the condition from a survey of practitioners. Fifty of the 52 cases examined in the field...
Van Camp SD, Mahler J, Roberts MC, Tate LP, Whitacre MD.An ovarian adenocarcinoma with teratomatous elements was removed from a 9-year-old mare. Although no other lesions were detected at ovariectomy, multifocal metastatic masses led to cachexia and euthanasia 2 months later. This case reaffirms the need to exercise caution when removing ovarian masses to prevent seeding of the abdomen. This report includes discussion of the WHO system of classification of ovarian tumors.
Barr AR, Sridhar B, Denny HR.Five horses with long incomplete longitudinal fractures of the third metacarpal bone and three horses with similar fractures of the third metatarsal bone were examined. In three of the metacarpal fractures a long incomplete fissure extended proximomedially, in association with the more common lateral condylar fracture of the third metacarpal bone, and in the other two cases the fracture originated from the medial aspect of the distal articular surface. In the three horses with fractures of the third metatarsal bone the fractures had a consistent spiral configuration.
Lester GD, Bolton JR, Cambridge H, Thurgate S.The myoelectrical activity of the ileum, caecum and large colon was monitored from Ag-AgCl bipolar recording electrodes in four conscious 'parasite-naive' weanling foals. All foals were inoculated with 1000 infective 3rd-stage Strongylus vulgaris larvae and alterations to the myoelectrical activity observed. The frequencies of caecal and colonic spike bursts increased significantly in all post infection periods coinciding with assumed larval penetration into the intestinal mucosa and migration through the vasculature. Peaks in caecal and colonic activity occurred at Days 1 to 5 post infection....
King JN, Gerring EL.Characteristic motility patterns were seen throughout the gastrointestinal tract in a pony prepared chronically with electromechanical recording devices after developing a simple obstruction of the small intestine. Gross distension of the stomach with fluid produced loss of gastric contractile activity and a chaotic electrogram. These changes were reversed instantaneously when the stomach was decompressed. In the jejunum, proximal to the obstruction, the unique 'colic motor complex' was observed with contractions of longer duration arranged in characteristic pulses of activity. The left dorsal...
Murray MJ, Grodinsky C, Anderson CW, Radue PF, Schmidt GR.Gastroendoscopic examinations were performed on 187 horses, ranging from one to 24 years. Eighty-seven horses had clinical problems including chronic, recurrent colic for seven or more days (25), one or more episodes of colic within the previous seven days (13), or acute colic (10), diminished appetite (53), poor bodily condition (40), and/or chronic diarrhoea (9). One hundred horses that had no signs of gastrointestinal problems were examined as part of a gastroendoscopic survey. Lesions observed in the squamous fundus, squamous mucosa adjacent to the margo plicatus along the greater curvatur...
Zamora CS, Vitums A, Nyrop KA, Sande RD.The heart of a 6-week old Arabian filly with a history of poor health and exercise intolerance revealed at postmortem examination, multiple cardiac malformations which included atresia of the right atrioventricular orifice (tricuspid atresia, with associated atrial and ventricular septal defects), complete transposition of the great arteries, anomalous drainage of the venae cavae and coronary sinus into the left atrium, coarctation of the aorta, and a small but patent ductus arteriosus. The course of blood through the heart was suggested and discussed.
Nation PN.Trifolium hybridum (alsike clover) has been implicated as the cause of two diseases of the horse. One of these is photosensitivity, of which alsike clover is only one of a number of presumed causal agents. The other is a fatal syndrome which is known as "alsike clover poisoning" and which is manifest by progressive loss of condition, signs of hepatic failure, and varying degrees of neurological impairment. The underlying lesion of alsike clover poisoning is fibrosis and proliferation of the biliary tree. The experimental evidence implicating alsike clover as the cause of this syndrome comes en...
Samuelson D, Smith P, Brooks D.The iridocorneal angle of the horse was anteriorly lined by a pectinate ligament, consisting of several layers of vertically oriented collagenous beams, that were interrupted by a network of extracellular spaces. The anterior chamber angle consisted mostly of a large uveal trabecular meshwork that was composed of widely-spaced, thick trabeculae. These trabeculae were attached in part posteriorly to extensions of the ciliary body musculature and anteriorly inserted into the prominent pectinate ligament. The corneoscleral trabecular meshwork was shaped hemiobovately and formed the external bound...
Tate LP, Sweeney CL, Cullen JM, Corbett WT, Newman HC, Brown TC, Ketner MT.A neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser was used to study effects of applying laser irradiation transendoscopically to the corniculate process of the arytenoid cartilage in horses. Dosimetry was established initially in vitro in 10 corniculate cartilages that were irradiated and examined histologically to determine penetration depths at selected power settings. Eleven horses were given xylazine IV and butorphoral tartrate IV, and their left ventricle and corniculate process were irradiated. Six horses had left laryngeal hemiplegia and were euthanatized and necropsied 14 weeks after ...
Freeman KP, Roszel JF, Slusher SH, Kocan KM.Cells resembling those known as "repair cells" in gynecologic cytology specimens from women were identified in uterine cytology specimens from infertile mares treated with antibiotics using indwelling uterine catheters. This prompted a study of the effect on the equine uterus of indwelling catheterization without antibiotic infusion, using light microscopic examination of cytologic and biopsy specimens and electron microscopic examination of biopsy specimens. Cytologic and biopsy specimens had features within normal limits at the start of the study. Following five days of indwelling catheteriz...
