Veterinary medicine for horses encompasses the study and application of medical practices to diagnose, treat, and prevent diseases in equine species. This field involves a comprehensive understanding of equine anatomy, physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. Veterinary practitioners employ a range of diagnostic tools and therapeutic interventions to address health issues in horses, including lameness, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory conditions, and infectious diseases. Preventative care, such as vaccination and deworming programs, is also a significant aspect of equine veterinary medicine. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of veterinary medicine as it pertains to horses, including advancements in diagnostic techniques, treatment protocols, and preventive health strategies.
Faramarzi B, Nelson S, Dong F.Imbalances and altered kinetics of the hoof result in lameness in horses. Previously, studies have focused on the midstance phase of a gait, hence, available information on the impact phase is scarce. This study aimed to investigate the effect of hoof trimming on the fore and hindhooves at the impact phase of the walk. Our objective was to compare the kinetic variables of force (N), contact area (cm), contact pressure (kPa), and peak contact pressure (kPa) before and after hoof trimming. Nine Arabian horses were walked straight over a pressure plate to collect the above kinetic variables for b...
Mureşan A, Mureşan C, Siteavu M, Avram E, Bochynska D, Taulescu M.Equine herpesviruses are important pathogens causing significant economic loss in equine and asinine populations. EHV-1/4 strains are mainly associated with respiratory distress. The aim of this study is to report the first EHV 4-associated respiratory disease in donkeys in Romania. Thirty-seven of three hundred jennies in an ecological donkey farm in southwest Romania started initially showing signs of severe upper respiratory tract disease, with ten concomitant late abortions/neonatal deaths and three neurological cases. There were nine fatalities. Pathological examination was performed, and...
Lucas RG, Rodríguez-Hurtado I, Álvarez CT, Ortiz G.Equine back pain can potentially initiate an unstable intervertebral situation that results in atrophy and dysfunction of the epaxial muscles even after back pain has resolved. Several physiotherapy approaches are advocated to promote the strengthening of the multifidus muscle. This study aimed to asses and compare the effect of dynamic mobilization exercises (DME) and neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) in 8 adult horses (4 individuals by group) to increase the cross-sectional area (CSA) of this muscle after a 7-weeks period treatment. The epaxial muscles of NMES group were electrical...
Yocom AF, O'Fallon ES, Gustafson DL, Contino EK.Cannabidiol (CBD) products are widely marketed to horse owners, trainers, and veterinarians and are readily available to the consumer despite minimal pharmacokinetic or safety data being available. The objectives of this study were to determine the plasma pharmacokinetics, short-term safety, and synovial fluid levels of CBD following oral administration in horses. A prospective, randomized, controlled study design was used. Twelve horses were administered sunflower lecithin oil-based CBD at either 1 mg/kg (Group 1) or 3 mg/kg (Group 2) for a 24-hour pharmacokinetic study. Horses then received ...
Pfau T, Bolt DM, Fiske-Jackson A, Gerdes C, Hoenecke K, Lynch L, Perrier M, Smith RKW.Diagnostic analgesia and lunging are parts of the equine lameness examination, aiding veterinarians in localizing the anatomical region(s) causing pain-related movement deficits. Expectation bias of visual assessment and complex movement asymmetry changes in lame horses on the lunge highlight the need to investigate data-driven approaches for optimally integrating quantitative gait data into veterinary decision-making to remove bias. A retrospective analysis was conducted with inertial sensor movement symmetry data before/after diagnostic analgesia relative to subjective judgement of efficacy ...
Fraczkowska K, Zak-Bochenek A, Siwinska N, Rypula K, Ploneczka-Janeczko K.From a clinical point of view, knowledge of the commensal microbial flora of the conjunctival sac in healthy individuals proves to be of great importance. The aim of this study was to assess the presence and the composition of normal ocular microflora of healthy donkeys. Fourteen clinically healthy donkeys () participated in the study. After prior ophthalmological examination, which showed no abnormalities, a conjunctival swab was taken from each donkey from the right and left eye. Species-specific identification was based on a morphological assessment of bacterial colonies stained with the Gr...
