Veterinary research in horses encompasses the study of diseases, health management, and medical treatments specific to equine species. This field investigates various aspects of horse health, including infectious diseases, metabolic disorders, and musculoskeletal conditions. Researchers focus on understanding the pathophysiology of equine ailments, developing diagnostic tools, and evaluating therapeutic interventions. The study of horse health also involves examining preventive measures such as vaccination protocols and nutritional management to promote overall well-being. This page collects peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the diverse areas of veterinary science related to horses, providing insights into disease mechanisms, treatment strategies, and advancements in equine healthcare.
Meyer JC, Hunyadi LM, Ordóñez-Mena JM.Accuracy of baseline ACTH for the diagnosis of PPID in horses varies between studies. Objective: To estimate the diagnostic accuracy of ACTH as a biomarker for PPID in adult horses and appraise potential causes of heterogeneity. Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: A literature review identified studies reporting diagnostic accuracy data for extraction. Risk of bias was evaluated using QUADAS-2. Two random-effects models, the hierarchical summary receiver operating curve (HSROC) and the bivariate binomial normal model (BBN) were used to pool accuracy measurements. We performe...
Moeller BC, Flores L, Clifford A, Alarcio G, Mosburg M, Arthur RM.Methylphenidate is a powerful central nervous system stimulant with a high potential for abuse in horse racing. The detection of methylphenidate use is of interest to horse racing authorities for both prior to and during competition. The use of hair as an alternative sampling matrix for equine anti-doping has increased as the number of detectable compounds has expanded. Our laboratory developed a liquid chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry method to detect the presence of methylphenidate in submitted samples. Briefly, hair was decontaminated, cut, and pulverized prior to liquid-liq...
Jenny JCA, Hopster K, Hurcombe SD.To compare the accuracy and precision of cardiac output (CO) measurements derived from 4 thermodilution protocols that used different injectate temperatures and volumes in healthy adult horses. Methods: 8 healthy adult horses. Methods: Horses were anesthetized and instrumented with Swan-Ganz catheters. The CO was derived from each of 4 thermodilution protocols (IV injection of physiologic saline [0.9% NaCl] solution chilled to < 5 °C at volumes of 1 mL/15 kg of body weight [protocol A; control], 1 mL/25 kg [protocol B], and 1 mL/35 kg [protocol C] or maintained at 17 °C at a volume of 1 m...
Douglas HF, Stefanovski D, Southwood LL.To evaluate, following colic admission during pregnancy, (1) broodmare survival; (2) the frequency of recurrent colic in broodmares and its associated variables, and (3) pregnancy outcome and the variables associated with a negative pregnancy outcome. Methods: Ambidirectional observational cohort study. Methods: One hundred and four client-owned broodmare admissions. Methods: Admissions of pregnant mares from June 2010 until October 2016 were included. Data were collected until November 2017. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to evaluate variables associated with brood...
Souza SS, Aguiar FLN, Alves BG, Alves KA, Brandão FAS, Brito DCC, Raposo RDS, Gastal MO, Rodrigues APR, Figueiredo JR, Teixeira DÍA, Gastal EL.Ovarian tissue transplantation methods using cooled and cryopreserved samples have been attractive options for fertility preservation in animal models and humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of previous exposure to cooling, cryopreservation, and VEGF on the overall efficiency of equine ovarian tissue after heterotopic xenotransplantation in mice. The end points evaluated were follicular morphology and development, follicular and stromal cell densities, angiogenesis (i.e. the density of new and mature blood vessels), collagen types I and III fiber densities, and total fibro...
Laustsen L, Edwards JE, Hermes GDA, Lúthersson N, van Doorn DA, Okrathok S, Kujawa TJ, Smidt H.Free faecal water (FFW) in equines results in pollution of the hindquarters and tail and can also involve clinical signs. Though the cause of FFW is unknown, it was hypothesized that it may involve the gut microbiota. This hypothesis was addressed as follows. First, the faecal prokaryotic community composition of horses suffering from FFW relative to healthy controls ( = 10) was compared. Second, FFW horses were treated with a standardised faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) protocol ( = 10), followed by assessment of FFW symptom severity and faecal prokaryotic community composition over a...
