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.
Bucca S, De Oliveira IRS, Cunanan JC, Vinardell T, Troedsson MHT.Assessment of pregnancy viability in the equine patient is currently based on gestational profiles of limited prognostic value. In recent years Doppler technology has been applied to uterine and umbilical arteries of pregnant mares to monitor fetal responsive haemodynamics, suggestive of compromise. To date, uterine artery Doppler indices failed to provide sufficient evidence of pregnancy viability and the umbilical cord of the equine fetus is inconsistently visualized past 250 days gestation. The objectives of this study were to: i) evaluate intracranial blood flow impedance by Doppler examin...
Socha W, Larska M, Rola J.Susceptibility to long-term persistent infection with Equine Arteritis Virus (EAV) in stallions is related with EqCXCL16 gene alleles of the host. In our study EqCXCL16 gene alleles were determined for 63 EAV shedders and 126 non-shedders of various horse breeds. In total, 60 (31.7%) out of 189 tested stallions were identified as carriers of susceptible variants of EqCXCL16 by real time PCR and Sanger sequencing. The presence of susceptible genotype was related to horse breed with the highest percentage in Wielkopolska breed, Polish coldblood and Silesian breed horses. Strong correlation betwe...
Sundman EA, Chigerwe M, Hunyadi LM.Exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) and asthma in barrel racing horses is a common disease across the United States. Limited information is available on non-infectious respiratory diseases in this population, the interaction between these two diseases, and the occurrence of both EIPH and asthma in the horse. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid cytological results of barrel racing horses with EIPH, asthma, or both. A retrospective study was conducted using the medical records of horses that presented with cough and decreased athletic perform...
Tirosh-Levy S, Gottlieb Y, Mazuz ML, Savitsky I, Steinman A.The tick-borne equine hemoparasite, Theileria equi, is endemic in many parts of the world where prevalence may be high, and most infected horses are apparently healthy but serve as life-long carriers. To determine the factors that affect T. equi dynamics, we followed parasitic loads in apparently healthy horses at four time points during one year. A total of 1094 blood samples were collected from 395 horses, along with ticks and demographic and clinical data. Infection and load of T. equi were tested by PCR and qPCR, and for the spring dataset, infection was also tested serologically by IFAT (...
de Preux M, Vidondo B, Koch C.To determine the influence of a purpose-built frame on the accuracy of screw placement during computer-assisted orthopedic surgery (CAOS) of the equine extremity. Methods: Experimental cadaveric study. Methods: Twenty-four paired equine cadaveric limbs obtained from seven horses. Methods: Three 4.5-mm cortex screws were inserted in lag technique in three different planes of orientation in the proximal phalanx (P1) by means of CAOS. In the study group (n = 12 limbs), the tracker was anchored on a purpose-built frame designed to stabilize the extremity. In the control group (n = 12 limbs), a con...
Tomlinson JE, Wolfisberg R, Fahnøe U, Sharma H, Renshaw RW, Nielsen L, Nishiuchi E, Holm C, Dubovi E, Rosenberg BR, Tennant BC, Bukh J, Kapoor A....Pegiviruses frequently cause persistent infection (as defined by >6 months), but unlike most other Flaviviridae members, no apparent clinical disease. Human pegivirus (HPgV, previously GBV-C) is detectable in 1-4% of healthy individuals and another 5-13% are seropositive. Some evidence for infection of bone marrow and spleen exists. Equine pegivirus 1 (EPgV-1) is not linked to disease, whereas another pegivirus, Theiler's disease-associated virus (TDAV), was identified in an outbreak of acute serum hepatitis (Theiler's disease) in horses. Although no subsequent reports link TDAV to disease, an...
Mshelia PW, Kappmeyer L, Johnson WC, Kudi CA, Oluyinka OO, Balogun EO, Richard EE, Onoja E, Sears KP, Ueti MW.Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is an infectious, tick-borne disease caused by the hemoprotozoan parasites, Theileria equi, Babesia caballi, and a recently reported new species, T. haneyi. Infections by these apicomplexan parasites limit performance and cause economic losses for the horse industry. Equine piroplasmosis is widespread in the northern regions of Nigeria, where an increasing portion of the animal population is composed of horses. This disease has remained epidemiologically challenging, especially as the movement of horses increases across Nigeria. In this study, blood samples from 300 h...