Magalhaes HB, Canisso IF.This study aimed to establish normal ranges and determine variables affecting the duration of gestation, placental and fetal eyeball measurements in donkeys. Jennies (n = 121) were submitted to transrectal ultrasonography at 15-day-intervals from 120 days of gestation until parturition. During each examination, variables assessed included: the combined thickness of uterus and placenta (CTUP), fetal eyeball diameter, amniotic membrane thickness, allantoic and amniotic fluids echogenicity, and chorioallantois edema. Parametric data were analyzed with t-test, linear regression, mixed models, AN...
Peyrecave-Capo X, Saulnier N, Maddens S, Gremillet B, Desjardins I.Human autologous serum (AS) and umbilical cord serum (UCS) both contain growth and neurotrophic factors that promote corneal healing. Unassigned: Our objectives were to compare equine AS and UCS cytokine and growth factor profiles and to assess the safety and clinical feasibility of the therapeutic use of UCS eye drops in cases of spontaneous complex ulcers. Unassigned: Prospective clinical trial. Unassigned: Vitamin A insulin growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor-BB, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, interferon-γ, an...
Porcello A, Gonzalez-Fernandez P, Jordan O, Allémann E.Hyaluronic acid (HA) constitutes a versatile chemical framework for the development of osteoarthritis pain treatment by means of injection in the joints, so-called viscosupplementation. Without appropriate physico-chemical tuning, such preparations are inherently hindered by prompt in vivo degradation, mediated by hyaluronidases and oxidative stress. To prolong hydrogel residence time and confer optimized product functionality, novel thermoresponsive nanoforming HA derivatives were proposed and characterized. Combined use of sulfo-dibenzocyclooctyne-PEG4-amine linkers and poly(N-isopropylacryl...
Raizner NT, Gedon NKY, Zablotski Y, Kania SA, Kühnle HF, Kühnle C, Mueller RS.Equine pastern dermatitis (EPD) is a common multifactorial clinical syndrome in horses. Treatment can be difficult; pathogenesis and triggering factors cannot always be determined. Objective: To assess risk factors for developing EPD in a large group of horses kept under the same conditions and to analyse whether or not a spot-on containing essential fatty acids and antimicrobial agents is able to prevent the development of EPD or accelerate the healing process. Methods: Each year 50 young, privately owned, warmblood horses were prospectively included. Methods: All horses were examined weekly ...
Da Silva-Álvarez E, Gaitskell-Phillips G, Ortiz-Rodríguez JM, Serres C, García-Rodríguez B, Gutiérrez-Cepeda L, Martín-Cano FE, Echegaray A....This study aimed to assess if Ecotext, a new software for evaluation of testicular echotexture, is a good method for diagnosis of stallions with testicular dysfunction (TD). Relationships between Ecotext parameters and sperm motility and production, testicular volume, and testicular blood flow were also studied. Ecotext provides a total of six echotexture parameters: Ecotext 1 (black pixels), 2 (white pixels) and 3 (grey pixels), and another 3 parameters related to hypoechogenic areas: Ecotext tubular density (ETD), Ecotext tubular diameter (ETd), and Ecotext tubular area (ETA). Stallions (n ...
Pagliara E, Pasinato A, Valazza A, Riccio B, Cantatore F, Terzini M, Putame G, Parrilli A, Sartori M, Fini M, Zanetti EM, Bertuglia A.A catastrophic fracture of the radial carpal bone experienced by a racehorse during a Palio race was analyzed. Computational modelling of the carpal joint at the point of failure informed by live data was generated using a multibody code for dynamics simulation. The circuit design in a turn, the speed of the animal and the surface characteristics were considered in the model. A macroscopic examination of the cartilage, micro-CT and histology were performed on the radio-carpal joint of the limb that sustained the fracture. The model predicted the points of contact forces generated at the level ...
Cormier AC, Chalmers G, Zamudio R, Mulvey MR, Mather AE, Boerlin P.Conserved IncI1 and IncHI1 plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-1 have been found circulating in chickens and horses from continental Europe, respectively. In Canada, blaCTX-M-1 is overwhelmingly the most common blaCTX-M variant found in Escherichia coli from chicken and horses and can be recovered at lower frequencies in swine, cattle, and dogs. Whole-genome sequencing has identified a large genetic diversity of isolates carrying this variant, warranting further investigations into the plasmids carrying this gene. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe the genetic profiles of blaCTX-M-1...