Nayel M, Kasem S, Fukushi N, El-Habashi N, Elsify A, Salama A, Hassan H, Yanai T, Ohya K, Fukushi H.Equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) causes rhinopneumonitis, abortion, and neurological outbreaks (equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy, EHM) in horses. EHV-1 also causes lethal encephalitis in small laboratory animals such as mice and hamsters experimentally. EHV-1 ORF76 is a homolog of HSV-1 US9, which is a herpesvirus kinase. Starting with an EHV-1 bacterial artificial chromosome clone of neuropathogenic strain Ab4p (pAb4p BAC), we constructed an ORF76 deletion mutant (Ab4p∆ORF76) by replacing ORF76 with the rpsLneo gene. Deletion of ORF76 had no influence on replication, cell-to-cell spr...
Yuen NKY, Eng M, Hudson NJ, Sole-Guitart A, Coyle MP, Bielefeldt-Ohmann H.Our current understanding of the pathogenesis of Ross River virus (RRV) infection has been derived from murine models, which do not reproduce clinical disease as experienced by infected humans and horses. This prompted us to establish more relevant host model systems to study host-virus interactions using ex vivo peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and in vitro primary synovial fibroblast and epidermal keratinocyte cultures. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the expression of the transmembrane protein matrix remodelling associated 8 (mxra8), recently found to be responsible for RRV ...
Gudea A, Stan FG, Irimie A, Mârza S, Martonos CO, Gal A.The reconstruction of past life based on archaeozoology is a challenging domain that offers a range of valuable details concerning former human and animal populations. Additionally, the ancient era is a source of information for human and veterinary medicine, as well as for other biological sciences. This report highlights a pathological lesion identified during the investigation of a horse skeleton from a pit dated La Tène in Alba County (Romania). The left scapula with lesions was collected from the skeleton of a buried 7-8-year-old male horse. The aforementioned bone underwent gross, radio...
Loubière C, Moreau P, Marine R, Hélie P, Jean D.The objectives of this study were to quantify lymphocytes and eosinophils in the mucosa of the duodenum and rectum in asthmatic horses. Asthmatic horses were evaluated in a symptomatic (after 6 weeks of exposure to moldy hay) and asymptomatic status (3 and 7 months after being fed alfalfa pellets [n = 4] or treated with inhaled fluticasone [6]). Duodenal and rectal biopsies were endoscopically (n = 4 to 6) taken in each horse. Eosinophils were counted on slides stained with hematoxylin, eosin, phloxine, and saffron, and immunohistochemistry was used to evaluate T and B lymphocytes using CD3 an...
Luff J, Weingart S, May S, Murphy B.The aetiology of oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in horses is unknown, but papillomavirus infection as well as chronic periodontal disease are suspected to play a pathogenic role. In humans, some oropharyngeal cancers develop in association with human papillomaviruses. Equus caballus papillomavirus 2 (EcPV2) is suspected to play a causal role in the development of equine genital SCC. Given that association, we hypothesized that EcPV2 is associated with the development of oral SCC in horses. We performed standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and in-situ hybridization (ISH) for EcPV2 on 31...
Lavado RA, Lewis J, Montgomery JB.Laminitis is a severely debilitating and life-threatening condition that occurs as a consequence of different primary triggering factors. Continuous digital hypothermia (CDH) is recommended in horses at risk of, or diagnosed with, acute laminitis due to its several physiological and biochemical alterations that may be positive for the prevention and early treatment of the condition, representing a low risk of adverse effects. Modulation of the inflammatory response, profound vasoconstriction, and prevention of tissue damage are the most notable protective effects of cryotherapy on the lamellae...
Steel JD, Hall MC, Stewart GA.Changes that occur in the equine ECG during and after exercise have been described and compared with resting ECG's obtained from the same horses. When the speed of work equals or is greater than "three-quarter pace" (i.e. "even time" or 200 metres in 15 seconds) the high heart rates developed cause the loss of ECG waveforms that are readily discernible at rest. Although differences in the waveforms between horses with normal and abnormal resting ECG's have been observed, the more definitive useful information is the fact that abnormal horses showed significantly higher heart rates than normal ...
Kidd JA, Dyson SJ, Barr AR.Intratendonous infection in the absence of any clinical evidence of a wound has not, to our knowledge, been described previously in horses. This paper reports the clinical features, diagnostic techniques. treatment and outcome in 5 cases of septic flexor tendon core lesions. This condition is characterised by seven lameness and ultrasonographic evidence of a central intratendonous anechoic core lesion which may enlarge rapidly.
Noschka E, Moore JN, Peroni JF, Lewis SJ, Morrow JD, Robertson TP.Inflammation and vascular dysfunction occur concurrently during the prodromal stages of equine laminitis. The aim of this study was to provide insights into the role that thromboxane and isoprostanes may play in the development of black walnut heartwood extract (BWHE)-induced laminitis. Horses were divided into two groups, either control or BWHE-administered horses. Plasma concentrations of thromboxane increased transiently after administration of BWHE and coincided with the nadir in white blood cell counts, whereas plasma concentrations of iso-prostaglandin PGF(2alpha) (iso-PGF(2alpha)) did n...
Sinclair EA.A pharyngeal cyst was diagnosed in a 5-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare, after presentation for coughing, dyspnea, and abnormal respiratory noise. Complete surgical excision was performed and the mare returned to normal function and performance. Histopathology found no evidence of thyroglossal duct remnants. Kyste pharyngien chez un Warmblood hollandais âgé de 5 ans. Un kyste pharyngien a été diagnostiqué chez une jument Warmblood hollandaise âgée de 5 ans qui avait été présentée pour un problème de toux, dyspnée et bruit respiratoire anormal. Une excision chirurgicale complète a é...