Soza-Ossandón P, Rivera D, Tardone R, Riquelme-Neira R, García P, Hamilton-West C, Adell AD, González-Rocha G, Moreno-Switt AI. is a highly infectious microorganism responsible for many outbreaks reported in equine hospitals. Outbreaks are characterized by high morbidity and mortality rates, nosocomial transmission to other patients, zoonotic transmission to hospital personnel, and even closure of facilities. In this study, 545 samples (environmental and hospitalized patients) were collected monthly during a 1-year period from human and animal contact surfaces in an equine hospital that received local and international horses. A total of 22 isolates were obtained from human contact surfaces (e.g., offices and pharmac...
Entenfellner J, Gahan J, Garvey M, Walsh C, Venner M, Cullinane A.The international governing body of equestrian sports requires that horses be vaccinated against equine influenza within 6 months and 21 days of competing. The aim of this study was to compare the antibody response of young sport horses to six-monthly booster vaccination with equine influenza vaccines of different formulations. An inactivated vaccine was allocated to 35 horses and subunit and recombinant vaccines were allocated to 34 horses each. After vaccination, all horses were monitored for evidence of adverse reactions. Whole blood samples were collected at the time of vaccination and on ...
Steinman A, Navon-Venezia S.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasingly recognized global public health threat to the modern health-care system that could hamper the control and treatment of infectious diseases [...].
Martin F, Dube F, Karlsson Lindsjö O, Eydal M, Höglund J, Bergström TF, Tydén E.Parascaris univalens is a pathogenic parasite of foals and yearlings worldwide. In recent years, Parascaris spp. worms have developed resistance to several of the commonly used anthelmintics, though currently the mechanisms behind this development are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the transcriptional responses in adult P. univalens worms after in vitro exposure to different concentrations of three anthelmintic drugs, focusing on drug targets and drug metabolising pathways. Methods: Adult worms were collected from the intestines of two foals at slaughter. The foals were natu...
Krajaejun T, Kittichotirat W, Patumcharoenpol P, Rujirawat T, Lohnoo T, Yingyong W.Genome sequences are a vital resource for accelerating the biological exploration of an organism of interest. Pythium destruens (a synonym of Pythium insidiosum) causes a difficult-to-treat infectious disease called pythiosis worldwide. Detection and management of pythiosis are challenging. Basic knowledge of the disease is lacking. Genomes of this organism isolated from different continents (i.e., Asia and the Americas) have been sequenced and publicly available. Here, we sequenced the genome of an Australian isolate of P. destruens. Genome data will facilitate the comparative analysis of thi...
Steinman A, Navon-Venezia S.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is an increasingly recognized global public health threat to the modern health-care system that could hamper the control and treatment of infectious diseases [...].
Khamesipour F, Taktaz-Hafshejani T, Tebit KE, Razavi SM, Hosseini SR.Equines are subject to infection with many parasites, which threaten their health. In the present study, we systematically reviewed existing literature on the prevalence of endo- and ectoparasites of equines in Iran. Major electronic databases, including PubMed, PubMed Central, Google Scholar, Science Direct and Scientific Information Database (SID), were searched (Last updated 11/05/2018) for relevant literature of parasites that have been identified from equines in Iran. Of the 1809 titles produced by bibliographic search, 38 were included in the review. Twenty-seven of the studies were on h...
França de Souza D, Alonso MA, Brito MM, Meirelles MG, Francischini MCP, Nichi M, Fernandes CB.In newborns, exposure to the extrauterine environment with high oxygen tension and sudden pulmonary adaptation leads to an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS have several physiological roles, which are essential for neonatal development, however, when unbalanced, these highly unstable molecules can cause cellular destabilisation, compromising vital processes. Objective: To characterise the oxidative status in healthy equine neonates, evaluating an indicator of lipid peroxidation and both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant systems, during the first week of life. Methods: Experim...
