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.
Nielsen MK, Pfister K, von Samson-Himmelstjerna G.Since the 1960s equine parasite control has relied heavily on frequent anthelmintic treatments often applied with frequent intervals year-round. However, increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance in cyathostomins and Parascaris equorum are now forcing the equine industry to change to a more surveillance-based treatment approach to facilitate a reduction in treatment intensity. The principle of selective therapy has been implemented with success in small ruminant parasite control, and has also found use in horse populations. Typically, egg counts are performed from all individuals in the pop...
Ekiri AB, House AM, Krueger TM, Hernandez JA.To assess awareness, perceived relevance, and acceptance of surveillance and infection control practices at a large animal referral hospital among referring veterinarians and clients who sent horses to the facility for veterinary care. Methods: Survey. Methods: 57 referring veterinarians and 594 clients. Methods: A 15-question survey targeting Salmonella enterica as an important pathogen of interest in horses was sent to clients who sent ≥ 1 horse to the University of Florida Large Animal Hospital for veterinary care during July 1, 2007, through July 1, 2011, and to veterinarians who had ref...
Doran G, Hughes K, Rendle D, Edwards S.Pergolide is used to treat pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (equine Cushing's Disease), a neurodegenerative condition associated with loss of dopaminergic inhibition of the pituitary in horses. After oral administration, only low concentrations of the drug are achieved in plasma, making drug detection and quantification difficult. While direct analysis of plasma using sensitive MS/MS techniques is possible, dirty plasma samples and mobile phase buffers can cause instrumentation to become rapidly incapacitated. A method using LC with fluorescence detection was developed for pergolide analy...
Lyle SK.Placentitis is reported to be the cause of 9.8-33.5% of abortions, stillbirths and perinatal losses in horses. Bacterial infections are responsible for 53% of placentitis cases with Streptococcus equi ssp. zooepidemicus being isolated in 28% of these cases. Clinically, mares may have a vaginal discharge, show udder development, lactate prenatally and deliver a premature or dead foal. Major aspects of the pathogenesis of infectious preterm delivery that may require more effective therapeutic targeting are myometrial contraction, immunological aspects of preterm delivery, and the effects of proi...
Grevemeyer B, Bogdanovic L, Canton S, St Jean G, Cercone M, Ducharme NG, Brown BN.Airway obstruction is a common cause of poor performance in horses. Structural abnormalities (insufficient length, rigidity) can be a cause for the obstruction. Currently, there are a few effective clinical options for reconstruction of the equine larynx. A regenerative medicine approach to reconstruction may provide the capability to stabilize laryngeal structures and to encourage restoration of site-appropriate, functional, and host-derived tissue. The purpose of this study was the histopathological evaluation of (1) decellularization of equine (horse) laryngeal cartilages (epiglottis and ar...
Gulati BR, Kumar R, Mohanty N, Kumar P, Somasundaram RK, Yadav PS.Tendon injuries are common in race horses, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolated from adult and foetal tissue have been used for tendon regeneration. In the present study, we evaluated equine amniotic fluid (AF) as a source of MSCs and standardised methodology and markers for their in vitro tenogenic differentiation. Plastic-adherent colonies were isolated from 12 of 20 AF samples by day 6 after seeding and 70-80% cell confluency was reached by day 17. These cells expressed mesenchymal surface markers [cluster of differentiation (CD)73, CD90 and CD105] by reverse transcription (RT)-polyme...
Du J, Wang X, Ma J, Wang J, Qin Y, Zhu C, Liu F, Shao Y, Zhou J, Qiao W, Liu X.The equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) is a lentivirus of the Retrovirus family, which causes persistent infection in horses often characterized by recurrent episodes of high fever. It has a similar morphology and life cycle to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Its transmembrane glycoprotein, gp45 (analogous to gp41 in HIV), mediates membrane fusion during the infection. However, the post-fusion conformation of EIAV gp45 has not yet been determined. EIAV is the first member of the lentiviruses for which an effective vaccine has been successfully developed. The attenuated vaccine strai...