Hopster K, Watkins AR, Hurcombe SD.To compare the antinociceptive effects of morphine administered via cervical epidural catheter to intravenously administered morphine using a thermal threshold (TT) testing model in healthy adult horses. Methods: Prospective, randomized, blinded experimental study. Methods: A total of six university-owned adult horses. Methods: Horses were instrumented with a cervical (C1-C2) epidural catheter and TT testing device with probes at withers and thoracic limb coronary bands. All horses underwent three TT testing cycles including cervical epidural morphine administration (treatment EpiM; 0.1 mg kg-...
Simões J, Batista M, Tilley P.Severe equine asthma is a chronic respiratory disease of adult horses, occurring when genetically susceptible individuals are exposed to environmental aeroallergens. This results in airway inflammation, mucus accumulation and bronchial constriction. Although several studies aimed at evaluating the genetic and immune pathways associated with the disease, the results reported are inconsistent. Furthermore, the complexity and heterogeneity of this disease bears great similarity to what is described for human asthma. Currently available studies identified two chromosome regions (ECA13 and ECA15) a...
Lee K, Pusterla N, Barnum SM, Lee DH, Martínez-López B.Equine influenza virus (EIV) is a highly contagious pathogen of equids, and a well-known burden in global equine health. EIV H3N8 variants seasonally emerged and resulted in EIV outbreaks in the United States and worldwide. The present study evaluated the pattern of cross-regional EIV H3N8 spread and evolutionary characteristics at US and global scales using Bayesian phylogeography with balanced subsampling based on regional horse population size. A total of 297 haemagglutinin (HA) sequences of global EIV H3N8 were collected from 1963 to 2019 and subsampled to global subset (n = 67), raw US ...
Tokawa PKA, Brossi PM, Baccarin RYA.This systematic review aims to compile and present information of studies evaluating the effectiveness of autologous conditioned serum (ACS) in the healing of tendon, ligament and articular lesions in humans and horses. A systematic search of articles using Medline, PubMed, Embase, Bireme and Google Scholar was conducted up to August 2020. Studies regarding ACS' use in human orthopedic lesions were included if classified as RCTs, cohort and case-controls. All studies regarding this therapy in equine medicine were included given their scarcity. Pre-clinical experimental studies were selected if...
Spencer KM, Podico G, Megahed AA, Jones KL, Bittar JHJ, Canisso IF.This study aimed to assess the ovulatory response of deslorelin acetate during the fall and the response to PGF2α 8 d post-ovulation. One hundred estrous cycles from 22 mares kept in 40° latitude were evaluated. Mares were checked by transrectal ultrasonography until a preovulatory follicle was detected and ovulation induced with deslorelin acetate. Ovulation was confirmed by ultrasonography performed at 24, 36 h post-induction and then repeated at 2-h intervals post-induction. Serum progesterone concentrations and luteal tissue area were determined daily to assess CL function. A dose of P...
Azizi S, Masoudi H.Colic is a clinical syndrome and has been defined as a visceral abdominal pain and/or acute abdominal disease. It is a common cause of morbidity and mortality in horses. The most common forms of colics are related to gastrointestinal tract in nature and most often linked to colonic disturbances. However, colics are not well understood in donkeys compared to those of in horses and the literature is poor regarding bowel strangulating obstruction in donkeys. This report described the clinical signs and post-mortem necropsy findings of an abdominal colic due to the left colon volvulus following a ...
Regenerative medicine applied to skin lesions is a field in constant improvement. The use of biomaterials with integrin agonists could promote cell adhesion increasing tissue repair processes. The aim of this pilot study was to analyze the effect of an α4β1 integrin agonist on cell adhesion of equine adipose tissue (AT) and Wharton's jelly (WJ) derived MSCs and to investigate their adhesion ability to GM18 incorporated poly L-lactic acid (PLLA) scaffolds. Adhesion assays were performed after culturing AT- and WJ-MSCs with GM18 coating or soluble GM18. Cell adhesion on GM18 containing PLLA sc...