Böing L, Heun F, Gasse H.The extremely complex surface architecture of the equine brain does not allow a uniform transfer of anatomical data from other mammalian species, e.g., dog or cat. Rather, a special approach is required to elucidate the equine-specific patterns of cerebral vascular ramifications. Therefore, a novel cartographic system was applied. Prior attention was paid to the A. cerebri media (MCA) and to the A. corporis callosi (CA), as they spread over the widest part of the neopallium's Facies convexa (i.e. the lateral and dorsal surface), thus being of particular interest in terms of surgical treatment ...
Bazzano M, Laghi L, Zhu C, Magi GE, Tesei B, Laus F.The use of an untargeted metabolomic approach to investigate biofluids of respiratory origin is of increasing interest in human and veterinary lung research. Considering the high incidence of equine asthma (> 14%) within horse population and the importance of this animal model for human disease, we aimed to investigate the metabolomic profile of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) in healthy and asthmatic horses. Results: On the basis of clinical, endoscopic and BALF cytology findings, 6 horses with severe asthma (Group A) and 6 healthy horses (Group C) we...
de Oliveira MGC, Luna SPL, Nunes TL, Firmino PR, de Lima AGA, Ferreira J, Trindade PHE, Júnior RAB, de Paula VV.Recognising pain in donkeys is challenging because they are stoic. Objective: To identify the responses of donkeys before and after surgical pain. Methods: Prospective, short-term longitudinal pre- and post-intervention observations. Methods: Forty adult donkeys underwent surgical castration after sedation with intravenous (IV) xylazine, induction with guaiphenesin/thiopental IV and maintenance of anaesthesia with isoflurane and local anaesthetic blockade. Four hours after recovery from anaesthesia, flunixin meglumine 1.1 mg/kg, dipyrone 10 mg/kg and morphine 0.2 mg/kg IV were administered....
Schwarz B, Ihry P.A 26-year-old pony mare (ca. 180 kg bodyweight) was presented as an emergency because it had erroneously received 110 times its standard dose of pergolide (Prascend) per os approximately 4 hours earlier. Clinical examination initially was normal except tachycardia of 52 beats/min. The pony was treated symptomatically with paraffin oil and activated charcoal per nasogastric tube to prevent further systemic absorption and accelerate intestinal excretion of the pergolide. Furthermore, the pony received 400 mg of dopamine antagonist azaperone (Stresnil) intramuscularly (i.m.) followed by 80 mg...
Rieger J, Kaessmeyer S, Al Masri S, Hünigen H, Plendl J.The cardiovascular system is the first functional organ in the embryo, and its blood vessels form a widespread conductive network within the organism. Blood vessels develop de novo, by the differentiation of endothelial progenitor cells (vasculogenesis) or by angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels from existing ones. This review presents an overview of the current knowledge on physiological and pathological angiogenesis in the horse including studies on equine endothelial cells. Principal study fields in equine angiogenesis research were identified: equine endothelial progen...
Corradini I, Fernández-Ruiz A, Barba M, Engel-Manchado J.Comparisons between smartphone ECG (SpECG) recordings obtained from the right and left sides of the thorax have not been reported in animals. Objective: To evaluate the screening potential of a SpECG obtained from both sides of the thorax and to compare the degree of agreement between the SpECG and a reference ECG (rECG) for measurement of the duration of baseline electrical deflections recorded over both sides of the thorax. Methods: Fifty horses admitted to the equine hospital, university-owned horses, and horses from an endurance riding facility. Methods: Prospective observational study. Si...
Bartak M, Chodkowski M, Słońska A, Bańbura MW, Cymerys J.In the present study, the influence of the infection with equine herpesvirus type 1 (non-neuro-pathogenic and neuropathogenic strains of EHV-1) on the morphology and distribution of mitochondrial network in equine dermal cell line was investigated. Our results indicate that EHV-1-infection caused changes in the mitochondrial morphology manifested mostly by fission and reactive oxygen species generation.
Erdemsurakh O, Ochirbat K, Gombosuren U, Tserendorj B, Purevdorj B, Vanaabaatar B, Aoshima K, Kobayashi A, Kimura T.Glanders is a contagious and fatal equine disease caused by the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia mallei. B. mallei is prevalent among horse populations in Asia, the Middle East, and South America. More than four million horses have been registered in Mongolia in 2020. However, the recent prevalence of glanders has not been well investigated. In this study, we aimed to investigate the seropositivity of B. mallei in horse populations in Mongolia using the complement fixation test (CFT) and Rose Bengal plate agglutination test (RBT). We randomly collected blood samples from horses in central ...