Desjardin C, Chat S, Gilles M, Legendre R, Riviere J, Mata X, Balliau T, Esquerré D, Cribiu EP, Betch JM, Schibler L.Osteochondrosis (OC) is a developmental bone disorder affecting several mammalian species including the horse. Equine OC is described as a focal disruption of endochondral ossification, leading to osteochondral lesions (osteochondritis dissecans, OCD) that may release free bodies within the joint. OCD lesions trigger joint swelling, stiffness and lameness and affects about 30% of the equine population. OCD is considered as multifactorial but its physiopathology is still poorly understood and genes involved in genetic predisposition are still unknown. Our study compared two healthy and two OC-a...
Allombert J, Vianney A, Laugier C, Petry S, Hébert L.Taylorella equigenitalis is the causative agent of contagious equine metritis, a sexually-transmitted infection of Equidae characterised in infected mares by abundant mucopurulent vaginal discharge and a variable degree of vaginitis, cervicitis or endometritis, usually resulting in temporary infertility. The second species of the Taylorella genus, Taylorella asinigenitalis, is considered non-pathogenic, although mares experimentally infected with this bacterium can develop clinical signs of endometritis. To date, little is understood about the basic molecular virulence and persistence mechanis...
Brinkschulte M, Bienert-Zeit A, Lüpke M, Hellige M, Ohnesorge B, Staszyk C.Sinusitis is a common disease in the horse. In human medicine it is described, that obstruction of the sinonasal communication plays a major role in the development of sinusitis. To get spatial sense of the equine specific communication ways between the nasal cavity and the paranasal sinuses, heads of 19 horses, aged 2 to 26 years, were analyzed using three-dimensional (3D) reformatted renderings of CT-datasets. Three-dimensional models were generated following manual and semi-automated segmentation. Before segmentation, the two-dimensional (2D) CT-images were verified against corresponding fr...
Dalla Costa E, Minero M, Lebelt D, Stucke D, Canali E, Leach MC.The assessment of pain is critical for the welfare of horses, in particular when pain is induced by common management procedures such as castration. Existing pain assessment methods have several limitations, which reduce the applicability in everyday life. Assessment of facial expression changes, as a novel means of pain scoring, may offer numerous advantages and overcome some of these limitations. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a standardised pain scale based on facial expressions in horses (Horse Grimace Scale [HGS]). Results: Forty stallions were assigned to one of ...
van Balen J, Mowery J, Piraino-Sandoval M, Nava-Hoet RC, Kohn C, Hoet AE.The role that environmental contamination might play as a reservoir and a possible source of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for patients and personnel at equine veterinary hospitals remains undefined, as the environment has only been monitored during outbreaks or for short periods. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the monthly presence, distribution, and characteristics of environmental MRSA at an equine hospital, and to establish patterns of contamination over time using molecular epidemiological analyses. For this purpose, a yearlong active MRSA su...
De Keyser K, Janssens S, Peeters LM, Foqué N, Gasthuys F, Oosterlinck M, Buys N.Genetic parameters for chronic progressive lymphedema (CPL)-associated traits in Belgian Draught Horses were estimated, using a multitrait animal model. Clinical scores of CPL in the four limbs/horse (CPLclin ), skinfold thickness and hair samples (hair diameter) were studied. Due to CPLclin uncertainty in younger horses (progressive CPL character), a restricted data set (D_3+) was formed, excluding records from horses under 3 years from the complete data set (D_full). Age, gender, coat colour and limb hair pigmentation were included as fixed, permanent environment and date of recording as ra...