Data in briefSeptember 23, 2021
Volume 38 107402 doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2021.107402
Lee H, Yun SH, Hyon JY, Lee SY, Yi YS, Choi CW, Jun S, Park EC, Kim SI. subspecies () is an opportunistic pathogen and a major causative agent of equine strangles, a contagious respiratory infection in horses and other equines. In this study, we provide the dataset associated with our research publication "-derived extracellular vesicles as a vaccine candidate against infections" [1]. We describe the genomic differences between 4047 and ATCC 39506 and outline the comprehensive proteome information of various fractions, including the whole cell lysate, membrane proteome, secretory proteome, and extracellular vesicle proteome. In addition, we included a dataset...
Wehrman RF, Genschel U, Charli A, Kanthasamy AG, Allbaugh RA, Ben-Shlomo G.To establish a physiologically relevant ex vivo model of equine corneal epithelial wound healing. Methods: Fourteen equine corneas were randomly assigned to one of two groups: wounded (n = 8) or unwounded (n = 6) controls. In the wounded group, the axial corneal epithelium was removed by applying a 6 mm filter paper disk soaked in 1N-NaOH for 60 s. Corneas were subsequently cultured using an air-liquid interface model. Evaluation of corneal healing was performed daily, and culture medium was collected. Corneas were randomly assigned to undergo processing via histopathology and RNAscope i...
Guarino C, Pinn-Woodcock T, Levine DG, Miller J, Johnson AL.Cases of cranial nuchal bursitis associated with infection have not been thoroughly described. Here, we describe the case of a 17-year-old mare that was presented for low head carriage, dull demeanor, and resistance to haltering. Imaging supported a diagnosis of nuchal bursitis, and bursoscopy with surgical debridement of the nuchal bursa was performed. was identified by molecular diagnostics in serial samples of the bursal fluid, with no other organisms identified. Serology revealed significant elevation in antibodies directed against OspA of , but not the typical infection markers, OspC an...
Sutton G, Normand C, Carnet F, Couroucé A, Garvey M, Castagnet S, Fortier CI, Hue ES, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Legrand L, Paillot R, Pitel PH....Equine herpesvirus 1 isolates from a 2021 outbreak of neurologic disease in Europe have a mutation, A713G, in open reading frame 11 not detected in 249 other sequences from equine herpesvirus 1 isolates. This single-nucleotide polymorphism could help identify horses infected with the virus strain linked to this outbreak.
Campos JBV, Martins FS, de Oliveira CE, Taveira AA, Oliveira JR, Gonçalves LR, Cordeiro MD, Calchi AC, de Campos Binder L, Serpa MCA, Barbieri ARM....The emergence of tick-borne diseases has been reported as a serious problem in public health worldwide and many aspects of its epidemiology and effects on the health of its hosts are unclear. We aimed to perform an epidemiological study of tick-borne zoonotic Rickettsia, Borrelia, and Anaplasmataceae in horses from Midwestern Brazil. We also evaluated whether Borrelia spp. and Anaplasmataceae may be associated with hematological disorders in the sampled animals. Blood and serum samples as well as ticks were collected from 262 horses. Serum samples were used to perform serological tests, and he...
Raspa F, Dinardo FR, Vervuert I, Bergero D, Bottero MT, Pattono D, Dalmasso A, Vinassa M, Valvassori E, Bruno E, De Palo P, Valle E.Horses reared for meat production are fed high amounts of cereal grains in comparison with horses raised for other purposes. Such feeding practice may lead to risk of poor welfare consequences. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of two feeding practices on selected metabolic parameters and production aspects. Nineteen Bardigiano horses, 14.3 ± 0.7 months of age, were randomly assigned to two groups-one fed with high amounts of cereal grains (HCG; n = 9; 43% hay plus 57% cereal grain-based pelleted feed) vs. one fed with high amounts of fibre (HFG; n = 10; 70% hay plus...