Carmalt JL, Tucker ML.To develop an arthroscopic approach to the discomandibular joint (DMJ), the ventral compartment of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of the horse. Methods: Experimental study. Methods: Nine cadaveric equine heads and two live horses. Methods: A 2.5-mm 30° arthroscope was used to explore the DMJ after joint distension. The first portal was created caudally, allowing placement of a rostral portal under visual guidance. Nasotracheal intubation of the live horses allowed mandibular manipulation, which is required for complete visualization of the joint. Results: A novel injection technique allowe...
Saklou NT, Burgess BA, Ashton LV, Morley PS, Goehring LS.Equid herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) is ubiquitous in equine populations causing respiratory disease, and complications including late-term abortion and neurological disease. Eradication of EHV-1 from housing environments that typically contain unsealed wood and porous bedding materials can be challenging. However, consideration should be given to take advantage of the viral envelope's susceptibility to environmental conditions. Objective: To determine environmental persistence of EHV-1 on materials and in environmental conditions commonly found in equine facilities. We hypothesised that environme...
There are several bioengineering solutions aimed at improving human health and welfare. Smart electrodes based on textile substrates have met the growing demand for comfort, reliability, and robustness when acquiring physiological signals. Objective: Given the importance of good quality electrocardiograms (ECG) in equine sports medicine, this study focuses on the validation of smart textile electrodes to acquire ECG signals in horses during treadmill exercise. Methods: The performance of the smart textile electrodes is compared with standard silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes in terms...
Miller SM.Otobius megnini has been associated with certain clinical conditions in horses in both California and Mexico. A number of cases similar to those described previously have been identified by the author in South Africa. This case report summarises these cases to demonstrate that the clinical condition occurs readily in South Africa and may be increasing in occurrence. The disease has minimal coverage in the literature making it more likely that a veterinarian, unfamiliar with the disease, will miss the diagnosis. The author would like to make veterinarians aware of this as a potential differenti...
Redpath A, Marr CM, Bullard C, Hallowell GD.Atrial septal defects have been well reported in humans and dogs and the principles of intervention have been well established. In contrast, there is very little information published about these congenital anomalies in horses. True ASDs are regarded as rare and little is known about the clinical significance of these defects in horses. An 11-year-old Thoroughbred gelding with a history of poor performance was diagnosed with an atrial septal defect, measuring approximately 2 cm in diameter, on 2D transthoracic echocardiography. Real-time three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography was used to map...
Cain JL, Slusarewicz P, Rutledge MH, McVey MR, Wielgus KM, Zynda HM, Wehling LM, Scare JA, Steuer AE, Nielsen MK.Fecal egg counts are the cornerstone of equine parasite control programs. Previous work led to the development of an automated, image-analysis-based parasite egg counting system. The system has been further developed to include an automated reagent dispenser unit and a custom camera (CC) unit that generates higher resolution images, as well as a particle shape analysis (PSA) algorithm and machine learning (ML) algorithm. The first aim of this study was to conduct a comprehensive comparison of method precision between the original smartphone (SP) unit with the PSA algorithm, CC/PSA, CC/ML, and ...
Baker H, Schor SM, Murphy BD, DeAngelis B, Feingold S, Frank O.Blood concentrations of thiamin, biotin, nicotinates, pantothenates, folates, riboflavin, vitamins A, B6, B12, C, E, beta-carotene and choline were analyzed in healthy animals (23 horses, 25 dogs, and 29 cats). B-Complex vitamins and choline also were analyzed in the liver of the dogs and cats. Vitamin concentrations in the blood and livers of dogs were similar; however, blood vitamin A and beta-carotene concentrations were lower in the cat than in the dog. Horses had a higher B12 blood concentration than did the dogs and cats. These data can be useful for detecting overt and hidden vitamin de...