Martinson KL, Coleman RC, Rendahl AK, Fang Z, McCue ME.Excessive BW has become a major health issue in the equine (Equus caballus) industry. The objectives were to determine if the addition of neck circumference and height improved existing BW estimation equations, to develop an equation for estimation of ideal BW, and to develop a method for assessing the likelihood of being overweight in adult equids. Six hundred and twenty-nine adult horses and ponies who met the following criteria were measured and weighed at 2 horse shows in September 2011 in Minnesota: age ≥ 3 yr, height ≥ 112 cm, and nonpregnant. Personnel assessed BCS on a scale of 1 t...
Stull CL, Holcomb KE.Every state in the United States has regulations prohibiting acts of neglect and cruelty against animals. Local law enforcement and animal control agencies are responsible in many communities to enforce these statutes. As society's perception of horses has changed from their origin as livestock to companion animals in modern times, owners have transitioned their care and management. The goal of this study was to identify the role and capacities of local animal control services in the United States that investigate equine neglect, cruelty, and abandonment investigations and to identify challeng...
Zannoni A, Bombardi C, Dondi F, Morini M, Forni M, Chiocchetti R, Spadari A, Romagnoli N.Proteinase-activated receptor 2 (PAR2) is a G-protein-coupled receptor for trypsin and mast cell tryptase; it is highly expressed at the intestinal level with multiple functions, such as epithelial permeability and intestinal motility. Many proteases activate PAR2 during tissue damage, suggesting a role of the inflammatory response receptors. The aim of the study was to evaluate the distribution and expression of PAR2 in the jejunum, the ileum and the pelvic flexure, using samples collected from healthy adult horses after slaughter. Proteinase-activated receptor 2 immunoreactivity (PAR2-IR) wa...
Bracun A, Ellis AD, Hall C.Ophthalmic examination in the horse is generally limited to crude assessment of vision and screening for ocular lesions. The refractive state of equine eyes and the potential impact on vision and performance requires further investigation. Objective: To assess the refractive state of a large, mixed-breed sample of horses and ponies in the United Kingdom (UK). Methods: The refractive state of both eyes of 333 horses and ponies was determined by streak retinoscopy, and the effect of age, height, gender, breed and management regime on the refractive state assessed. Results: Emmetropia was found i...
Pérez DS, Tapia MO, Soraci AL.Fosfomycin (FOS) is a natural bactericidal broad-spectrum antibiotic which acts on proliferating bacteria by inhibiting cell wall and early murein/peptidoglycan synthesis. Bactericidal activity is evident against Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria and can also act synergistically with other antibiotics. Bacterial resistance to FOS may be natural or acquired. Other properties of this drug include inhibition of bacterial adhesion to epithelial cells, exopolysaccharide biofilm penetration, immunomodulatory effect, phagocytosis promotion and protection against the nephrotoxicity caused by ot...
Tomlinson JE, Neff P, Boston RC, Aceto H, Nolen-Walston RD.Treatment of idiopathic headshaking in horses is complicated by an incomplete understanding of underlying pathophysiology and partially effective treatments. If an inflammatory etiology exists, corticosteroids could be beneficial. Objective: An anti-inflammatory dose of dexamethasone reduces the signs of idiopathic headshaking in a field setting. Methods: Convenience sample of 20 adult horses with idiopathic headshaking syndrome. Cases were recruited from the general population and diagnosed by attending veterinarians. Methods: Prospective, blinded clinical trial. Pulsed dosing was with oral d...
Reef VB, Bonagura J, Buhl R, McGurrin MK, Schwarzwald CC, van Loon G, Young LE.Murmurs and arrhythmias are commonly detected in equine athletes. Assessing the relevance of these cardiovascular abnormalities in the performance horse can be challenging. Determining the impact of a cardiovascular disorder on performance, life expectancy, horse and rider or driver safety relative to the owner's future expectations is paramount. A comprehensive assessment of the cardiovascular abnormality detected is essential to determine its severity and achieve these aims. This consensus statement presents a general approach to the assessment of cardiovascular abnormalities, followed by a ...
