The physiology of horses encompasses the study of the biological functions and processes that occur within the equine body. This includes the examination of various systems such as the cardiovascular, respiratory, musculoskeletal, digestive, and nervous systems. Understanding equine physiology is essential for comprehending how horses adapt to different environmental conditions, perform physical activities, and respond to health challenges. Research in this field often focuses on the mechanisms of energy metabolism, thermoregulation, and muscle function during exercise, as well as the physiological responses to stress and disease. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse aspects of equine physiology, providing insights into the biological processes that support the health and performance of horses.
Montgomery I, Jenkinson DM, Elder HY.Sweating in the horse had little effect on the ultrastructure of the glandular duct, other than on the lumen which enlarged. The fundus secretory cells, which in the resting gland were packed with vesicles, gradually lost them as sweating progressed until, after 4 hours of activity, few remained. Sweat appeared to be largely the product of secretion (a) by fluid transport, probably involving a region of complex cellular interdigitations adjacent to the basement membrane and (b) by exocytosis of vesicles, although a secondary mechanism of vesicle loss by micro-apocrine secretion may occur. Howe...
Orth DN, Nicholson WE.Equine Cushing's disease is caused by hypersecretion of ACTH by hyperplasia or adenomas of pars intermedia (PI) cells, in contrast to human Cushing's disease, which is caused by hyperplasia or adenomas of pars distalis (PD) ACTH-secreting cells. We assayed both bioactive and immunoreactive (IR) ACTH in two normal equine pituitary glands and in the PD, PI, and pars nervosa of four such glands, as well as in the PI adenomas of five horses with Cushing's disease. In normal horse pituitaries, as in those of other species, most of the bioactive and IR-ACTH was found in PD, much less in PI, and only...
Betteridge KJ, Eaglesome MD, Mitchell D, Flood PF, Beriault R.Forty nine embryos, twenty unfertilized eggs and five other fresh eggs of 'doubtful' status have been recovered from 58 pony mares in 122 flushes up to 22 days after ovulation. The fresh egg or embryo recovery rate was 78% with surgical methods (or at slaughter) and 40-60% with non-surgical methods of recovery. The fertilization rate was about 70%. It has been confirmed that horse embryos normally enter the uterus as blastocysts 5-6 days after ovulation. Three features of early embryo morphology have become clearer upon comparison with unfertilized eggs of similar ages; early embryos are often...
Dixon PM.LARYNGEAL paralysis is a common, usually subclinical
disease in horses (Cole 1946; Gunn 1972). More severely
affected animals, clinically termed roarers, are frequently
alleged to have reduced exercise tolerance (Argyle 1933; Cook
1965). This could most readily be attributed to exercise related
hypoxaemia caused by a reduced airflow and/or airflow
turbulence at the reduced rima glottidis. It could also be
conjectured that a rider would demand less of a horse making
loud and possibly distressing respiratory noises. Although
there has been much recent research into the pathology of
equ...
Snow DH, Munro CD, Nimmo MA.The effects of 7 weekly injections of the anabolic steroid nandrolone phenylpropionate (400 mg) were investigated in 4 healthy, mature geldings. Measurement of body weight, nitrogen retention and plasma urea failed to demonstrate a consistent anabolic effects. Examination of biopsies from the semitendinosus and biceps femoris muscles showed no alteration in water content or glycogen concentration with treatment. Similarly no changes were found in the activities of 6 muscle enzymes. However, a significant increase in the proportion of fast twitch low oxidative fibres of the biceps femoris was o...
Eyre P, Gaviller P, Thorsen J.Groups of guinea-pigs were vaccinated with equine influenza A-1 virus and helically-cut tracheal strips were subsequently contracted to carbachol (EC50) and relaxed to isoprenaline at 3, 5 and 10 days post-vaccination. Tracheas from another group were contracted to phenylephrine in the presence of propranolol. Compared to controls, responses to isoprenaline in virus-infected tracheas were significantly potentiated at days 3 and 10. Virus infection significantly inhibited tracheal responsiveness to phenylephrine. It appears that enhancement of isoprenaline may be caused by diminished reactivity...
Shults T, Combie J, Dougherty J, Tobin T.An operant conditioning apparatus for studies in equine pharmacology was constructed. Horses interacted with this apparatus by breaking a light beam and were rewarded with 30 ml of oats. Horses readily learned to use this apparatus and were trained to respond on a variable-interval-60 schedule. With this schedule, there was no direct relationship between the rate of light beam breaking and the reward. Horses thus developed their own individual response rates (ie, light-beam breaking rates), and these rates remained stable at between 5 and 35 responses/min for each horse over a period of months...