Baccarin RY, Rasera L, Machado TS, Michelacci YM.Osteoarthritis (OA) of the metacarpophalangeal joint is the most common articular disease in polo ponies leading to early retirement. A biomarker that would discriminate between pathological and physiological changes secondary to exercise could be helpful in OA prevention. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of polo training on synovial fluid biomarkers of inflammation and cartilage turnover in polo ponies of different skill levels. Synovial fluid samples were collected from metacarpophalangeal joints of polo ponies before and during the polo season (320 d). Nucleated cells, s...
Mugnier S, Kervella M, Douet C, Canepa S, Pascal G, Deleuze S, Duchamp G, Monget P, Goudet G.Oviduct epithelial cells (OEC) co-culture promotes in vitro fertilization (IVF) in human, bovine and porcine species, but no data are available from equine species. Yet, despite numerous attempts, equine IVF rates remain low. Our first aim was to verify a beneficial effect of the OEC on equine IVF. In mammals, oviductal proteins have been shown to interact with gametes and play a role in fertilization. Thus, our second aim was to identify the proteins involved in fertilization in the horse. Results: In the first experiment, we co-incubated fresh equine spermatozoa treated with calcium ionophor...
Dunkel B, Palmer JE, Olson KN, Boston RC, Wilkins PA.Foals may present to a referral hospital with the primary diagnosis of uroperitoneum (UP), or they may develop UP while hospitalized for other reasons. Historical, physical, laboratory, and diagnostic variables of foals presenting with UP were compared to those developing UP while hospitalized. Emphasis was placed on the presence of electrolyte abnormalities, evidence of sepsis or infection, and development of anesthetic complications during surgical correction of the defect. Foals developing UP while in the hospital frequently had a history of dystocia and presented at a very young age (< ...
Stabenfeldt GH, Hughes JP, Kennedy PC, Meagher DM, Neely DP.The clinical, structural and functional characteristics of ovarian tumours were studied in 10 mares. Proliferation of the granulosa cells of large and small follicles and the presence of various numbers of Leydig-like cells in the theca interna were the predominant microscopic findings in 9 of the mares. All 9 of these animals had higher than normal (P less than 0.005) concentrations of testosterone in the peripheral plasma; 2 animals which exhibited male behaviour had testosterone concentrations greater than 100 pg/ml and the largest number of Leydig-like cells in the theca. Mares with lower ...
Brosnahan MM.The genus Equus is made up of donkeys, horses, and zebras. Despite significant variation in chromosome number across these species, interspecies breeding results in healthy, although infertile, hybrid offspring. Most notable among these are the horse-donkey hybrids, the mule and hinny. Donkeys presently are used for everything from companion animals to beasts of burden. Although closely related from an evolutionary standpoint, differences in anatomy and physiology preclude the assumption that they can be treated identically to the domestic horse. Veterinarians should be aware of these differen...
Aurich C, Müller-Herbst S, Reineking W, Müller E, Wohlsein P, Gunreben B, Aurich J.Warmblood fragile foal syndrome (WFFS) is a monogenetic defect with autosomal recessive inheritance. The WFFS homozygosity is non-compatible with extra-uterine life. Although as many as 15% of Warmblood horses are WFFS carriers, there has been little veterinary focus on this condition. The aim of this study was to determine outcomes and symptoms of clinical signs and pathological abnormalities during pregnancies when there were WFFS homozygous foetuses. Diagnostic material of 15 abortion or stillbirth cases with suspected diagnosis of WFFS was available for this study. Additionally, there were...
Cox S, Villarino N, Sommardahl C, Kvaternick V, Zarabadipour C, Siger L, Yarbrough J, Amicucci A, Reed K, Breeding D, Doherty T.The objective of this study was to determine if a single loading dose (LD), 3× the label dose of firocoxib oral paste, followed by nine maintenance doses at the current label dose achieves and maintains near steady state concentrations. Six healthy, adult mares were administered 0.3mg/kg of firocoxib on Day 0, and 0.1 mg/kg 24 h later on Day 1, and at 24 h intervals from Day 2 to Day 9, for a total of 10 doses. Blood samples were collected throughout the study. The mean firocoxib maximum plasma concentration and standard deviation was 199±97 ng/mL, 175±44 ng/mL and 183±50 ng/mL after the L...
