Probiotics in horses refer to live microorganisms that are administered with the intent to maintain or restore the natural balance of the equine gut microbiota. These microorganisms, often including strains of bacteria such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, are thought to interact with the digestive system of horses, potentially influencing gut health and function. Probiotic use in equines is of interest due to its possible effects on digestive efficiency, nutrient absorption, and overall gastrointestinal health. This topic encompasses a range of studies and scholarly articles that investigate the composition, administration, and potential impacts of probiotics on equine digestive health and performance.
Yu S, Yue X, Yang Q, Xu P, Yuan H, Tang W, Luan Y, Wang Q.Intestinal microbial homeostasis and metabolic balance play a crucial role in maintaining normal physiological function in horses. Exogenous stress involving abrupt turns and jumps during show jumping significantly impacts intestinal microbial homeostasis and metabolic balance in these animals. Results: By comparing rectal (faecal) samples from 10 Warmblood horses collected before and immediately after a show jumping competition on the same day, we observed substantial alterations in intestinal microbial homeostasis and metabolic balance post-exercise. Microbial evenness significantly increase...
Loublier C, Taminiau B, Seidel L, Moula N, Tano C, Cesarini C, Costa M, Lecoq L, Daube G, Amory H.Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and probiotics are used in equine practice. Understanding veterinarians' perceptions and practices is crucial for effective implementation. Objective: (1) Evaluate the prevalence, usage patterns and perceived effectiveness of probiotics and FMT among equine veterinarians in France and Belgium. (2) Assess their knowledge, practices and influencing factors across demographics and settings. (3) Explore links between FMT protocols and treatment satisfaction. Methods: Cross-sectional survey. Methods: An online survey collected demographic data and responses o...
Conrad NL, Mazzoleni I, Abreu MC, Costa AV, Di Giácomo CP, Zorzi VSG, Leite FPL.Equine proliferative enteropathy (EPE), caused by Lawsonia intracellularis induces intestinal epithelial hyperplasia, resulting in malabsorption, weight loss, colic, and diarrhea. Despite its clinical and economic importance, no equine-specific vaccine is commercially available. Recombinant subunit vaccines are a safe and scalable alternative; however, their immunogenicity often requires improvement. Probiotic supplementation with Bacillus toyonensis may act as an immunomodulatory strategy to potentiate vaccine efficacy. This study aimed to evaluate the immunogenicity of a recombinant protein ...
Prasad S, Patel B, Kumar P, Lall R.Postbiotics, which are preparations of inanimate microorganisms and their components, have emerged as a promising functional ingredient in animal health and nutrition. Postbiotics are primarily composed of microbial cell fractions, metabolites, enzymes, vitamins, polysaccharides, and short-chain fatty acids. Unlike probiotics, postbiotics do not contain live microorganisms, which strengthens their greater stability and safety in feed/food formulations. Postbiotics offer several beneficial effects, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immune-modulatory, and antimicrobial actions. They enha...
Schank N, Cottone A, Wulf M, Seiter K, Thomas B, Miller LMJ, Anderson SL, Sahyoun A, Abidi AH, Kassan M, Verma A.Equine colic remains a prevalent and potentially life-threatening condition with multifactorial origins, including dietary imbalances, stress, and microbial dysbiosis. Central to equine gut health is the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), primarily acetate, propionate, and butyrate, generated through microbial fermentation of dietary fibers in the hindgut. These metabolites not only serve as vital energy sources but also play crucial roles in maintaining intestinal barrier integrity, modulating motility, and suppressing inflammation. This review explores the role of SCFAs in equine...
Silva JA, Vasquetto A, Mouguelar H, Nader-Macías MEF, Pellegrino MS.Equine endometritis, a major cause of subfertility in mares, has a significant economic impact on horse breeding. In the face of rising antimicrobial resistance, the use of beneficial bacteria to prevent this disease is a non-antibiotic alternative which aligns with "One Health" principles. This study characterised vaginal autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from healthy mares. Out of the 25 presumptive LAB isolates obtained from 15 clinically healthy thoroughbred mares, 24 were confirmed. Surface properties were assessed (autoaggregation, hydrophobicity, biofilm formation, exopolysacchar...
Wei J, Wei L, Ullah A, Geng M, Zhang X, Wang C, Khan MZ, Wang C, Zhang Z.Herbivorous animals rely on complex gastrointestinal systems and microbial communities to efficiently digest plant-based diets, extract nutrients, and maintain health. Recent advances in metagenomic technologies have enabled high-resolution, culture-independent analysis of gut microbiota composition, functional potential, and host-microbe interactions, providing insights into microbial diversity across the herbivore digestive tract. This review summarizes key findings on the gastrointestinal microbiota of herbivores, focusing on ruminant foregut and non-ruminant hindgut fermentation. Ruminants...