Hall GM, Adrian TE, Bloom SR, Lucke JN.Venous blood samples were collected before and immediately after an 80 km ride and a 42 km race. They were analysed for blood glucose and lactate, and for plasma non-esterified fatty acids, insulin, pancreatic glucagon, pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, gastric inhibitory peptide, somatostatin and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide concentrations. The 80 km ride was associated with marked hypoglycaemia and a slight lactic acidaemia together with an increase in plasma glucagon, somatostatin, pancreatic polypeptide and vasoactive intestinal polypeptide values. The 42 km race produced hyperglycaemi...
Klem ME, Kreider JL, Harms PG, Potter GD, Kraemer DC, Godke RA.Thirty-one mares of Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred breeding were utilized in two experiments to evaluate the efficacy of prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGF2 alpha) for induction of equine parturition and to monitor the effects of this treatment on viability of the resulting foals. Three of five mares given 5 mg PGF2 alpha (im) on day 338 of gestation foaled 19.6+/-8.2 hr postinjection. In the second experiment immediately following 3 daily injections of 10 mg estradiol cypionate (ECP) given on days 326, 327 and 328 of gestation, seven mares were infused (iv) with PGF2 alpha at the rate of 1.3 mg/hr f...
Ford EJ, Evans J.1. Total entry, irreversible loss and recycling rates of glucose were measured in four non-pregnant female Shetland ponies before and after a 24 h fast by the continuous intravenous infusion of a mixture of [U-14C]glucose and [2-3H]glucose. 2. The post-fasting fall in the concentration of glucose and the rise in the concentration of ketones in plasma were not significant. 3. After fasting the total entry rate fell from 1.44 +/- 0.11 (n4) to 1.19 +/- 0.12 mg/min per kg body-weight (P less than 0.01) and irreversible loss fell from 1.36 +/- 0.10 (n4) to 1.05 +/- 0.10 mg/min per kg body-weight (P...
Snow DH, Munro CD, Nimmo MA.The effect of 11 weekly injections of nandrolone phenylpropionate (400 mg) was investigated by a crossover trial (2 training periods) in 6 Thoroughbred geldings undergoing training. A decrease in body weight and flank measurement occurred only during the first training period and was not modified by the anabolic steroid. Urinary nitrogen excretion was lower in the anabolic treated animals only in the first training period. Neither training nor training plus nandrolone phenylpropionate administration caused any marked alteration in blood biochemistry or haematology. A significant decrease in pl...
Moore JN, Garner HE, Shapland JE, Roberts MC.The infusion (IV) of prostacyclin (PGI2) into conscious ponies resulted in systemic arterial hypotension and tachycardia. Mean systemic arterial pressure decreased from 103.3 mm of Hg to 88.5 mm of Hg when 125 ng of PGI2/kg/minute was infused, and heart rate increased from 55.0 to 102.0 beats/minute. When 208 ng of PGI2/kg/minute was infused, mean systemic arterial pressure decreased from 103.3 to 78.0 mm of Hg and heart rate increased from 55.0 to 109.3 beats/minute. There were no significant alterations in pulmonary arterial pressure, lactate, PCV, total WBC count, platelet count, serum lact...
Nimmo MA, Snow DH, Munro CD.The effect of 11 weekly injections of nandrolone phenylpropionate (400 mg) on some skeletal muscle parameters was investigated in 6 Thoroughbred geldings undergoing training. Three muscles were sampled, the middle gluteal, the biceps femoris and the semitendinosus. Training alone produced increases in the percentage of fast twitch high oxidative fibres (FTH), glycogen content and the activities of citrate synthase, 3-hydroxyacl CoA dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase. In contrast the training programme did not alter water content, total protein content, the activities of lactate dehydrogenase...
Poskus E, Peña C, Pérez AR, Vita N, Heinrich JJ, Paladini AC.The immunological behavior of sera from hypopituitary patients treated with human GH (hGH) has been studied by homologous and heterologous RIAs using 125I-labeled hormones. Along with antibodies against hGH, antibodies exhibiting antibovine and antiequine GH (anti-bGH and anti-eGH, respectively) activities were also found. Displacement experiments showed that hGH was an effective competitor of 125 I-labeled hGH, whereas bGH and eGH were quite inefficient. Conversely, when the tracer was 125I-labeled bGH, both bGH and eGH were good displacers, while the human hormone was poor. The values of the...
Fregin GF.Eleven-lead electrocardiograms (ECGs) were recorded from 50 Thoroughbred (TB) and 50 Standard bred (SB) horses at rest with 40 tracings being selected from each group for more complete analysis. Incomplete atrioventricular block with dropped beats commonly reported in mature horses was recorded only in the TB (15%), while wandering of the atrial pacemaker (WAP) thought also to be associated with variations in tone of the autonomic nervous system was detected almost equally in both breeds (30%). In some horses (12.5%), the initial component of the P wave (P1) did not vary as seen with WAP but h...