Aßmann AD, Ohlerth S, Suárez Sánchez-Andráde J, Torgerson PR, Bischofberger AS.To determine the diagnostic performance of computed tomographic arthrography (CTA) and 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting artificial meniscal, meniscotibial ligament (MTL) lesions and cruciate ligament (CL) lesions in horses. Methods: Ex vivo controlled laboratory study. Methods: Nineteen stifles from adult horses. Methods: Stablike defects (n = 84) (16 mm long, 10 mm deep) were created in the menisci (n = 35), CLs (n = 24), and MTLs (n = 25) via arthroscopy prior to MRI and CTA (80 mL contrast at 85 mg/mL per joint). Two radiologists, unaware of the lesions...
Siwinska N, Janus I, Zak-Bochenek A, Noszczyk-Nowak A.It has been well established that obesity in horses can have a negative impact on their health, including endocrine disturbances. In humans, it is well known that obesity leads to structural and functional changes of the cardiovascular system. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of obesity on the histological structure of the myocardial tissue, as well as great and peripheral arteries in horses. The heart, arteries (aorta, pulmonary artery and palmar arteries) specimens from 7 horses with normal BCS (4-5/9) and 12 extremely obese (BCS 9/9) draft slaughter horses were obtained for his...
Donatsch L, Friker B, Sieme H, Kaeser R, Burger D.A potential source of fertility loss in mares is oviductal dysfunction, potentially caused by masses or debris in the lumen, that may prevent either sperm from reaching the fertilization site or the embryo from reaching the uterus. Recently a novel therapeutic method leading to increased pregnancy results was described by infusing misoprostol, a synthetic prostaglandin E, in the uterus of mares with unexplained fertility problems. In this study, we aimed, after examining the compatibility of misoprostol with semen, to evaluate the pregnancy rate after routine preovulatory deep uterine horn app...
Lee GKC, Kang H, Beeler-Marfisi J, Sears W, Lillie BN, Bienzle D.Salivary scavenger and agglutinin (SALSA) is a secreted protein with various immunomodulatory roles. In humans, the protein agglutinates and inactivates microorganisms, and inhibits the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Saliva, which is rich in SALSA, accelerates bacterial phagocytosis, but SALSA's contribution is unclear. In horses, the functions of SALSA in inflammation remain undetermined, so they were investigated through phagocytosis and cytokine assays. Equine SALSA was purified from duodenal tissue, which contains abundant SALSA. To assess phagocytosis, fluorescently-labelled bacte...
Chapuis RJJ, Becker AAMJ, Dowling PM, Weese JS.Antimicrobial-associated diarrhoea is a common adverse effect of antimicrobial treatment in horses and has been reported following the administration of oral doxycycline. The administration of antimicrobials has also been associated with changes in the equine intestinal microbiota diversity yet has not been explored under doxycycline treatment. Objective: To describe the dynamics of the faecal microbial diversity following a 5-day oral administration of doxycycline in healthy horses with Streptococcus zooepidemicus infected tissue chambers. Methods: Experimental prospective cohort study in a s...
Clauss M, Heck L, Veitschegger K, Geiger M.There are different descriptions of allometric relationships between important components of the mammalian skull. Craniofacial evolutionary allometry describes a pattern of increasing facial cranium in larger skulls. Another body of literature describes disproportionately larger teeth in smaller species or specimens, matching anecdotal observations with dental problems in dwarf breeds whose teeth appear "too large for their skulls." We test the scaling of tooth row length with body size and skull length in a data set comprising 114 domestic horses (representing 40 breeds) and in another data ...
Martinez RE, Leatherwood JL, Bradbery AN, Silvers BL, Fridley J, Arnold CE, Posey EA, He W, Bazer FW, Wu G.In livestock species, the enterocytes of the small intestine are responsible for the synthesis of citrulline and arginine from glutamine and proline. At present, little is known about de novo synthesis of citrulline and arginine in horses. To test the hypothesis that horses of different age groups can utilize glutamine and proline for the de novo synthesis of citrulline and arginine, jejunal enterocytes from 19 horses of three different age groups: neonates (n = 4; 7.54 ± 2.36 d of age), adults (n = 9; 6.4 ± 0.35 yr), and aged (n = 6; 22.9 ± 1.0 yr) with healthy gastrointestinal tracts were...
Storms N, Medina Torres C, Franck T, Sole Guitart A, de la Rebière G, Serteyn D.Laminitis is a pathology of the equine digit leading to a failure of the dermo-epidermal interface. Neutrophil activation is recognized as a major factor in SIRS-associated laminitis. Less is known about the role of neutrophil activation in laminitis associated with metabolic disorders. The aim of this descriptive study was to observe whether myeloperoxidase is increased in the laminae during early stage laminitis in three horses subjected to a prolonged euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp (pEHC). After 48 h of pEHC-treatment, horses were subjected to euthanasia. Two healthy horses are used as c...