Birkmann K, Junge HK, Maischberger E, Wehrli Eser M, Schwarzwald CC.GastroGard, an omeprazole powder paste formulation, is considered the standard treatment for gastric ulcers in horses and is highly effective. Gastrozol, an enteric-coated omeprazole formulation for horses, has recently become available, but efficacy data are controversial and sparse. Objective: To investigate the efficacy of GastroGard and Gastrozol at labeled doses (4 and 1 mg of omeprazole per kg bwt, respectively, PO q24h) in healing of gastric ulcers. Methods: 40 horses; 9.5 ± 4.6 years; 491 ± 135 kg. Methods: Prospective, randomized, blinded study. Horses with an ulcer score ≥1 (Equi...
Rout ED, Webb TL, Laurence HM, Long L, Olver CS.Evaluation of erythrocyte regeneration in horses is challenging, as they do not release reticulocytes into the peripheral blood. This study investigated transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1) expression in exosomes as a noninvasive method of characterising the regenerative response in anaemic horses. Objective: To quantify TfR1 in ultraprecipitate of serum in horses before and after phlebotomy-induced anaemia, and to identify exosomes as the source of TfR1. The hypothesis was that serum exosomal TfR1 expression would increase during a regenerative response. Methods: Experimental model of anaemia. Metho...
Bautista AC, Tahara J, Mete A, Gaskill CL, Bryant UK, Puschner B.Two separate incidents of monensin exposure in horses resulting in toxicosis provided insight into the diagnostic value and interpretive criteria of various biological samples. In case 1, 25 horses broke into a shed and ingested feed that was supplemented with 800 g/ton (880 µg/g) of monensin. Within 48 hr, 1 horse had died, 2 developed cardiac arrhythmias, lethargy, and recumbency, and another was euthanized due to severe deterioration. Minimal histologic lesions were noted in the horse that died peracutely, while another showed characteristic lesions of acute cardiomyocyte degeneration and ...
Flores-Flores G, Velázquez-Cantón E, Boeta M, Zarco L.The effects of repeated cloprostenol administration were compared in mares impregnated by horses and mares impregnated by donkeys in order to assess the role of eCG on the development of pregnancy-associated resistance to the luteolytic and abortifacient effects of PGF2α. Eleven mares impregnated by donkey (mule pregnancy) and 9 mares impregnated by horse (horse pregnancy) were used. Six mares with mule pregnancy and four with horse pregnancy were injected with cloprostenol (0.25 mg) when they were between day 65 and day 75 of pregnancy, and the treatment was repeated 48, 72 and 96 h latter...
Ivester KM, Couëtil LL, Moore GE, Zimmerman NJ, Raskin RE.Inflammatory airway disease (IAD) in horses is a widespread, performance-limiting syndrome believed to develop in response to inhaled irritants in the barn environment. Objective: To evaluate changes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) cytology and exposure to particulates, endotoxin, and ammonia during horses' first month in training. Methods: Forty-nine client-owned 12- to 36-month-old Thoroughbred horses entering race training. Methods: In this prospective cohort study, a convenience sample of horses was assigned to be fed hay from a net (n = 16), whereas the remaining horses were fed ha...
Hu Z, Zhu C, Chang H, Guo W, Liu D, Xiang W, Wang X.The objective of this study was to develop a novel EvaGreen (EG) based real-time PCR technique for the simultaneous detection of Equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) and Equine herpesvirus 4 (EHV-4) genomes from equine nasal swabs. Viral genomes were identified based on their specific melting temperatures (T m), which are 88.0 and 84.4 °C for EHV-1 and EHV-4, respectively. The detection limitation of this method was 50 copies/μl or 0.15 pg/μl for EHV-1 and 5 copies/μl or 2.5 fg/μl for EHV-4. This assay was 50-1,000 times more sensitive than the SYBR Green (SG)-based assay using the same primer...