Cassimeris L, Armstrong C, Burger QC, Stokes S, van Eps A, Galantino-Homer H.The euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp model (EHC) of equine endocrinopathic laminitis induces rapid loss of lamellar tissue integrity, disrupts keratinocyte functions, and induces inflammation similar to natural disease. Continuous digital hypothermia (CDH) blocks tissue damage in this experimental model, allowing identification of specific genes or molecular pathways contributing to disease initiation or early progression. Archived lamellar tissues (8 horses, 48 h EHC treatment, including CDH-treated front limbs) were used to measure relative expression levels of genes encoding keratin 17 (KR...
Pezzanite LM, Hendrickson DA, Dow S, Stoneback J, Chow L, Krause D, Goodrich L.Antibiotics have been injected intra-articularly by equine veterinarians for decades, either prophylactically when other drugs are administered for osteoarthritis or therapeutically to treat septic arthritis. This route of administration has also more recently gained attention in human orthopaedic clinical practice, particularly as an alternative to systemic antibiotic administration to treat infections following prosthetic arthroplasty. While the rationale for injecting antibiotics intra-articularly has been largely focused on achieving high local drug concentrations, there has been relativel...
McNabb L, Andiani A, Bulavaite A, Zvirbliene A, Sasnauskas K, Lunt R.Zoonotic transmission of Hendra virus (HeV) from primary hosts (pteropid bats) to horses, and, occasionally, onward adventitious spread to humans, is associated with high mortality rates in both affected secondary species. The introduction of an effective recombinant G protein vaccine for use in horses has been a major advance for the suppression of disease risk. However, equine HeV vaccination induces neutralising antibody that is indistinguishable from a post infection immune response when using most first line serology assays (eg. VNT and some ELISAs). We have constructed and evaluated an I...
Segabinazzi LGTM, Landers M, Kent A, Peterson E, Gilbert R, French H.Due to the limited literature available evaluating doses of Prostaglandin F2α in donkeys, doses for horses have been extrapolated and used as guidelines. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and side effects of four different cloprostenol sodium and dinoprost tromethamine doses to induce luteolysis in jennies. Sixty-three cycles of seven Jennies (nine cycles per jenny) were used in this study. Seven days after ovulation, jennies randomly received one of the treatments in a crossover design as follows: Control, no treatment was administered; C1, 250 µg of cloprostenol sodium (CS, Estrumate...
Bundgaard L, Åhrman E, Malmström J, Auf dem Keller U, Walters M, Jacobsen S.The objectives of this study was to establish a sensitive and reproducible method to map the cartilage and subchondral bone proteomes in quantitative terms, and mine the proteomes for proteins of particular interest in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). The horse was used as a model animal. Protein was extracted from articular cartilage and subchondral bone samples from three horses in triplicate by pressure cycling technology or ultrasonication. Digested proteins were analysed by data independent acquisition based mass spectrometry. Data was processed using a pre-established spectral li...
Herbst AC, Johnson MG, Gammons H, Reedy SE, Urschel KL, Harris PA, Adams AA.Loss of skeletal muscle mass likely compromises performance and welfare in horses and thus routine monitoring would be valuable. Currently available methods to assess muscle mass require expert knowledge and are often expensive. To provide a simple method, a muscle atrophy scoring system (MASS) was created and tested by three evaluators (raters) in 38 horses of varying age, breed, and health status. Inter-rater agreement on atrophy scores was in the good-to-excellent range for ratings of the neck (ICC = 0.62), back (ICC = 0.62) and hind (ICC = 0.76) regions but was poor for the abdominal...
Carroll CSE, Andrew ER, Malik L, Elliott KF, Brennan M, Meyer J, Hintze A, Almonte AA, Lappin C, MacPherson P, Schulte KM, Dahlstrom JE, Tamhane R....We describe intratumoral injection of a slow-release emulsion of killed mycobacteria (complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA)) in three preclinical species and in human cancer patients. Efficacy and safety were tested in mammary tumors in mice, in mastocytomas in mice and dogs, and in equine melanomas. In mice, survival, tumor growth, and tumor infiltration by six immune cell subsets (by flow cytometry) were investigated and analyzed using Cox proportional hazards, a random slopes model, and a full factorial model, respectively. Tumor growth and histology were investigated in dogs and horses, as well...