Stothart MR, McLoughlin PD, Poissant J.Prevailing 16S rRNA gene-amplicon methods for characterizing the bacterial microbiome of wildlife are economical, but result in coarse taxonomic classifications, are subject to primer and 16S copy number biases, and do not allow for direct estimation of microbiome functional potential. While deep shotgun metagenomic sequencing can overcome many of these limitations, it is prohibitively expensive for large sample sets. Here we evaluated the ability of shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing to characterize taxonomic and functional patterns in the faecal microbiome of a model population of feral ...
Holman PJ, Chieves L, Frerichs WM, Olson D, Wagner GG.Babesia equi was continuously cultured through 90 passages in an enriched chemically defined basal medium (HL-1) supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum and serum replacement factors, including lipid-rich bovine serum albumin, bovine insulin, and human transferrin. Cryopreservation and subsequent recovery of B. equi were easily achieved. Inoculation of a splenectomized and an intact horse with cultured infected erythrocytes resulted in parasitemias and B. equi in vitro reisolation from both animals. In vitro forms of the parasite resembled in vivo forms. After establishment, parasitemias of 1...
Hansen S, Otten ND, Birch K, Skovgaard K, Hopster-Iversen C, Fjeldborg J.The pathophysiology of equine asthma (EA) is still not fully described, but the involvement of an allergic reaction is strongly suspected. This theory has led to the use of allergen-specific immunoglobulin (Ig)E tests to support a diagnosis of asthma. The objective of this descriptive study was to evaluate the correlation between four subgroups of EA (mastocytic mild equine asthma [MEA], neutrophilic MEA, mixed MEA, and severe equine asthma [SEA]), allergen specific IgE (measured in both serum and BALF) and mRNA expression of selected genes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Serum and BAL...
Berlin D, Loeb E, Baneth G.Trypanosomiasis caused by Trypanosoma evansi ("Surra") is mainly a wasting disease affecting equids, camels and cattle as well as other domestic and wild animal species. In horses, infection may cause severe neurological abnormalities; however, the clinical progression, pathogenesis and molecular ante-mortem detection of this form of the disease have not been described in detail. A mare with progressive ataxia, head tilt, nystagmus and cranial nerve deficits submitted to treatment was diagnosed with central nervous system trypanosomiasis following the detection of a Trypanosoma tryposmastigote...
Kafarnik C, Rawlings M, Dubielzig RR.To describe the pathomorphological features of corneal stromal invasive squamous cell carcinoma (CSI-SCC) in horses. Methods: A total of 87 equine SCC in the Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin database were retrieved. The signalment and anatomical distribution were summarized. Ten CSI-SCC out of 87 SCCs were further investigated focusing on pathomorphological description. All 10 cases were stained with H&E, periodic acid-Schiff stain and Verhoeff's elastic stain. Results: Four Appaloosas, two Quarter horses, two American Paint, one Pinto and one Thoroughbred horse were affect...
Kraus MS, Jesty SA, Gelzer AR, Ducharme NG, Mohammed HO, Mitchell LM, Soderholm LV, Divers TJ.To compare cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentrations determined by use of a point-of-care analyzer with values determined by use of a bench-top immunoassay in plasma samples obtained from clinically normal horses with and without experimentally induced cardiac disease, and to establish a reference range for plasma equine cTnI concentration determined by use of the point-of-care analyzer. Methods: 83 clinically normal horses, 6 of which were administered monensin to induce cardiac disease. Methods: A blood sample was collected from each of the 83 clinically normal horses to provide plasma for an...
Ortega Ferrusola C, González Fernández L, Macías García B, Salazar-Sandoval C, Morillo Rodríguez A, Rodríguez Martinez H, Tapia JA, Peña FJ.The ability of stallion spermatozoa to produce nitric oxide (NO) before (fresh) and after freezing and thawing (FT) was evaluated by means of flow cytometry after loading the sperm suspension with the probe, 4,5-diaminofluorescenin diacetate. The presence of NO synthase (NOS) was investigated by Western blotting using anti-NOS1, anti-NOS3, or anti-universal NOS antibodies (Abs). While NO was detected both in fresh and FT sperm suspensions, its production increased after cryopreservation only when egg yolk was removed from the extender. Anti-NOS1 Ab intensively labeled a single band with an app...