Espinosa P, Spriet M, Sole A, Walker NJ, Vaughan B, Galuppo LD.To assess the feasibility of intra-arterial administration of allogeneic mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in the median artery of standing horses and evaluate the distribution and retention of radiolabeled cells. Methods: In vivo experimental study. Methods: Six research horses. Methods: Technetium(99m) -HexaMethyl-Propylene-Amine Oxime-labeled MSC were injected under ultrasound guidance in the median artery of 6 front limbs of 3 horses, standing under sedation. Scintigraphic images were obtained at the time of injection, and at 1, 6, and 24 hours postinjection. Six additional limbs from 3 horses ...
Staniar WB, Kronfeld DS, Treiber KH, Splan RK, Harris PA.The objective of this study was to establish a procedure for differentiating a baseline curve from a systematic deviation in weight-age data, and hence to develop a physiological growth model for the Thoroughbred. A total of 2,698 records for 175 foals was obtained during a period of 8 yr (1994 to 2001). Weight-age data were fit with a sigmoid growth equation, W = A(1 + be(-kt))M, where W is BW at age t, A is the asymptotic value of W, b is a scaling parameter that defines the degree of maturity at t = 0, k is a rate constant, and M defines the point of inflection in the sigmoid curve in relat...
Lopez BS, Hurley DJ, Giancola S, Giguère S, Felippe MJB, Hart KA.Neonatal foals are uniquely susceptible to certain infections early in life. Dendritic cells (DC) are vital in the transition between the innate and adaptive immune response to infection, but DC biology in foals is not fully characterized. Monocyte-derived DC represent a suitable in vitro model similar to DC that differentiate from monocytes recruited from circulation. We hypothesized that foal monocyte-derived DC (MoDC) would exhibit age-dependent phenotypic and functional differences compared to adult horse MoDC. MoDC generated from 9 horses (collected once) and from 8 foals (collected at 1,...
Camacho-Luna P, Buchanan B, Andrews FM.Equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) primarily describes ulceration in the terminal esophagus, nonglandular squamous mucosa, glandular mucosa of the stomach, and proximal duodenum. EGUS is common in all breeds and ages of horses and foals. This article focuses on the current terminology for EGUS, etiologies and pathogenesis for lesions in the nonglandular and glandular stomach, diagnosis, and a comprehensive approach to the treatment and prevention of EGUS in adult horses and foals.
Mittelman NS, Stefanovski D, Johnson AL.Accurate antemortem EPM diagnosis requires evidence of intrathecal antibody production. Some advocate the use of acute phase proteins in addition to serology, which alone results in substantial false positives. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine if serum C-reactive protein (CRP) or serum amyloid A (SAA) concentrations were elevated in cases of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) compared to other neurological diseases. Methods: 25 clinical cases of equine neurological disease: EPM (10), cervical vertebral stenotic myelopathy (CVSM) (10), neuroborreliosis (2), equine mot...
Raisi A, Davoodi F.The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive comparison of spermatic cord torsion in domestic animals. Spermatic cord torsion leads to occlusion of testicular blood flow resulting in ischemia and tissue hypoxia. Spermatic cord torsion has been reported in all domestic mammals but dogs and horses are overrepresented. Abdominal pain (colic), anorexia, vomiting, lameness, and stiff gait are the most common clinical signs reported. The condition may be asymptomatic in cases of a low degree of spermatic cord torsion. In dogs, spermatic cord torsion is most commonly reported in undescend...
Zhang J, Miszczak F, Pronost S, Fortier C, Balasuriya UB, Zientara S, Fortier G, Timoney PJ.Genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships among 22 French isolates of equine arteritis virus (EAV) obtained over four breeding seasons (2001-2004) were determined by sequencing open reading frames (ORFs) 2a-7. The ORFs 2a-7 of 22 isolates differed from the prototype virulent Bucyrus strain of EAV by between 14 (99.5% identity) and 328 (88.7% identity) nucleotides, and differed from each other by between 0 (100% identity) and 346 (88.1% identity) nucleotides, confirming genetic diversity among EAV strains circulating in France. Phylogenetic analysis based on the partial ORF5 sequences (n...