Wang R, Ren W, Liu S, Li Z, Li L, Ma S, Yao X, Meng J, Zeng Y, Wang J.This study aimed to assess the anti-inflammatory properties of mare milk by analyzing immune markers in mice following gavage of mare milk. Metagenomic sequencing was employed to examine variations in the composition and functional profiles of the intestinal microbiota across different experimental groups. Bacterial diversity, abundance, and functional annotations of gut microbiota were evaluated for each group. The results show that, compared to the control group, the mare milk group exhibited a significant decrease in the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6 levels and a significant increase in se...
Zhao Y, Liu Y, Tao J, Cao J, Lin Y, He Q, Fang X, Yun S, Du M, Su S, Bao T, Bai D, Zhang X, Dugarjaviin M.Reproductive health in mares is pivotal for the sustainability of the equine industry, yet vaginal microbiota dysbiosis remains an underrecognized contributor to infections such as endometritis and bacterial vaginosis. While spp. dominate healthy vaginal ecosystems in humans and livestock, their role in equine reproductive health, particularly in resilient breeds like Mongolian mares, is poorly understood. This study aimed to isolate and characterize a novel strain from the vaginal microbiota of healthy Mongolian mares and evaluate its probiotic potential for mitigating equine reproductive d...
Zhu D, Li S, Xu Z, Kulyar MF, Bai X, Wang Y, Wang B, Khateeb E, Deng D, Wang L, Chen Y, Guo A, Shen Y.Diarrhea presents a substantial risk of high morbidity and mortality among foals. Although studies have shown connections between gut microbiota and several gastrointestinal diseases, there is still inadequate information on gut microbial alterations in foals during diarrhea. In this study, we conducted 16S rRNA and ITS gene amplicon sequencing to investigate gut bacterial and fungal differences between healthy and diarrheic foals. The results unveiled significant reductions in gut bacterial and fungal diversities among foals experiencing diarrhea, accompanied by notable shifts in the composit...
Fujimoto R, Kuchida M, Ban-Tokuda T, Matsui H.The equine large intestine harbors a diverse array of symbiotic microorganisms. Disruptions in the gut microbiota can lead to various diseases in horses. Probiotics offer promising avenues for enhancing equine health and performance. However, commercial formulations lack robust scientific validation. This study aimed to isolate and identify Lactobacillaceae and Bifidobacterium spp. from horse feces to explore their potential as probiotics. Fecal samples from Thoroughbred horses were subjected to isolation procedures. Lactic acid-producing bacteria were isolated using specific media and identif...
Tardiolo G, La Fauci D, Riggio V, Daghio M, Di Salvo E, Zumbo A, Sutera AM.The diversity and composition of the gut microbiota are widely recognized as fundamental factors influencing the well-being and productivity of domestic animals. Advancements in sequencing technologies have revolutionized studies in this research field, allowing for deeper insights into the composition and functionality of microbiota in livestock. Ruminants and monogastric animals exhibit distinct digestive systems and microbiota characteristics: ruminants rely on fermentation, while monogastrics use enzymatic digestion, and monogastric animals have simpler stomach structures, except for horse...
Arantes JA, Di Pietro R, Ratté M, Arroyo LG, Leclère M, Costa MC.Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) has been used as a treatment option for horses (Equus caballus) with gastrointestinal diseases. Several preparation and conservation protocols to improve bacterial survival have been studied in other species. Unassigned: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of oxygen exposure and different protectant solutions on bacterial viability before and after freezing using horse feces. Fecal samples from 10 healthy horses were aliquoted and diluted in cryoprotectant solutions containing antioxidants (n = 40) or 10% glycerol (n = 40). Half of the aliquots from e...
Żak-Bochenek A, Żebrowska-Różańska P, Bajzert J, Łaczmański Ł, Szponar B, Siwińska N, Gładysz K, Sikorska K, Chełmońska-Soyta A.Oral probiotic dietary supplements are widely used in veterinary medicine, including in horses. It is hypothesized that the presence of probiotic strains can both modulate the intestinal microbiota and affect mucosal immunity parameters. Such a study has not yet been conducted in horses. Unassigned: This study involved 12 healthy horses, which were randomly divided into a control group and a group that received a commercial oral probiotic formula containing , or for 84 days. Fecal samples were collected from all horses on day 0 (D0), 28 days after starting the probiotic (D28), 56 days (D56),...