Karcher LF, Dill SG, Anderson WI, King JM.Moderate to severe ulcerative colitis of the right dorsal colon was diagnosed by necropsy or by exploratory celiotomy and biopsy in 13 horses with a primary clinical complaint of either colic, diarrhea, or weight loss. Clinical signs varied from acute fulminating diarrhea (possibly with fever), colic, dehydration, endotoxic shock and death, to a chronic condition manifested by mild intermittent colic up to several months in duration, and weight loss with or without mild diarrhea. In a large percentage of the horses, those affected had been hypovolemic and received nonsteroidal anti-inflammator...
Dawson JE, Abeygunawardena I, Holland CJ, Buese MM, Ristic M.Eight adult cats were inoculated IV (n = 6) or SC (n = 2) with Ehrlichia risticii-infected P388D1 (continuous murine macrophage) cells or with E risticii released from P388D1 cells. Three additional cats were inoculated with organism-free P388D1 cultured monocytes, and 1 cat, which served as a medium control was inoculated with balanced salt solution. Clinical signs of illness were observed in the IV inoculated cats from which E risticii was isolated. One cat developed intermittent diarrhea between postinoculation days (PID) 8 and 18, and the other cat developed lymphadenopathy, acute depressi...
Dyson SJ, Tranquille CA, Collins SN, Parkin TD, Murray RC.There is little scientific evidence to support the premise that poor foot conformation predisposes to foot pain and lameness. Objective: To determine relationships between external characteristics of the hoof capsule and angles of the distal phalanx; to determine variability in shape of the distal phalanx; and to investigate association between distal phalanx angles and the injury causing lameness. Methods: Feet were documented photographically and radiographically. Linear and angle measurements were obtained for the hoof capsule and distal phalanx and compared statistically. Horses were categ...
Padalino B, Raidal SL, Hall E, Knight P, Celi P, Jeffcott L, Muscatello G.To survey amateur and professional participants on equine transportation management, practices and outcomes in Australia. Methods: An online survey targeting people who organised horse movements at least monthly was made available to a broad cross-section of amateur and professional equine associations. Respondents were invited to provide demographic details and information relating to their routine transportation management practices and their experiences of issues relating to the transportation of horses. Results: Of 797 usable responses involving approximately 17,000 horses and 313,000 indi...
Valverde A, Black B, Cribb NC, Hathway A, Daw A.To compare the effects of sedative doses of acepromazine, xylazine or xylazine/ketamine administered to horses after isoflurane anesthesia on the quality of recovery and anesthesia recovery times. To determine if recovery scores improve after repeated consecutive anesthetic episodes. Methods: Prospective, randomized, crossover study. Methods: Fifteen adult research horses, 6.5±3.4 years old and weighing 499±40 kg. Methods: Horses undergoing three anesthetic episodes with isoflurane for magnetic resonance of the forelimbs were administered acepromazine (0.02 mg kg(-1) i.v.) or xylazine (0.3 m...
Greenway JA, Puls R.Clinical sickness was observed in domestic ducks, geese, horses and swine during October 1973. All species showed upper alimentary distress with mortalities occurring in the geese. Barley derived from a common source had been fed. Examination of the barley revealed invasion by Fusarium spp and detection of a high level of dermatitic fusariotoxins.
de Laat MA, Reiche DB, Sillence MN, McGree JM.Endocrinopathic laminitis is common in horses and ponies, but the recurrence rate of the disease is poorly defined. Objective: To determine the incidence of, and risk factors for, the recurrence of endocrinopathic laminitis. Methods: Privately owned horses and ponies with acute laminitis (n = 317, of which 276 cases with endocrinopathic laminitis were followed up to study completion). Methods: This prospective cohort study collected data on veterinary-diagnosed cases of acute laminitis for 2 years. Each case was classified on acceptance to the study as endocrinopathic or non-endocrinopathi...