Velez IC, Arnold C, Jacobson CC, Norris JD, Choi YH, Edwards JF, Hayden SS, Hinrichs K.Transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration (TVA) is performed clinically but there is little information available on complications associated with this procedure. Objective: It is possible that TVA is associated with damage to the ovary and may induce peritonitis or peritoneal adhesions. This study was conducted to determine the effect of repeated TVA on mare health and ovarian status. Methods: Thirty-two mares were used for oocyte recovery via repeated TVA over a 3 year period; different mares were used each year. In Year 1, ovarian status was monitored in 11 mares by transrectal pal...
Mousavi SF, Razmkabir M, Rostamzadeh J, Seyedabadi HR, Naboulsi R, Petersen JL, Lindgren G.Indigenous Iranian horse breeds were evolutionarily affected by natural and artificial selection in distinct phylogeographic clades, which shaped their genomes in several unique ways. The aims of this study were to evaluate the genetic diversity and genomewide selection signatures in four indigenous Iranian horse breeds. We evaluated 169 horses from Caspian (n = 21), Turkmen (n = 29), Kurdish (n = 67), and Persian Arabian (n = 52) populations, using genomewide genotyping data. The contemporary effective population sizes were 59, 98, 102, and 113 for Turkmen, Caspian, Persian Ar...
Schusser GF, Rieckhoff K, Ungemach FR, Huskamp NH, Scheidemann W.Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) solution is an effective colloidal infusion solution in humans for treatment of hypovolaemic shock, but it has not been compared with fluids currently available for use in horses. On the basis of plasma-expanding effect of HES in normal horses, a 10% medium-molecular 200/0.5 solution of HES was subsequently tested in hypovolaemic horses. Six normal horses were given five protocols of a single infusion of HES at varying dosage rates (5, 10, 15 ml HES/kg), as well as isotonic saline (15 ml/kg) and hypertonic saline (4 ml/kg b.w.). Dehydrated horses suffering from acute ...
El-Kady EM, Ibrahim NM, Wahby AF.The horse antibodies to Naja haje (Nh) elicited in a low dose multi-site immunization protocol were investigated from binding perspective in the context of antivenom maturation. We found that, this protocol evoked the production of lethality neutralizing avid antibodies in the first round of immunization which increases over the successive immunization rounds. The changes and the relative changes in the antibody parameters of each horse were taken as a measure for the efficacy of its immune system to respond by gaining and magnifying the antivenom parameters. While the avidity increases over t...
López-Plana C, Sautet JY, Pons J, Navarro G.Quantitative measurements were made on cross-sectional preparations of the distal part of the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) from nine young mixed-breed horses to establish reference values for the total number of myelinated fibres, mean fibre diameter and percentage of thickest fibres (over 9.5 microns) and to delineate diameter distribution curves. The total number of myelinated fibres, mean fibre diameter and percentage of thickest fibres for the left RLN were significantly lower than those of the right RLN (P < 0.005). The distribution of fibres was unimodal. The fibre diameter ranged ...
Affolter VK, Dalley B, Kass PH, Brown EA, Sonder C, Bannasch DL.Chronic progressive lymphoedema (CPL) is a disabling condition affecting various draft horse breeds, including Friesian horses. Objective: The high incidence of CPL in Friesian horses suggests a genetic component and a predisposing phenotype. Methods: For the genomic study, 26 affected and 19 control horses were evaluated. Body measurements were taken from 28 affected and nine control Friesian horses. Methods: Axiom® Equine Genotyping Array with a total of 307,474 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) was used for the case/control genome-wide association study (GWAS). Height, weight and leg m...
Cohen ND, Neibergs HL, Wallis DE, Simpson RB, McGruder ED, Hargis BM.Members of the genus Salmonella were identified in feces from horses, using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genus-specific oligonucleotide primers. Feces from healthy horses were determined to be culture-negative for Salmonella spp. Fecal samples were inoculated with known numbers of colony-forming units (CFU) of S anatum, S derby, S enteritidis, S heidelberg, S newport, and S typhimurium. The DNA was extracted from fecal samples and amplified by PCR, using genus-specific primers. Sensitivity of the assay extended to 10(3) CFU of Salmonella sp/g of feces; sensitivity of microbiologic c...