Carter MM, Leatherwood JL, Paris BL, Moore GE, George JM, Martinez RE, Karges K, Cox JR, Arnold CE, Glass KG, Bradbery AN, Rodiles A, Wickersham TA.Thirty mature Quarter Horse geldings were used in a completely randomized 32-d study to test the hypotheses that supplemental live Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077 improves apparent digestion, stabilizes the fecal pH, reduces gut permeability, maintains microbial communities, and decreases inflammation in horses fed a high-starch diet. Horses were stratified by body weight, age, and body condition score (BCS) to one of two treatments: concentrate formulated with 2g starch • kg BW-1 • meal-1 (CON; n=15) or the same concentrate top-dressed with 25g/d Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077 ...
Bernabe MCM, Fonseca BB, Silva MVC, Pedrosa IE, Silva MB, Sommerfeld S, de Sousa ALP, de Leva Resende BC, Sousa ACP, Dos Santos Freitas A....Endometritis is one of the main reproductive disorders in mares and due to the increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance, the use of probiotics in the prevention and treatment of endometritis in mares has gained interest, given their potential to restore and maintain a healthy uterine microbiota. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial properties of total metabolites of Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA) and Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP) against common equine endometrial pathogenic bacteria in vitro (Acinetobacter baumannii, Escherichia coli (1), Escherichia co...
Nogacka AM, García A, de Los Reyes-Gavilán CG, Arboleya S, Gueimonde M.Horses are hindgut fermenters that harbor a complex intestinal microbiota (IM) which provides key enzymes aiding in the breakdown of complex carbohydrates present in their herbivorous diet. Therefore, these animals are deeply dependent on their IM for digestion and nutrition. Consequently, IM imbalances may result in alteration of fermentation patterns with impact on the animal health and the risk of disease. In this context, strategies for assisting the maintenance of a healthy IM in horses are of interest. However, there is limited research concerning the use of probiotics to improve hindgut...
Li Y, Yue X, Ren X, Pang Y, Wang T, Huangfu B, Mikhailovich ZA, Vasilievich KV, Zhang M, Luan Y, Wang Q, He X.Mare milk (MM) and fermented mare milk (FM) are specialized animal milks with high nutritional value, containing a variety of functionally active substances that are capable of resisting inflammatory responses and oxidative stress. However, little relevant research on the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis has been performed. This study aimed to investigate the effects of MM and FM on the prevention of dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis in a mouse model and to preliminarily elucidate the underlying mechanisms. The results showed that MM and FM had different degrees...
Brandi LA, Nunes AT, Faleiros CA, Poleti MD, Oliveira ECM, Schmidt NT, Sousa RLM, Fukumasu H, Balieiro JCC, Brandi RA.Different energy sources are often used in horse diets to enhance health and performance. Understanding how diet impacts the cecal and fecal microbiota is crucial for meeting the nutritional needs of horses. High-throughput sequencing and qPCR were used to compare the fecal and cecal microbiota of five healthy horses receiving three different diets: hay diet (HAY), hay + starch and sugar (SS), and hay + fiber and oil ingredients (FO). Assessment of short-chain fatty acids, pH, and buffer capacity was also performed. The HAY diet was associated with the highest values of fecal pH; the FO and SS...
Gomez DE, Kopper JJ, Byrne DP, Renaud DL, Schoster A, Dunkel B, Arroyo LG, Mykkanen A, Gilsenan WF, Pihl TH, Lopez-Navarro G, Tennent-Brown BS....This study aimed to describe and compare therapeutic approaches for horses with acute diarrhea in different geographic regions worldwide. Methods: Clinical information was retrospectively collected from diarrheic horses presented to participating institutions between 2016 and 2020, including fluid therapy on admission, antimicrobial drugs, probiotics, anti-endotoxic medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, gastroprotectants, digital cryotherapy, and toxin-binding agents. Seasonal and geographic differences were investigated. Results: 1438 horses from 26 participating hospitals from 5 continents w...
Villa RE, Azimonti G, Bonos E, Christensen H, Durjava M, Dusemund B, Gehring R, Glandorf B, Kouba M, López-Alonso M, Marcon F, Nebbia C, Pechová A....Following a request from the European Commission, EFSA was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of a preparation of CNCM I-1077 as a zootechnical feed additive for several animal species. The additive, existing in a not-coated and a coated form, is currently authorised for use in feed for calves, cattle for fattening, dairy cows, dairy goats and dairy sheep, lambs, all minor ruminant species for fattening and rearing, horses and camelids for fattening and rearing. This application regards the request for the extension of use in all ruminants and camelids reared for...