Di Cesare F, Negro V, Ravasio G, Villa R, Draghi S, Cagnardi P.Gabapentin is an anticonvulsant drug, which presents an established clinical efficacy in human patients for the management of refractory partial seizures, secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures, and for the control of chronic neuropathic pain. Gabapentin was synthesized as a structural analogue of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, with GABA-mimetic effects, able to cross the blood-brain barrier. In veterinary medicine, is extra-label used in combination with other treatments to control seizures when other drugs are no longer effective or become toxic or for neuropathic pain treatmen...
Raymond SL, Smith TK, Swamy HV.The feeding of Fusarium mycotoxin-contaminated grains adversely affects the performance of swine and poultry. Very little information is available, however, on adverse effects associated with feeding these mycotoxin-contaminated grains on the performance of horses. An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of feeding a blend of grains naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins on feed intake, serum immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations, serum chemistry, and hematology of horses. A polymeric glucomannan mycotoxin adsorbent (GM polymer) was also tested for efficacy in preventing F...
Ganzenberg S, Sieg M, Ziegler U, Pfeffer M, Vahlenkamp TW, Hörügel U, Groschup MH, Lohmann KL.West Nile virus (WNV) infections were first detected in Germany in 2018, but information about WNV seroprevalence in horses is limited. The study's overall goal was to gather information that would help veterinarians, horse owners, and veterinary-, and public health- authorities understand the spread of WNV in Germany and direct protective measures. For this purpose, WNV seroprevalence was determined in counties with and without previously registered WNV infections in horses, and risk factors for seropositivity were estimated. The cohort consisted of privately owned horses from nine counties i...
Stewart AA, Barrett JG, Byron CR, Yates AC, Durgam SS, Evans RB, Stewart MC.To compare viability and biosynthetic capacities of cells isolated from equine tendon, muscle, and bone marrow grown on autogenous tendon matrix. Methods: Cells from 4 young adult horses. Methods: Cells were isolated, expanded, and cultured on autogenous cell-free tendon matrix for 7 days. Samples were analyzed for cell viability, proteoglycan synthesis, collagen synthesis, and mRNA expression of collagen type I, collagen type III, and cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP). Results: Tendon- and muscle-derived cells required less time to reach confluence (approx 2 weeks) than did bone marr...
Rasche A, Lehmann F, Goldmann N, Nagel M, Moreira-Soto A, Nobach D, de Oliveira Carneiro I, Osterrieder N, Greenwood AD, Steinmann E, Lukashev AN....Preclinical testing of novel therapeutics for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) requires suitable animal models. Equids host homologs of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Because coinfections of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and HCV occur in humans, we screened 2,917 specimens from equids from five continents for HBV. We discovered a distinct HBV species (Equid HBV, EqHBV) in 3.2% of donkeys and zebras by PCR and antibodies against EqHBV in 5.4% of donkeys and zebras. Molecular, histopathological, and biochemical analyses revealed that infection patterns of EqHBV resembled those of HBV in humans, including hepatotro...
Allen WR, Skidmore JA, Stewart F, Antczak DF.Measurement of the concentrations of equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG) in the serum of pregnant mares and Jenny donkeys carrying normal intraspecies and hybrid interspecies pregnancies suggested that the production of this hormone may be influenced by parental gene imprinting. Specifically, a differential expression of maternal and paternal genes may control the size and secretory activity of the structures that secrete eCG, the fetal endometrial cups. However, bisection of an interspecies mule embryo followed by transfer of the resulting demi-embryos and other intact mule embryos to horse ...
Vairo S, Van den Broeck W, Favoreel H, Scagliarini A, Nauwynck H.The upper respiratory tract mucosa represents the first line of defense, which has to be overcome by pathogens before invading the host. Considering the economic and ethical aspects involved in using experimental animals for pathogenesis studies, respiratory mucosal explants, in which the tissue's three-dimensional architecture is preserved, may be ideal alternatives. Different respiratory mucosal explant cultures have been developed. However, none of them could be inoculated with pathogens solely at the epithelium side. In the present study, equine nasal and nasopharyngeal explants were embed...
Hardeman AM, Egenvall A, Serra Bragança FM, Swagemakers JH, Koene MHW, Roepstorff L, van Weeren R, Byström A.Quantitative gait analysis offers objective information to support clinical decision-making during lameness workups including advantages in terms of documentation, communication, education, and avoidance of expectation bias. Nevertheless, hardly any data exist comparing outcome of subjective scoring with the output of objective gait analysis systems. Objective: To investigate between- and within-veterinarian agreement on primary lame limb and lameness grade, and to determine relationships between subjective lameness grade and quantitative data, focusing on differences between (1) veterinarians...