Yıldırım Y, Yılmaz V, Yazıcı K, Öziç C, Ozkul A, Çağırgan AA.West Nile virus (WNV), a member of the Flaviviridae, is a major arbovirus that causes West Nile fever. Previous data showed the prevalence of the WNV serologically and molecular in Turkey, and the presence of lineage 1 in horses and humans has been reported. This is the first notification of partial phylogeny of WNV detected in donkeys in the northeast of Turkey (on the Iranian border). Blood serum samples collected from 25 donkeys without clinical symptoms were tested by RT-PCR. Sequence analysis of the sample detected as positive was performed. Multiple sequence alignments of reference seque...
Shaw K, Ursini T, Levine D, Richards J, Adair S.Core strengthening and postural stability are desired outcomes of certain therapeutic exercises performed in horses. This study aimed to quantify changes in muscle activation at a walk and trot in horses traveling over eight consecutive ground poles evenly spaced (at 30 inches for walk and 48 inches for trot) in parallel fashion in a straight line, and with hindquarter and abdominal elastic resistance bands applied at 25% stretch. Surface electromyography (sEMG) data were collected for the longissimus dorsi and rectus abdominus muscles in six horses. A 2 × 2 repeated measures ANOVA was perf...
Lyn Macon E, Harris P, Partridge E, Day Barker V, Adams A.The oral sugar test (OST) is frequently used to identify insulin dysregulated (ID) equines. The effect of fasting and varying sugar dose for the OST has been investigated in the pony but little work has been done in the horse. This study aimed to investigate (1) an OST response with access to forage continued until the time of the OST or prevented for 3 hours prior to the OST and (2) responses of ID and non-insulin dysregulated (NID) horses to two different OST doses. Twenty-one mixed-breed horses (14.8 ± 3.2 years; 574.3 ± 83.3 kg) were used in two randomized crossover studies. Seven ID and...
Li S, Zhao G, Han H, Li Y, Li J, Wang J, Cao G, Li X.It is important to resolve the evolutionary history of species genomes as it has affected both genome organization and chromosomal architecture. The rapid innovation in sequencing technologies and the improvement in assembly algorithms have enabled the creation of highly contiguous genomes. DNA Zoo, a global organization dedicated to animal conservation, offers more than 150 chromosome-length genome assemblies. This database has great potential in the comparative genomics field. Results: Using the donkey (Equus asinus asinus, EAS) genome provided by DNA Zoo as an example, the scaffold N50 leng...
Sheats MK, Burke MJ, Robertson JB, Fiebrandt KE, Fogle CA.Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are units of activity that early-stage professionals perform in the workplace that necessitate simultaneous integration of multiple competencies. EPA #6 requires students to perform a common surgical procedure on a stable patient, including pre-operative and post-operative management. Castration is one of the most common surgeries performed by equine primary care practitioners and is considered an "entry-level competency" for veterinary graduates entering equine private practice, however, to our knowledge there are no equine castration models availabl...
Goszczynski DE, Tinetti PS, Choi YH, Hinrichs K, Ross PJ.Embryonic genome activation is a critical event in embryo development, in which the transcriptional program of the embryo is initiated. The timing and regulation of this process are species-specific. In vitro embryo production is becoming an important clinical and research tool in the horse; however, very little is known about genome activation in this species. The objective of this work was to identify the timing of genome activation, and the transcriptional networks involved, in in vitro-produced horse embryos. RNA-Seq was performed on oocytes and embryos at eight stages of development (MII,...