To provide some glimpses on the possibility of shaping the human gut microbiome (GM) through probiotic exchange with natural ecosystems, here we explored the impact of 15 days of daily interaction with horses on the GM of 10 urban-living Italian children. Specifically, the children were in close contact with the horses in an "educational farm", where they spent almost 10 h/day interacting with the animals. The children's GM was assessed before and after the horse interaction using metabarcoding sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, along with the horses' skin, oral and fecal microbiomes. Targ...
Wang X, Shi M, Cao C, Zeng R, Yao Y.Lactobacillus casei Zhang (Lac.z), isolated from traditional sour horse milk in Inner Mongolia, can alleviate various diseases and promote health. Our previous studies found that pretreatment with live Lac.z (L-Lac.z) could significantly attenuate acute kidney injury and delay the progression of chronic renal fibrosis. However, it is unknown whether these effects could be maintained by pasteurized Lac.z (P-Lac.z). Mouse models of acute kidney injury and chronic renal fibrosis induced by renal bilateral ischemia-reperfusion (BIR) surgery were treated with L-Lac.z or P-Lac.z by gavage. Serum and...
Albrecht M, MacGillivray KC, Juez B, Freeland R.A 4.5-month-old Standardbred colt presented for neck swelling and fever. Endoscopy and contrast radiography identified a full thickness esophageal perforation. Surgical intervention with fasciotomies and placement of an esophageal feeding tube was elected. Intensive postoperative treatment was carried out with broad-spectrum antibiotics, gastroprotectants and probiotics, calculated feeding plan, esophagostomy and fasciotomy site lavages, care, and cleaning. Complications included recurrent bilateral pneumothorax and development of an incomplete fistula at the esophagostomy site following remov...
Ekawati N, Mutiara I, Hertati A, Kusdianawati , Mustopa AZ, Fatimah , Manguntungi B, Elviantari A.The microbial composition of Sumbawa Horse Milk is influenced by various factors, including environmental elements that encompass geographical location, climate, and conditions specific to Sumbawa. This study aimed to determine the biodiversity and genetic diversity of the microbiome of Sumbawa Horse Milk, with an emphasis on yeast. Methods: The diversity and group of yeast isolates were evaluated by the sequence-related amplified polymorphism (SRAP) method using ME2F-EM15R (1) and ME2F-EM12R (2) primers. Molecular identification using 18 S rRNA primers was then carried out on nine selected i...
Jacobs RD, Grum D, Trible B, Ayala DI, Karnezos TP, Gordon ME.Probiotics are commonly incorporated into equine diets to impart health and performance benefits; however, peer-reviewed evidence supporting their efficacy in horses is limited. Interestingly, bacteria from the Bacillus genus are gaining interest for their unique ability to impact metabolic, immune, and inflammatory pathways. The objective of this trial was to evaluate a selection of Bacilli for their role in altering the inflammatory response in horses to exercise. Eighteen horses were utilized in a randomized cross-over trial. Horses were randomly assigned to one of 6 starting treatments inc...
Szkolnicka K, Mituniewicz-Małek A, Dmytrów I, Bogusławska-Wąs E.During the last years, growing interest in the use of mare's milk in food production is observed. The subject of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of mare's milk for the production of yogurt ice cream and synbiotic ice cream. Four variants of mare's milk ice cream were developed: ice cream with yogurt bacteria without inulin (YO) and with 2% of inulin (YO+I), synbiotic ice cream with 2% inulin and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (LCR+I) and with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP+I). Ice creams were enriched with inulin in order to evaluate its influence on the viability of LAB and on the ...
Froidurot A, Jacotot E, Julliand S, Grimm P, Julliand V.Despite their low quantity and abundance, the cellulolytic bacteria that inhabit the equine large intestine are vital to their host, as they enable the crucial use of forage-based diets. Fibrobacter succinogenes is one of the most important intestinal cellulolytic bacteria. In this study, Fibrobacter sp. HC4, one cellulolytic strain newly isolated from the horse cecum, was characterized for its ability to utilize plant cell wall fibers. Fibrobacter sp. HC4 consumed only cellulose, cellobiose, and glucose and produced succinate and acetate in equal amounts. Among genes coding for CAZymes, 26% o...
Abreu MC, Conrad NL, Gonçalves VS, Leite FPL.Probiotic microorganisms can stimulate an immune response and increase the efficiency of vaccines. For example, Bacillus toyonensis is a nonpathogenic, Gram-positive bacterium that has been used as a probiotic in animal supplementation. It induces immunomodulatory effects and increases the vaccine response in several species. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of B. toyonensis supplementation on the modulation of the immune response in horses vaccinated with recombinant Clostridium tetani toxin. Twenty horses were vaccinated twice, with an interval of 21 days between doses, and equally di...