Mambelli LI, Santos EJ, Frazão PJ, Chaparro MB, Kerkis A, Zoppa AL, Kerkis I.In horses, stem cell therapies are a promising tool to the treatment of many injuries, which are common consequences of athletic endeavor, resulting in high morbidity and often compromising the performance. In spite of many advantages, the isolation of stem cells similar to human, from equine adipose tissue, occurred only recently. The aim of this study was to isolate equine adipose tissue-derived progenitor cells (eAT-PC), to characterize their proliferative potential, and to study their differentiation capacity before and after cryopreservation. The cells, isolated from horse adipose tissue,...
Condie C, Rivara FP, Bergman AB.Although the risk of serious head injury for horse riders is higher than for most other sports, few equestrians regularly wear protective headgear. This study indicates that riders are well informed about the need for helmets and that the main reason for nonuse is inadequate helmet design. In particular, riders perceive that existing helmets are uncomfortable, expensive, and inappropriate for some riding styles. Based on these findings, the authors developed strategies to increase usage and incorporated them into a successful program. These strategies included working with manufacturers to dev...
Chiocchetti R, Rinnovati R, Tagliavia C, Stanzani A, Galiazzo G, Giancola F, Silva M, Capodanno Y, Spadari A.Growing evidence recognises cannabinoid receptors as potential therapeutic targets for pain. Consequently, there is increasing interest in developing cannabinoid receptor agonists for treating pain. As a general rule, to better understand the actions of a drug, it would be of extreme importance to know the cellular distribution of its specific receptors. The localisation of cannabinoid receptors in the dorsal root ganglia of the horse has not yet been investigated. Objective: To localise the cellular distribution of canonical and putative cannabinoid receptors in the equine cervical dorsal roo...
Cappelli K, Capomaccio S, Viglino A, Silvestrelli M, Beccati F, Moscati L, Chiaradia E.Endurance exercise induces metabolic adaptations and has recently been reported associated with the modulation of a particular class of small noncoding RNAs, microRNAs, that act as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression. Released into body fluids, they termed circulating miRNAs, and they have been recognized as more effective and accurate biomarkers than classical serum markers. This study examined serum profile of miRNAs through massive parallel sequencing in response to prolonged endurance exercise in samples obtained from four competitive Arabian horses before and 2 h after the ...
Hedberg-Alm Y, Penell J, Riihimäki M, Osterman-Lind E, Nielsen MK, Tydén E.All grazing horses are exposed to intestinal parasites, which have the potential to cause gastrointestinal disease. In Sweden, there is a concern about an increase in parasite-related equine gastrointestinal disease, in particular , since the implementation of prescription-only anthelmintics approximately 10 years ago. In a prospective case-control study, parasitological status, using fecal analyses for strongyle egg counts, the presence of eggs and Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as well as serology for , were compared between horses presenting with or without gastrointestinal disease at a ...
Decloedt A, Verheyen T, Van Der Vekens N, Sys S, De Clercq D, van Loon G.Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes atrial electrical and contractile remodelling in horses. The aim of this study was to quantify left atrial (LA) contractile function and its time course of recovery after cardioversion of naturally-occurring AF in horses. The study population included 42 AF horses which were successfully treated using transvenous electrical cardioversion TVEC (n=39) or quinidine sulfate (n=3), with trivial or mild mitral regurgitation present in 25 horses. Thirty-seven healthy horses were used as controls. AF duration was estimated based on the history and previous examinations....
Sellon DC, Besser TE, Vivrette SL, McConnico RS.Recently, a technique was described for amplification of Rhodococcus equi-specific chromosomal and vapA DNA from blood and tracheal wash fluids. It was hypothesized that this technique would be more sensitive than standard culture techniques or serology for diagnosis of R. equi pneumonia in foals. Tracheal wash fluid, nasal swabs, whole blood samples, and serum samples from 56 foals with pneumonia were analyzed. Final clinical diagnosis was determined by the attending clinician on the basis of final interpretation of all available information about each foal, including clinical presentation, d...