Maitan P, Bromfield EG, Stout TAE, Gadella BM, Leemans B.Conventional in vitro fertilization is not efficacious when working with equine gametes. Although stallion spermatozoa bind to the zona pellucida in vitro, these gametes fail to initiate the acrosome reaction in the vicinity of the oocyte and cannot, therefore, penetrate into the perivitelline space. Failure of sperm penetration most likely relates to the absence of optimized in vitro fertilization media containing molecules essential to support stallion sperm capacitation. In vivo, the female reproductive tract, especially the oviductal lumen, provides an environmental milieu that appropriate...
Thampi P, Tabbaa SM, Johnstone B, Wimmer MA, Laurent MP, Wayne McIlwraith C, Frisbie DD.The equine model of posttraumatic osteoarthritis (OA) mimics certain aspects of the naturally occurring disease, both in horses and humans. The objective of this study was to assess articular cartilage degeneration in a posttraumatic OA model using the established macroscopic and microscopic scoring systems and compare them with a novel surface topography analysis. OA was induced in the carpal joint of 15 (n = 15) mixed breed horses. Surface changes on the articular cartilage were characterized using osteochondral blocks from the third carpal bone (C3) and radial carpal bone using surface...
Hellstrom EA, Ziegler AL, Blikslager AT.Postoperative ileus (POI), a decrease in gastrointestinal motility after surgery, is an important problem facing human and veterinary patients. 37.5% of horses that develop POI following small intestinal (SI) resection will not survive to discharge. The two major components of POI pathophysiology are a neurogenic phase which is then propagated by an inflammatory phase. Perioperative care has been implicated, namely the use of opioid therapy, inappropriate fluid therapy and electrolyte imbalances. Current therapy for POI variably includes an early return to feeding to induce physiological motil...
Chen Y, Cai S, Zhang Y, Lai Z, Zhong L, Sun X, Li S, Lu G.Equine hepacivirus (EqHV) is a newly discovered hepatitis C virus-like virus that can infect equines. EqHV strains circulating worldwide have been classified into subtypes 1-3. In previous studies, we detected the presence of EqHV strains of subtype 1 and 3 in China. To determine whether EqHV strains of subtype 2 are prevalent in China, serum samples were collected from 133 racehorses in Guangdong province in 2021 and were tested for EqHV RNA by RT-PCR, and the positive rate was 9% (12/133). Sequencing of the NS3 gene revealed that one field strain (GD2021) had a high degree of genetic similar...
Humphreys JM, Pelzel-McCluskey AM, Cohnstaedt LW, McGregor BL, Hanley KA, Hudson AR, Young KI, Peck D, Rodriguez LL, Peters DPC.Mosquito-borne West Nile virus (WNV) is the causative agent of West Nile disease in humans, horses, and some bird species. Since the initial introduction of WNV to the United States (US), approximately 30,000 horses have been impacted by West Nile neurologic disease and hundreds of additional horses are infected each year. Research describing the drivers of West Nile disease in horses is greatly needed to better anticipate the spatial and temporal extent of disease risk, improve disease surveillance, and alleviate future economic impacts to the equine industry and private horse owners. To help...
This mini-review presents the results of veterinary clinical trials on immunogene therapy published from 2014 to 2016. A variety of tumors, among them melanoma (canine and equine), mastocytoma (canine), mammary adenocarcinoma (canine) and fibrosarcoma (feline) were treated by using diverse strategies. Non-viral vectors were usually employed to transfer genes of cytokines, suicide enzymes and/or tumor associated antigens. In general terms, minor or no adverse collateral effects were related to these procedures, and treated patients frequently improved their conditions (better quality of life, d...
Srivastava SK, Beutler E.1. Erythrocytes from normal and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase-deficient humans were subjected to hydrogen peroxide diffusion to oxidize the GSH. Studies were carried out in the presence and absence of chromate to inhibit glutathione reductase and with or without the addition of glucose. 2. The GSH content of erythrocytes from other species was oxidized by subjecting them to hydrogen peroxide diffusion in the presence of chromate and glucose. 3. Chromate (1.3mm) inhibited glutathione reductase by about 80%, whereas glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase, hexokin...