Slocombe RF, Todhunter RJ, Stick JA.A qualitative and quantitative study was made of 2 adult horses to determine the effect of specimen preparation and the influence of anatomically separate regions on the microscopic structure of the esophagus. The effects of 3 fixative solutions (formalin, Bouin's fixative and Karnovsky's fixative) and 4 histologic staining procedures (hematoxylin and eosin, Gomori's trichrome, Laidlow's reticulum, and orcein-elastin) were compared. Density-dependent image analysis was used to compare the relative contributions of elastic and reticular fibers in esophageal connective tissue for each region. Cr...
Edwards KE, Stevens S, Woodward CB, Tweeten KA.Counterimmunoelectrophoresis was evaluated as a method to distinguish urine of human origin from that of equine origin. The procedure used anti-equine serum and anti-human serum antibodies that had been solid-phase absorbed to eliminate species cross-reactivity. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis reliably detected contamination of equine urine by human urine to a level of 10% with a minimum sensitivity to about 2% contamination. Compared with double diffusion, counterimmunoelectrophoresis was approximately 10 to 15 times more sensitive in the detection of urine proteins.
Botha AE, Schulman ML, Birrell J, du Plessis L, Laver PN, Soley J, Colenbrander B, Bertschinger HJ.The effects of the GnRH vaccine Improvac on testicular and epididymal morphometrics, histology and spermatogenesis were measured in 19 young (15-20 months) colts randomly assigned to one control (saline, castration at 57 days, n = 6) or either of two GnRH vaccine-treatment groups, T-57 (castration at 57 days, n = 7) or T-100 (castration at 100 days, n = 6), respectively. All were immunized on Day 0 with a single booster on Day 28. Excised testes and epididymides were weighed and processed for histology to measure tubule, epithelial and muscle dimensions, the ratio of interstitial tis...
Fazio F, Assenza A, Crisafulli G, Piccione G, Caola G.The aim of this study was to determine the daily rhythms in the blood serum of homocysteine in horses. Ten thoroughbred horses, five athletic (trained for 1 h, 6 days a week) and five sedentary, were used. Blood samples were collected on each subject every 4 h for two days by means of the jugular vein. On each individual sample, the serum concentration of homocysteine was assessed. The results obtained during the experimental period indicated the existence of a daily rhythm of serum homocysteine in sedentary and athletic horses. They also demonstrated that in horses, physical exercise influenc...
Threlfall WR, Keefe TJ.Serum levels of ticarcillin disodium, a semi-synthetic penicillin (Beecham Laboratories, Bristol, Tennessee, 37620), were measured at various time intervals up to and including 24 h after intrauterine and intramuscular administration in adult female horses. Three separate studies were conducted in Part I: in the first and second studies, serum levels were measured after intrauterine administration of 1 and 3 g of ticarcillin, respectively, and in the third study, levels were measured after intramuscular administration of 6 g of ticarcillin. In Part II, serum levels of ticarcillin were measured...
Pinna AE, Okada CTC, Ferreira CSC, Campos DG, Possidente KS, de Cássia C L Morais R, Oliveira M, Salomão MC, Hataka A.Ovarian tumours in mares represent 2.5% to 6% of the most frequent neoplasms found in the equine species, with a higher chance of benignity. This study aims to describe a case of two different tumours found in the same ovary of a mare that presented clinical signs of suppressed oestrous cycle during 5 years. After unilateral ovariectomy, the ovary was sent to the histopathology examination which determined a mixed tumour of granulosa cell and leiomyosarcoma. After treatment, the mare returned to oestrus and got pregnant in the next season.
Okamura K, Sasaki N, Fukunaka M, Yamada H, Inokuma H.The prokinetic effect of the 5-HT4 receptor agonist mosapride was evaluated in seven healthy thoroughbreds. Mosapride was orally administered at doses of 0.5, 1.0 or 1.5 mg/kg. The breath 13CO2/12CO2 rate (Delta13CO2), an indirect indicator for the rate of gastric emptying, was measured at appropriate points for 4 hr after drug administration. There was a significant increase compared with the control value at 15, 20 and 165 min for 0.5 mg/kg, 30 min at 1.0 mg/kg and 165 min for 1.5 mg/kg. The results suggest that mosapride may facilitate the gastric emptying in horses.
Stewart RH, Bertone JJ, Yvorchuk-St Jean K, Reed SM, Neil WH.Hyperkalemic periodic paralysis (HPP), characterized by intermittent episodes of muscle fasciculations, profound muscle weakness, and hyperkalemia, has been described in Quarter Horses, Appaloosas, and Paints. In previous reports, the hallmark of this syndrome has been the development of hyperkalemia during each episode. Two affected horses had episodes of paralysis without associated hyperkalemia, demonstrating that normokalemia during an episode otherwise consistent with HPP does not eliminate HPP as a diagnosis. This clinical presentation appeared to be a variant of HPP.