Mugnier S, Dell'Aquila ME, Pelaez J, Douet C, Ambruosi B, De Santis T, Lacalandra GM, Lebos C, Sizaret PY, Delaleu B, Monget P, Mermillod P....The mechanism of fertilization remains largely enigmatic in mammals. Most studies exploring the molecular mechanism underlying fertilization have been restricted to a single species, generally the mouse, without a comparative approach. However, the identification of divergences between species could allow us to highlight key components in the mechanism of fertilization. In the pig, in vitro fertilization (IVF) and polyspermy rates are high, and spermatozoa penetrate easily through the zona pellucida (ZP). In contrast, IVF rates are low in the horse, and polyspermy is scarce. Our objective was ...
Camarda G, Spinetti G, Bernardini G, Mair C, Davis-Poynter N, Capogrossi MC, Napolitano M.Several herpesviruses contain open reading frames (ORFs) that encode potential homologs of eucaryotic genes. Equine herpesvirus 2 (EHV-2) is a gammaherpesvirus related to other lymphotropic herpesviruses such as herpesvirus saimiri and Epstein-Barr virus. The E1 ORF of EHV-2, a G protein-coupled receptor homolog, shows 31 to 47% amino acid identity with known CC chemokine receptors. To investigate whether E1 may encode a functional receptor, we cloned the E1 ORF and expressed it in stably transfected cell lines. We report here the identification of the CC chemokine eotaxin as a functional liga...
Pedersen SK, Cribb AE, Read EK, French D, Banse HE.In equids, phenylbutazone at high doses induces gastric disease, primarily in the glandular portion of the stomach. However, the mechanism of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)-induced gastric disease in horses has yet to be determined. While phenylbutazone-associated ulceration is often attributed to a decrease in basal gastric prostaglandins, this has not been demonstrated in the horse. Twelve horses were randomly assigned to treatment (n = 6; 4.4 mg/kg phenylbutazone PO in 20 ml molasses q 12 hr for 7 days) or placebo (n = 6; 20 ml molasses PO q 12 hr for 7 days) groups....
Hinchcliff KW, Morley PS, Guthrie AJ.To evaluate the efficacy of furosemide for prevention of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) in Thoroughbred racehorses under typical racing conditions. Methods: Randomized, placebo-controlled, blinded, crossover field trial. Methods: 167 Thoroughbred racehorses. Methods: Horses were allocated to race fields of 9 to 16 horses each and raced twice, 1 week apart, with each of the 2 races consisting of the same race field and distance. Each horse received furosemide (500 mg, IV) before one race and a placebo (saline solution) before the other, with the order of treatments randomly determ...
Rosanowski SM, Cogger N, Rogers CW.Utilising a face-to-face interview of stud managers, a survey was conducted to investigate the movement patterns around, and biosecurity practices on, Thoroughbred and Standardbred stud farms. Eligible stud farms (n=60) were identified from the 2009 Thoroughbred stallion register and 2009 Standardbred stallion register, and stud managers were asked to participate in the interview. In total, 27 stud managers agreed to participate in the study, and participating stud farms included 38% of Thoroughbred and 60% of Standardbred mares bred in 2009. All stud managers reported the movement of horses t...
Stadler P, Deegen E.Dynamic compliance, airway resistance, viscous work and respiratory frequency were measured at intervals in horses over 12 h periods. Variation, daily averages and circadian patterns were recorded. Examinations were performed on 24 horses. They were divided into three groups: Normal horses, horses with chronic latent bronchitis and horses with manifest chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Significant differences were found between the daily averages and the fluctuations when the normal group and the COPD group were compared. In most cases differences between all three groups were sign...
Hoyt DF, Wickler SJ, Biewener AA, Cogger EA, De La Paz KL.The activity of muscles can be concentric (shortening), eccentric (lengthening) or isometric (constant length). When studying muscle function it is important to know what the muscle fascicles are actually doing because the performance of muscle is strongly influenced by the type of activity: force decreases as a function of shortening velocity during concentric contractions; force produced during eccentric contractions can be stronger than maximum isometric force, and force production is enhanced if a concentric contraction follows an eccentric phase. It is well known that length changes of mu...