Bright LA, Dittmar W, Nanduri B, McCarthy FM, Mujahid N, Costa LR, Burgess SC, Swiderski CE. Pasture-associated severe equine asthma is a warm season, environmentally-induced respiratory disease characterized by reversible airway obstruction, persistent and non-specific airway hyper-responsiveness, and chronic neutrophilic airway inflammation. During seasonal exacerbation, signs vary from mild to life-threatening episodes of wheezing, coughing, and chronic debilitating labored breathing. In human asthma, neutrophilic airway inflammation is associated with more severe and steroid-refractory asthma phenotypes, highlighting a need to decipher the mechanistic basis of this disease chara...
Kayar SR, Hoppeler H, Lindstedt SL, Claassen H, Jones JH, Essen-Gustavsson B, Taylor CR.The relationship between maximal oxygen consumption rate (VO2max) and mitochondrial content of skeletal muscles was examined in horses and steers (n = 3 each). Samples of the heart left ventricle, diaphragm, m. vastus medialis, m. semitendinosus, m. cutaneous thoracicus and m. masseter, as well as samples of muscles collected in a whole-body sampling procedure, were analyzed by electron microscopy. VO2max per kilogram body mass was 2.7 x greater in horses than steers. This higher VO2max was in proportion to the higher total volume of mitochondria in horse versus steer muscle when analyzed from...
Barros AT, Foil LD.Two studies evaluated the potential use of spatial barriers to reduce the mechanical transmission of disease agents by tabanids in the Pantanal region of Brazil. Tabanids at stations separated by four different distances (5, 10, 25, and 50m) were marked. In the first study, tabanids were marked and allowed to feed until engorgement or natural interruption occurred and captured if they transferred to the other horse. A total of 2847 tabanids belonging to nine different species were marked. The percentage of tabanids that moved between horses was 10.5 at 5m, 6.8 at 10m, and 4.6 at 25m. In the se...
Wagnerová P, Sak B, McEvoy J, Rost M, Sherwood D, Holcomb K, Kváč M.The prevalence of Cryptosporidium and microsporidia in feral horses, which have minimal contact with livestock and humans, is not currently known. We report the findings of a study on Cryptosporidium and microsporidia in 34 Mustangs and 50 Chincoteague ponies in the USA. Fecal samples were screened for presence of Cryptosporidium spp. by analysis of the small-subunit rRNA (SSU) and 60-kDa glycoprotein (gp60) genes, and Enterocytozoon bieneusi and Encephalitozoon spp. by analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer region (ITS). Cryptosporidium spp. and E. bieneusi were detected in 28/...
Finno CJ, Valberg SJ, Shivers J, D'Almeida E, Armién AG.Equine degenerative myeloencephalopathy (EDM) is characterized by a symmetric general proprioceptive ataxia in young horses, and is likely underdiagnosed for 2 reasons: first, clinical signs overlap those of cervical vertebral compressive myelopathy; second, histologic lesions--including axonal spheroids in specific tracts of the somatosensory and motor systems--may be subtle. The purpose of this study was (1) to utilize immunohistochemical (IHC) markers to trace axons in the spinocuneocerebellar, dorsal column-medial lemniscal, and dorsospinocerebellar tracts in healthy horses and (2) to dete...
Schiltz RL, Shih DS, Rasty S, Montelaro RC, Rushlow KE.The utilization of predicted splice donor and acceptor sites in generating equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) transcripts in fetal donkey dermal cells (FDD) was examined. A single splice donor site identified immediately upstream of the gag coding region joins the viral leader sequence to all downstream exons of spliced EIAV transcripts. The predominant 3.5-kb transcript synthesized in EIAV-infected FDD cells appears to be generated by a single splicing event which links the leader sequence to the first of two functional splice acceptor sites near the 5' end of the S1 open reading frame (OR...