Tuniyazi M, Tang R, Hu X, Fu Y, Zhang N.Diarrhea is a common gastrointestinal disorder in horses, with diet-induced diarrhea being an emerging challenge. This study aimed to investigate the gut microbiota differences in healthy and diet-induced diarrheic horses and evaluate the effectiveness of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) and carbonate buffer mixture (CBM) as potential therapeutic approaches. Twenty healthy horses were included in the study, with four groups: Control, Diarrhea, CBM, and FMT. Diarrhea was induced using oligofructose, and fecal samples were collected for microbiota analysis. FMT and CBM treatments were admi...
Chaucheyras-Durand F, Durand H.The use of probiotics for farm animals has increased considerably over the last 15 years. Probiotics are defined as live microorganisms which can confer a health benefit for the host when administered in appropriate and regular quantities. Once ingested, the probiotic microorganisms can modulate the balance and activities of the gastrointestinal microbiota, whose role is fundamental to gut homeostasis. It has been demonstrated that numerous factors, such as dietary and management constraints, can strongly affect the structure and activities of the gut microbial communities, leading to impaired...
Elghandour MMY, Tan ZL, Abu Hafsa SH, Adegbeye MJ, Greiner R, Ugbogu EA, Cedillo Monroy J, Salem AZM.The production of livestock and poultry faces major challenges to meet the global demand for meat and dairy products and eggs due to a steady increase in the world's population and the ban of antibiotics in animal production. This ban has forced animal nutritionists to seek for natural alternatives to antibiotics. In this context, the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has received considerable attention in the last decade. It has been reported that feed supplementation with live yeast cells improve feed efficiency, enhance feed digestibility, increase animal performance, reduce the number of path...
Yuki N, Shimazaki T, Kushiro A, Watanabe K, Uchida K, Yuyama T, Morotomi M.Selective adhesion to only certain epithelia is particularly common among the bacterial members of the indigenous microflora of mammals. We have found that the stratified squamous epithelium of the nonsecreting area of horse stomach is colonized by gram-positive rods. The microscopic features of a dense layer of these bacteria on the epithelium were found to be similar to those reported in mice, rats, and swine. Adhering microorganisms were isolated and identified as Lactobacillus salivarius, L. crispatus, L. reuteri, and L. agilis by DNA-DNA hybridization and 16S rRNA gene sequencing techniqu...
Schoster A, Weese JS, Guardabassi L.The gastrointestinal microbiota is extremely important for human and animal health. Investigations into the composition of the microbiota and its therapeutic modification have received increasing interest in human and veterinary medicine. Probiotics are a way of modifying the microbiota and have been tested to prevent and treat diseases. Probiotics are proposed to exert their beneficial effects through various pathways. Production of antimicrobial compounds targeting intestinal pathogens, general immune stimulation, and colonization resistance are among these mechanisms. Despite widespread ava...
Schoster A, Staempfli HR, Guardabassi LG, Jalali M, Weese JS.Diarrhea in foals affects up to 60% of foals during the first six months of life. The effect of diarrhea on the fecal bacterial microbiota in foals has not been investigated. Little is known on the fecal bacterial microbial richness and diversity of foals at a young age. The objective was to compare the fecal bacterial microbiota of healthy foals to foals with diarrhea at two and four weeks of life. Methods: Fecal samples were collected from foals (n = 20) at 1-14 (T1) and 15-28 (T2) days of age and analyzed using high throughput sequencing. Differences in relative abundance of bacterial tax...
Respondek F, Goachet AG, Julliand V.Prebiotic compounds, such as short-chain fructooligosaccharides (scFOS), have been shown to improve health, welfare, or both, in several species, but few studies have been conducted in horses, despite the sensitivity of their hindgut microflora. We hypothesized that prebiotic oligosaccharides, known to be able to stabilize the intestinal microflora in other species, would be of importance in horses. Our study was designed to evaluate the effect of scFOS supplementation on the equine intestinal microflora and to assess its effectiveness in reducing hindgut microbial disturbances related to sudd...
O' Donnell MM, Harris HM, Lynch DB, Ross RP, O'Toole PW.Lactobacillus ruminis is a motile Lactobacillus that is autochthonous to the human gut, and which may also be isolated from other mammals. Detailed characterization of L. ruminis has previously been restricted to strains of human and bovine origin. We therefore sought to expand our bio-bank of strains to identify and characterise isolates of porcine and equine origin by comparative genomics. Results: We isolated five strains from the faeces of horses and two strains from pigs, and compared their motility, biochemistry and genetic relatedness to six human isolates and three bovine isolates incl...