Yang Q, Pinto VMR, Duan W, Paxton EE, Dessauer JH, Ryan W, Lopez MJ.Damage to an ectodermal-mesodermal interface like that in the equine hoof and human finger nail bed can permanently alter tissue structure and associated function. The purpose of this study was to establish and validate culture of primary progenitor cell isolates from the ectodermal-mesodermal tissue junction in equine hooves, the stratum internum, with and without chronic inflammation known to contribute to lifelong tissue defects. The following were evaluated in hoof stratum internum cell isolates up to 5 cell passages (P): expansion capacity by cell doublings and doubling time; plasticity ...
Johnson CB, Taylor PM.Opioids have variable effects on the minimum alveolar concentration of inhaled anaesthetics in the horse. During halothane anaesthesia at an end-tidal halothane concentration between 0.75 and 0.85 percent, the electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency power spectrum and the auditory evoked potential were recorded continuously in eight ponies during an infusion of approximately 40 micrograms kg-1 alfentanil over five minutes, and for a further 55 minutes. The spectral edge and median frequency of the EEG and the mid-latency of the auditory evoked potential at the time of maximum change of these vari...
Vendrig JC, Coffeng LE, Fink-Gremmels J.Deficient innate and adaptive immune responses cause newborn mammals to be more susceptible to bacterial infections than adult individuals. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are known to play a pivotal role in bacterial recognition and subsequent immune responses. Several studies have indicated that activation of certain TLRs, in particular TLR-2, can result in suppression of inflammatory pathology. In this study, we isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from adult and newborn horses to investigate the influence of TLR-2 activation on the inflammatory response mediated by TLR-4. Data we...
Wittenberg-Voges L, Kästner SB, Raekallio M, Vainio OM, Rohn K, Hopster K.To compare the effects of MK-467 during isoflurane anaesthesia combined with xylazine or dexmedetomidine on global and gastrointestinal perfusion parameters. Methods: Prospective, randomized experimental trial. Methods: A total of 15 warmblood horses. Methods: Horses were divided into two groups for administration of either dexmedetomidine (D) or xylazine (X) for premedication (D: 3.5 μg kg; X: 0.5 mg kg) and as constant rate infusion during isoflurane anaesthesia (D: 7 μg kg hour; X: 1 mg kg hour). During anaesthesia, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), systemic vascular resista...
Warnakulasooriya DN, Marth CD, McLeod JA, Hanlon DW, Krekeler N.Retained fetal membranes (RFM) is a common post-partum problem in mares for which the treatment is highly variable. The aim of this study was (i) to investigate the different treatments used by equine practitioners for RFM and (ii) to determine if there is a difference between treatments used by reproductive specialists and general equine practitioners. Information regarding treatment of RFM was sought from veterinary practitioners via a survey and this was compared to recommendations in the current literature. The survey was sent out to equine veterinarians and mixed practitioners with a high...
Bernauer K, Kollross H, Schuetz A, Farmer K, Krueger K.A previous study demonstrated that horses can learn socially from observing humans, but could not draw any conclusions about the social learning mechanisms. Here we develop this by showing horses four different human action sequences as demonstrations of how to press a button to open a feed box. We tested 68 horses aged between 3 and 12 years. 63 horses passed the habituation phase and were assigned either to the group Hand Demo (N = 13) for which a kneeling person used a hand to press the button, Head Demo (N = 13) for which a kneeling person used the head, Mixed Demo (N = 12) fo...