Haase B, Signer-Hasler H, Binns MM, Obexer-Ruff G, Hauswirth R, Bellone RR, Burger D, Rieder S, Wade CM, Leeb T.Coat color and pattern variations in domestic animals are frequently inherited as simple monogenic traits, but a number are known to have a complex genetic basis. While the analysis of complex trait data remains a challenge in all species, we can use the reduced haplotypic diversity in domestic animal populations to gain insight into the genomic interactions underlying complex phenotypes. White face and leg markings are examples of complex traits in horses where little is known of the underlying genetics. In this study, Franches-Montagnes (FM) horses were scored for the occurrence of white fac...
Floeck M.Ultrasonography is a helpful diagnostic tool in cattle with urinary tract disorders. It can be used to diagnose pyelonephritis, urolithiasis, hydronephrosis, renal cysts, renal tumors, amyloidosis, cystitis, bladder paralysis, bladder rupture, bladder neoplasms, and, occasionally, nephrosis, glomerulonephritis, and embolic nephritis. This article describes the anatomy, scanning technique, indications, limitations, normal and pathologic sonographic appearance of the bovine urinary tract. References from horses and humans are included, especially when the sonographic findings in these species ma...
Becher AM, van Doorn DC, Pfister K, Kaplan RM, Reist M, Nielsen MK.Experts recommend a change in the control of equine parasites across the world in order to adopt a surveillance-based approach utilizing parasite faecal egg counts (FEC). Several European countries have implemented prescription-only restrictions of anthelmintic usage by law, which is in stark contrast to US, where all anthelmintic products continue to be available over the counter. This study aimed to describe and compare equine parasite control strategies employed in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, US, and Denmark. An invitation to participate in an online questionnaire survey was publishe...
Wood PL, Ball BA, Scoggin K, Troedsson MH, Squires EL.Amniotic fluid is essential for the growth and maturation of the fetus prior to parturition. While our knowledge of human amniotic fluid is extensive, current data for equine amniotic fluid is limited. We therefore undertook a detailed lipidomics analysis of equine amniotic fluid. Using a non-targeted high-resolution mass spectrometric lipidomics analysis of equine amniotic fluid, we were able to characterize a diverse array of individual lipids. This non-biased analytical approach detected, for the first time, the presence of (O-acyl)-ω-hydroxy-fatty acids (OAHFA) with up to 52 carbon chain ...
Futas J, Horin P.Natural killer (NK) cells have important functions in immunity. NK recognition in mammals can be mediated through killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and/or killer cell lectin-like Ly49 receptors. Genes encoding highly variable NK cell receptors (NKR) represent rapidly evolving genomic regions. No single conservative model of NKR genes was observed in mammals. Single-copy low polymorphic NKR genes present in one mammalian species may expand into highly polymorphic multigene families in other species. In contrast to other non-rodent mammals, multiple Ly49-like genes appear to exist ...
Bowden A, Burford JH, Brennan ML, England GCW, Freeman SL.Colic is the most common emergency problem in the horse. An owner's ability to recognise colic and seek assistance is a critical first step in determining case outcome. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess horse owners' knowledge and opinions on recognising colic. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to horse owners with open and closed questions on their knowledge of normal clinical parameters in the horse, confidence and approach to recognising colic (including assessment through case scenarios), and their demographics. Descriptive and ch...
Sander J, Cavalleri JM, Terhardt M, Bochnia M, Zeyner A, Zuraw A, Sander S, Peter M, Janzen N.Hypoglycin A (2-amino-3-(2-methylidenecyclopropyl)propanoic acid) is the plant toxin shown to cause atypical myopathy in horses. It is converted in vivo to methylenecyclopropyl acetic acid, which is transformed to a coenzyme A ester that subsequently blocks beta oxidation of fatty acids. Methylenecyclopropyl acetic acid is also conjugated with carnitine and glycine. Acute atypical myopathy may be diagnosed by quantifying the conjugates of methylenecyclopropyl acetic acid plus a selection of acyl conjugates in urine and serum. We describe a new mass spectrometric method for sample volumes of <0...