Xia Y, Qin S, Shen Y.In this study, we isolated four Weissella confusa strains from the healthy horse feces to test their potential as equine probiotics. The identification and characteristics of these isolates were determined as per standard methods. Resistance and susceptibility of the isolated strains were tested to low pHs, different heat treatments, commonly used antibiotics and against the pathogenic strains of Salmonella, Pasteurella, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. After 3 h cultural in different pH medium, the 4 strains still had a certain amount of survival above pH 3.0. WH2 and WH4 were s...
Dougal K, Harris PA, Girdwood SE, Creevey CJ, Curtis GC, Barfoot CF, Argo CM, Newbold CJ.Twelve mature (aged 5-16 years) horses and ponies of mixed breed and type were fed restricted (1.25% BM Dry matter) quantities of one of two fiber based diets formulated to be iso-caloric. Diet 1 comprised of 0.8% body mass (BM) of chaff based complete feed plus 0.45% BM low energy grass hay (the same hay used for both diets). Diet 2 comprised 0.1% BM of a nutrient balancer plus 1.15% BM grass hay. Fecal samples were collected at week 10 and week 16. DNA was extracted and the V1-V2 regions of 16SrDNA were 454-pyrosequenced to investigate the bacterial microbiome of the horse. The two most abun...
Schoster A, Staempfli HR, Abrahams M, Jalali M, Weese JS, Guardabassi L.Up to 60% of foals develop diarrhea within 6 months after birth. Preventive measures are limited but potentially probiotics could be used. Objective: To evaluate the effect of a newly designed probiotic on the incidence of foal diarrhea in a randomized field trial. Methods: Seventy-two healthy neonatal foals. Methods: Randomized, placebo-controlled field trial. Foals were administered a placebo or probiotic for 3 weeks and monitored for an additional week. A total of 3 fecal samples were taken from each foal at biweekly intervals. Statistical modeling was applied for comparison of incidence an...
Kim LM, Morley PS, Traub-Dargatz JL, Salman MD, Gentry-Weeks C.To evaluate factors potentially associated with fecal Salmonella shedding among equine patients hospitalized for colic at a veterinary teaching hospital and to determine the effects of probiotic treatment on fecal Salmonella shedding and clinical signs. Methods: Longitudinal study and controlled trial. Methods: 246 equine colic patients. Methods: History and medical information were obtained from patient records. Fecal and environmental samples were submitted for aerobic bacterial culture for Salmonella enterica. Fifty-one patients were treated with a commercially available probiotic; 46 were ...
Weese JS, Rousseau J.To evaluate the efficacy of Lactobacillus pentosus WE7, an equine-origin organism with potentially beneficial in vitro properties, as a probiotic for prevention of neonatal diarrhea in foals. Methods: Randomized controlled clinical trial. Methods: 153 foals. Methods: Foals were enrolled at 24 to 48 hours of age and randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The treatment group received approximately 2 x 10(11) CFU of freeze-dried L. pentosus WE7 orally once daily for 7 days, whereas the control group received a placebo. Clinical monitoring was performed for 14 days. Results: Probiotic a...
Desrochers AM, Dolente BA, Roy MF, Boston R, Carlisle S.To evaluate the viability of Saccharomyces boulardii after PO administration in clinically normal horses and its efficacy as a treatment for horses with acute enterocolitis. Methods: Prospective study. Methods: 5 clinically normal horses and 14 horses with acute enterocolitis. Methods: Feces were collected from 5 clinically normal horses and submitted for microbial culture for 2 days prior to administration of a lyophilized form of S. boulardii (25 or 50 g, PO, q 12 h) for 10 days. Feces were collected for microbial culture 5 and 10 days after treament initiation and 10 days after treatment wa...
Jouany JP, Medina B, Bertin G, Julliand V.Four cecum and right ventral colon-fistulated horses were assigned in a 4 x 4 Latin square design and fed a high-fiber (HF) or a high-starch (HS) diet with or without 10 g of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC; CBS 493.94) containing 4.5 x 10(9) cfu/g. The HF and HS diets consisted of pelleted feeds and long wheat straw (18.0 and 3.5 g of DM.kg(-1) of BW.d(-1), respectively) given in 2 equal meals to provide an NDF:starch ratio of 3.5 and 1.0, respectively. After a 21-d adaptation period intestinal contents were collected 4 h after the morning meal on d 23 and 25 to determine bacterial and SC concen...