Chiavaccini L, Hassel DM.Esophageal obstruction is common in horses and can result in life-threatening complications. Previous studies have described clinical findings in horses with esophageal obstruction, but there are no reports that attempt to make correlations of clinical findings with outcome. Objective: Specific clinical features of horses with esophageal obstruction are associated with increased likelihood of complications. Methods: One hundred and nine horses with esophageal obstruction. Methods: Retrospective cross-sectional study. All clinical records of horses admitted between April 1992 and February 2009 ...
Becker-Birck M, Schmidt A, Wulf M, Aurich J, von der Wense A, Möstl E, Berz R, Aurich C.Bringing the head and neck of ridden horses into a position of hyperflexion is widely used in equestrian sports. In our study, the hypothesis was tested that hyperflexion is an acute stressor for horses. Salivary cortisol concentrations, heart rate, heart rate variability (HRV) and superficial body temperature were determined in horses (n = 16) lunged on two subsequent days. The head and neck of the horse was fixed with side reins in a position allowing forward extension on day A and fixed in hyperflexion on day B. The order of treatments alternated between horses. In response to lunging, ...
Payne SL, Pei XF, Jia B, Fagerness A, Fuller FJ.The molecular clones pSPeiav19 and p19/wenv17 of equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) differ in env and long terminal repeats (LTRs) and produce viruses (EIAV(19) and EIAV(17), respectively) of dramatically different virulence phenotypes. These constructs were used to generate a series of chimeric clones to test the individual contributions of LTR, surface (SU), and transmembrane (TM)/Rev regions to the disease potential of the highly virulent EIAV(17). The LTRs of EIAV(19) and EIAV(17) differ by 16 nucleotides in the transcriptional enhancer region. The two viruses differ by 30 amino acids i...
Yasui M, Suzuki N, Liu X, Okamoto Y, Kim SY, Laxmi YR, Shibutani S.4-Hydroxyequilenin (4-OHEN)-dC is a major, potentially mutagenic DNA adduct induced by equine estrogens used for hormone replacement therapy. To study the miscoding property of 4-OHEN-dC and the involvement of Y-family human DNA polymerases (pols) eta, kappa and iota in that process, we incorporated 4-OHEN-dC into oligodeoxynucleotides and used them as templates in primer extension reactions catalyzed by pol eta, kappa and iota. Pol eta inserted dAMP opposite 4-OHEN-dC, accompanied by lesser amounts of dCMP and dTMP incorporation and base deletion. Pol kappa promoted base deletions as well as ...
Smith RK, Heinegård D.Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) is a noncollagenous extracellular matrix protein found predominantly in cartilage, but also in tendon, ligament and meniscus. Studies in man have demonstrated that it may be used as a prognostic marker in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis. The present study investigated whether tendon injury contributes to serum and tendon sheath synovial fluid levels of COMP in horses. COMP levels, analysed by competitive ELISA, in the digital sheath synovial fluid were more than 10-fold higher than in the serum. Levels were significantly raised when tendon dam...
Raphel CF, Beech J.Of 122 horses with pleural effusion, 90 (73.8%) had pleuritis secondary to pneumonia or lung abscessation. Fifty-one horses died or were euthanatized. The highest prevalence was in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Eleven (12.2%) horses were postsurgical patients and 22 (24.4%) horses had been transported over 500 miles. There was no relationship between final outcome and the age, sex, breed, hematologic values, or laboratory findings pertaining to pleural fluid except for the bacterial isolation of Escherichia coli from the pleural fluid, as this was more frequently associated with de...
Saville WJ, Reed SM, Granstrom DE, Hinchcliff KW, Kohn CW, Wittum TE, Stamper S.To determine the seroprevalence of serum antibodies to Sarcocystis neurona in horses residing in Ohio. Methods: Prevalence survey. Methods: Serum from samples from 1,056 horses. Serum was collected on every 36th sample submitted to the Ohio State Diagnostic Laboratory for testing for equine infectious anemia. Methods: Serum was frozen at -80 C and analyzed for antibodies to S neurona, using a western blot. Information regarding blood sample collection, age, breed, sex, and geographic location was recorded for each horse. Data were analyzed, using multivariable logistic regression. Results: Hor...