Yamanaka T, Bannai H, Nemoto M, Tsujimura K, Kondo T, Matsumura T.In 2010, the World Organisation for Animal Health recommended the inclusion of a Florida sublineage clade2 strain of equine influenza virus (H3N8), which is represented by A/equine/Richmond/1/07 (Richmond07), in equine influenza vaccines. Here, we evaluate the antigenic differences between Japanese vaccine strains and Richmond07 by performing hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assays. Ferret antiserum raised to A/equine/La Plata/93 (La Plata93), which is a Japanese vaccine strain, reacted with Richmond07 at a similar titer to La Plata93. Moreover, two hundred racehorses exhibited similar geometr...
Li S, Hart K, Norton N, Ryan CA, Guglani L, Prausnitz MR.The sweat test is the gold standard for the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis (CF). The test utilizes iontophoresis to administer pilocarpine to the skin to induce sweating for measurement of chloride concentration in sweat. However, the sweat test procedure needs to be conducted in an accredited lab with dedicated instrumentation, and it can lead to inadequate sweat samples being collected in newborn babies and young children due to variable sweat production with pilocarpine iontophoresis. We tested the feasibility of using microneedle (MN) patches as an alternative to iontophoresis to administer ...
Zoller D, Lüttgenau J, Steffen S, Bollwein H.Poor uterine perfusion has been proposed as a cause of infertility in mares. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of isosorbide dinitrate (ISDN), a nitric oxide donor, on uterine and ovarian blood flow resistance during diestrus and early pregnancy in mares. Six Trotter mares, aged 7 to 14 years, were examined daily during the first 11 days of three diestrous periods, and five of those mares were also examined during the first 11 days of two pregnancies. Six mares randomly received a placebo, a low dose (30 mg, ISDN30), or a high dose of ISDN (60 mg, ISDN60) through t...
Fortier LA, Fubini SL, Flanders JA, Divers TJ.Two calves and two foals presented with episodic clinical signs of diffuse central nervous system disease. Portosystemic anomalies were tentatively diagnosed based on the history, clinical signs and increased serum concentrations of blood ammonia and total serum bile acids with normal concentrations of liver derived enzymes. one calf died before intraoperative contrast portography, whereas the other calf and both foals had marked clinical improvement after intensive medical therapy. Surgical correction was attempted in these three animals and was successful in one foal. A right paracostal celi...
Iba K, Wada T, Kawaguchi S, Fujisaki T, Yamashita T, Ishii S.To investigate the demographic details and patterns of injuries related to horse handling, we reviewed 637 horse-related injuries in 581 stable- or stud-workers in a representative area of thoroughbred stabling in Japan. We found that (1) injuries occurred most frequently in a group of a relatively young workers, with a seasonal variation; (2) the principal mechanism of injury was kicks, which accounted for 39.2% of all injuries, including 11 serious and one lethal visceral injuries; (3) the upper half of the body was more frequently involved than the lower half; and (4) the peripheral bones (...
Gibson C, de Ruijter-Villani M, Stout TAE.Placental imprinted genes appear to be sensitive indicators of an inappropriate pre-implantation environment. This study examined the effects of negative uterine asynchrony after embryo transfer (ET) on early horse embryo development, and yolk-sac membrane expression of DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) and equine specific placental imprinted genes. Methods: Day 8 embryos were transferred to recipient mares on day 8 (synchronous) or day 3 (asynchronous) after ovulation, and conceptuses were recovered 6 or 11 days later (day 14 or 19 of development). Results: Day 14 conceptuses recovered from an a...
Raspa F, Roggero A, Palestrini C, Marten Canavesio M, Bergero D, Valle E.The effects of specific feeding positions upon the horse's shape variations of the back and neck postures as well as the variations of the mandibular angle have never been objectively studied. For this reason, geometric morphometrics was applied. Six horses, aged 14 ± 8 years (mean ± standard deviation, SD), were video-recorded while using three different feeding positions: on the ground-control position (CP); neck held 15 ± 3° below withers height with low hay net position (LP); neck held 15 ± 3° above withers height with high hay net position (HP). Data were analyzed using principal co...