Schoster A, Guardabassi L, Staempfli HR, Abrahams M, Jalali M, Weese JS.The microbiota plays a key role in health and disease. Probiotics are a potential way to therapeutically modify the intestinal microbiota and prevent disease. Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of probiotics on the bacterial microbiota of foals during and after administration. Methods: Randomised placebo controlled field trial. Methods: Thirty-eight healthy neonatal foals enrolled in a previous study were selected. The foals had received a multi-strain probiotic (four Lactobacillus spp. 3-4 × 10 colony-forming units (cfu)/g each, Bifidobacterium animalis spp. lact...
Fraga M, Perelmuter K, Delucchi L, Cidade E, Zunino P.Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are important members of the human vaginal microbiota and their presence is considered beneficial. However, little is known about native vaginal bacteria in other animal species such as the horse. The aim of this work was to quantify the vaginal lactic acid bacteria and lactobacilli of mares and to establish if selected equine vaginal lactic acid bacteria, particularly Lactobacillus and Enterococcus spp. strains, could exhibit potential as probiotics. The vaginal lactic acid bacteria and lactobacilli of 26 mares were quantified by plate counts. Five strains (three La...
Lauková A, Simonová M, Strompfová V, Styriak I, Ouwehand AC, Várady M.Faecal samples of 122 horses (from farms in Slovakia) were examined to select enterococci to study their probiotic potential for their further use as additives. Each gram of faeces contained 1.0-5.0 cfu (log 10) of enterococci. Of the 43 isolates, 25 (58.1%) were identified as Enterococcus faecium, 3 strains were (6.9%) Enterococcus mundtii and one strain was identified as E. faecalis. Fourteen isolates were not characterized further. A significant proportion of the isolates were resistant to kanamycin, vancomycin and gentamicin. Low urease activity of enterococci dominated. The values of lact...
Shaw SD, Stämpfli H.Acute, infectious, diarrhea in adult horses is a major cause of morbidity and is associated with numerous complications. Common causes include salmonellosis, clostridiosis, Coronavirus, and infection with Neorickettsia risticii (Potomac horse fever). Treatment is empirical and supportive until results of specific diagnostic tests are available. Supportive care is aimed at restoring hydration, correcting electrolyte imbalances, and limiting the systemic inflammatory response. The mainstays of therapy are intravenous fluid therapy, electrolyte supplementation where necessary, nonsteroidal anti-i...
Faubladier C, Chaucheyras-Durand F, da Veiga L, Julliand V.This study evaluated the effect of transportation on fecal bacterial communities and activities in horses with or without supplementation of live yeast and attempted to link those effects with changes in blood stress markers. Four mature horses were assigned to a crossover design and fed a basal diet (60:40 forage to concentrate; 1.45% BW on a DM basis), with or without supplementation, of 2 × 10(10) cfu/d of Saccharomyces cerevisiae CNCM I-1077. After a 14-d adaptation to dietary treatments, the 5-d experiment started 1 d before transportation (d -1). At d 0, horses were simultaneously trans...
Collinet A, Grimm P, Julliand S, Julliand V.The equine hindgut ecosystem is specialized in dietary fibers' fermentation to provide horses' energy and contribute to its health. Nevertheless, antibiotics are known to disrupt the hindgut microbiota, affecting the fibrolytic activity of bacteria and the intestinal immune balance, leading to diseases. This study used a general and comprehensive approach for characterizing the hindgut ecosystem of 9 healthy horses over 28 days in response to a 5-day challenge with oral trimethoprim-sulfadiazine (TMS), with a special emphasis on microbial fibrolytic activity and the host immune response. Hors...
Jouany JP, Gobert J, Medina B, Bertin G, Julliand V.Eight crossbred male horses aged 12 +/- 5 yr and with BW of 305 +/- 18 kg were used in pairs in a 4 x 4 Latin square design with 4 ground and pelleted diets. Each pair included a cecum and right ventral colon-fistulated animal and a cecal-fistulated animal. The 4 horse diets were a high-fiber diet (HF+0) based on dehydrated alfalfa, a high-starch diet based on barley and wheat bran (HS+0), and the HF or HS diets supplemented with Saccharomyces cerevisiae (SC) CBS 493.94 (HF+SC and HS+SC). The probiotic preparation contained 4.5 x 10(9) cfu/g of live yeast mixed with the culture medium, and was...
The attention of sports community toward probiotic supplementation as a way to promote exercise and training performance, together with good health, has increased in recent years. This has applied also to horses, with promising results. Here, for the first time, we tested a probiotic mix of several strains of live bacteria typically employed for humans to improve the training performance of Standardbred horses in athletic activity. To evaluate its effects on the horse performance, we measured lactate concentration in blood, a translational outcome largely employed for the purpose, combined wit...