Rames DS, Miller DK, Barthel R, Craig TM, Dziezyc J, Helman RG, Mealey R.Ocular contents from a horse with a 4-week history of severe unilateral uveitis were submitted for histopathologic examination. A severe unilateral granulomatous chorioretinitis with intralesional Halicephalobus deletrix was diagnosed. The horse developed progressive neurologic signs several days following the surgery to remove ocular contents and implant a prosthesis and was subsequently euthanatized. A severe multifocal granulomatous encephalitis with intralesional H. deletrix, localized primarily to the optic chiasm, thalamus, and brain stem, was diagnosed from tissues acquired at necropsy....
Cheetham J, Perkins JD, Jarvis JC, Cercone M, Maw M, Hermanson JW, Mitchell LM, Piercy RJ, Ducharme NG.Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVCP) is a life-threatening condition that follows injury to the Recurrent Laryngeal nerve (RLn) and denervation of the intrinsic laryngeal musculature. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) enables restoration and control of a wide variety of motor functions impaired by lower motor neuron lesions. Here we evaluate the effects of FES on the sole arytenoid abductor, the posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) muscle in a large animal model of RLn injury. Ten horses were instrumented with two quadripolar intramuscular electrodes in the left PCA muscle. Following a 12-wee...
Butt TD, Bailey JV, Dowling PM, Fretz PB.The purpose of this study was to compare the synovial fluid concentrations and pharmacokinetics of amikacin in the equine limb distal to the carpus following intraosseous and intravenous regional perfusion. The front limbs of 6 horses were randomly assigned to either intraosseous or intravenous perfusion. A tourniquet was placed distal to each carpus and the limb perfused with 500 mg of amikacin. Systemic blood samples and synovial fluid samples were collected over 70 min from the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint, metacarpophalangeal joint, and digital flexor sheath. The tourniquet was remov...
Dixon PM, Parkin TD, Collins N, Hawkes C, Townsend N, Tremaine WH, Fisher G, Ealey R, Barakzai SZ.There is limited objective information available on the treatment and the long-term response to treatment of the different types of equine sinus disease. Objective: To document the treatments and long-term response to these treatments in 200 cases of equine sinus disease (1997-2009). Methods: The treatments of horses affected with subacute primary sinusitis (n = 52); chronic primary sinusitis (n = 37); dental sinusitis (n = 40); sinus cyst (n = 26); traumatic (n = 13); dental-related oromaxillary fistula (n = 8); sinus neoplasia (n = 10); mycotic sinus disease (n = 7); and intrasinus progressi...
Nollet H, Deprez P, van Ham L, Dewulf J, Decleir A, Vanderstraeten G.Cervical spinal cord dysfunction is a common problem in equine medicine and the currently available tests give no objective information about the functionality of the nervous tracts. Therefore, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was performed in 84 healthy horses of different height in order to have an objective measure for the integrity of the descending motor tracts in normal horses. Objective: To obtain reference values for onset latency and peak-to-peak amplitude of magnetic motor evoked potentials (MMEPs) and to evaluate the possible effect of height, age and gender on the neurophysi...
Noronha LE, Harman RM, Wagner B, Antczak DF.The low-affinity Fc receptor CD16 plays a central role in the inflammatory and innate immune responses of many species, but has not yet been investigated in the horse. Using the predicted extracellular region of equine CD16 expressed as a recombinant fusion protein with equine IL-4 (rIL-4/CD16), we generated a panel of mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that recognize equine CD16. Nine mAbs were chosen for characterization based upon recognition of CD16, but not IL-4, in ELISA. All nine mAbs recognized full-length, cell-surface CD16 expressed as a GFP fusion protein by CHO cells, but not the c...
Peiffer RL, Wilcock BP, Yin H.Histologic examination was made of 1,419 globes from domestic animals (964 dogs, 374 cats, 41 horses, and 40 cattle) with ocular disease; pre-iridal membranes (rubeosis iridis) were found in 98. The membranes originated as endothelial budding from the anterior iridal stroma and seemed to mature into fibrous or fibrovascular membranes that were often followed by hyphema or, occasionally, glaucoma. Pre-existent disease in the 98 affected globes included chronic endophthalmitis (27/98), chronic glaucoma (24/98), anterior uveal melanoma (15/98), ciliary body adenoma (14/98), neoplasms metastatic t...