Weese JS, Anderson ME, Lowe A, Monteith GJ.This study was designed to evaluate whether Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG (LGG), an extensively studied probiotic organism in humans, can colonize the intestines of adult horses and foals. Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG was administered to adult horses at doses of 1 x 10(9) CFU/50kg bodyweight (BW)/day (group 1, 7 horses), 1 x 10(10) colony forming units/ 50kg BW/day (group 2, 7 horses) and 5 x 10(10) colony forming units/50kg BW/day (group 3, 7 horses) for 5 d. Foals received 2 x 10(10) colony forming units/50kg BW/day (group 1, 7 foals) or 1 x 10(11) colony forming units/50kg BW/day (...
Tanabe S, Suzuki T, Wasano Y, Nakajima F, Kawasaki H, Tsuda T, Nagamine N, Tsurumachi T, Sugaya K, Akita H, Takagi M, Takagi K, Inoue Y, Asai Y....We previously isolated the commensal bacteria lactobacilli and bifidobacteria from the Thoroughbred intestine and prepared the horse probiotics LacFi(TM), consisting of Lactobacillus ruminis KK14, L. equi KK 15, L. reuteri KK18, L. johnsonii KK21, and Bifidobacterium boum HU. Here, we found that the five LacFi(TM) constituent strains remarkably suppressed pro-inflammatory interleukin-17 production in mouse splenocytes stimulated with interleukin-6 and transforming growth factor-β. The protective effects of the probiotic on impaired intestinal barrier function were evaluated in Caco-2 cells tr...
Boucher L, Leduc L, Leclère M, Costa MC.Understanding the importance of intestinal microbiota in horses and the factors influencing its composition have been the focus of many studies over the past few years. Factors such as age, diet, antibiotic administration, and geographic location can affect the gut microbiota. The intra- and inter-individual variability of fecal microbiota in horses complicates its interpretation and has hindered the establishment of a clear definition for dysbiosis. Although a definitive causal relationship between gut dysbiosis in horses and diseases has not been clearly identified, recent research suggests ...
Schoster A.Probiotics are commonly used in human and veterinary medicine due to their postulated positive effects on overall and specifically gastrointestinal health. Although some beneficial effects have been shown in several human diseases, a general beneficial effect of probiotics is currently not supported. In horses, well-designed studies to date are few, results are conflicting, and the effects of probiotics are questionable. Adverse effects are rare; however, intestinal adverse effects (diarrhea) have been reported in foals. Quality control of over-the-counter probiotics is not tightly regulated, ...
Swyers KL, Burk AO, Hartsock TG, Ungerfeld EM, Shelton JL.A study was conducted to determine whether direct-fed microbials (DFM) could be used to increase digestibility and minimize the risk of acidosis associated with feeding an increase in the amount of starch fed to horses. Fifteen mature Thoroughbred geldings were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments in a 3 x 3 Latin square design balanced for carryover effects. Within each 26-d period, horses were offered grass hay + low-starch concentrate (LS; 1.2 g of starch x kg of BW(-1) x meal(-1)) from d 1 to 13 and then were abruptly changed to hay + high-starch concentrate (HS; 2.4 g of starch.kg of BW...
Qin S, Huang Z, Wang Y, Pei L, Shen Y.Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a refractory disease that endangers both humans and animals. In recent times, Lactobacillus have been used to treat animal diseases. It may be a good choice to try to isolate Lactobacillus with probiotic potential to treat IBD. Equine, as a kind of hindgut fermentation animal has rich intestinal microflora, but data regarding this is scarce. The isolation of Lactobacillus with probiotic potential from equine may become a new method for the treatment of IBD. Four isolates of Lactobacillus were isolated from fresh feces of healthy male adult horses and analyze...
Coverdale JA.Intensive management practices in the horse industry present a unique challenge to the microbiome of the large intestine. Common management practices such as high-concentrate diets, low forage quality, meal feeding, and confinement housing have an impact on intestinal function, specifically large intestinal fermentation. The microbiome of the equine large intestine is a complex and diverse ecosystem, and disruption of microbiota and their environment can lead to increased incidence of gastrointestinal disorder. Digestion in the horse can be improved through a variety of approaches such as feed...
Tardiolo G, La Fauci D, Riggio V, Daghio M, Di Salvo E, Zumbo A, Sutera AM.The diversity and composition of the gut microbiota are widely recognized as fundamental factors influencing the well-being and productivity of domestic animals. Advancements in sequencing technologies have revolutionized studies in this research field, allowing for deeper insights into the composition and functionality of microbiota in livestock. Ruminants and monogastric animals exhibit distinct digestive systems and microbiota characteristics: ruminants rely on fermentation, while monogastrics use enzymatic digestion, and monogastric animals have simpler stomach structures, except for horse...