Ainsworth DM, Wagner B, Erb HN, Young JC, Retallick DE.To examine effects of in vitro exposure to solutions of hay dust, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or beta-glucan on cytokine expression in pulmonary mononuclear cells isolated from healthy horses and horses with recurrent airway obstruction (RAO). Methods: 8 RAO-affected and 7 control horses (experiment 1) and 6 of the RAO-affected and 5 of the control horses (experiment 2). Methods: Bronchoalveolar lavage cells were isolated from horses that had been stabled and fed dusty hay for 14 days. Pulmonary mononuclear cells were incubated for 24 (experiment 1) or 6 (experiment 2) hours with PBS solution or...
Bogaert L, Willemsen A, Vanderstraeten E, Bracho MA, De Baere C, Bravo IG, Martens A.Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) represents the most common genital malignant tumor in horses. Similar to humans, papillomaviruses (PVs) have been proposed as etiological agents and recently Equine papillomavirus type 2 (EcPV2) has been identified in a subset of genital SCCs. The goals of this study were (1) to determine the prevalence of EcPV2 DNA in tissue samples from equine genital SCCs, penile intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN) and penile papillomas, using EcPV2-specific PCR, (2) to examine the prevalence of latent EcPV2 infection in healthy genital mucosa and (3) to determine genetic variabili...
Tirosh-Levy S, Mazuz ML, Savitsky I, Pinkas D, Gottlieb Y, Steinman A.Babesia caballi is a tick-borne hemoparasite of equines and one of the causative agents of equine piroplasmosis, which poses a great concern for the equine industry regarding animal welfare and international horse movement. The parasite is endemic in Israel; however, its seroprevalence in the area was never evaluated due to antigenic heterogenicity in the gene used in the commercially available kit. Blood samples were collected from 257 horses at 19 farms throughout the country and screened for the presence of anti-B. caballi antibodies via an indirect immunofluorescent antibody test (IFAT) an...
Sheoran AS, Sponseller BT, Holmes MA, Timoney JF.Equine strangles, caused by the clonal pathogen Streptococcus equi, is a source of serious economic loss despite the widespread use of commercial vaccines. The anti-phagocytic 58 kDa M-like protein (SeM) is an important protective antigen. The objective of this study was to define differences, if any, between SeM-specific convalescent serum and mucosal IgA and IgG subisotypes and those induced by vaccination with commercial strangles vaccine. SeM-specific opsonophagocytic IgGb was the predominant serum antibody in horses intramuscularly vaccinated or recently recovered from infection. Infectio...
Mort JS, Beaudry F, Théroux K, Emmott AA, Richard H, Fisher WD, Lee ER, Poole AR, Laverty S.To characterize the initial events in the cleavage of type II collagen mediated by cathepsin K and demonstrate the presence of the resulting products in human and equine articular osteoarthritic cartilage. Equine type II collagen was digested with cathepsin K and the cleavage products characterized by mass spectrometry. Anti-neoepitope antibodies were raised against the most N-terminal cleavage products and used to investigate the progress of collagen cleavage, in vitro, and the presence of cathepsin K-derived products in equine and human osteoarthritic cartilage. Six cathepsin K cleavage sit...
Varner DD, Scanlan CM, Thompson JA, Brumbaugh GW, Blanchard TL, Carlton CM, Johnson L.Three experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of different antibiotics in a milk-glucose semen extender on motility of equine sperm and elimination of bacteria following storage of extended semen in vitro. In Experiment 1, 7 antibiotics were compared: amikacin, gentamicin, streptomycin, potassium penicillin, sodium penicillin, ticarcillin, and polymixin B. In Experiment 2, 3 antibiotic treatments were compared: potassium penicillin G, amikacin, or a combination of potassium penicillin G and amikacin. In Experiment 3, 3 antibiotic treatments were compared: potassium penicillin G-amik...
Rolão N, Martins MJ, João A, Campino L.The present report describes the first case of equine leishmaniasis in Portugal. Leishmania infection was detected in one animal, which presented an ulcerated skin lesion. Diagnosis was based on serology by CIE, and parasite DNA detection by real-time PCR using a probe specific for L. infantum. This finding requests further leishmaniasis equine surveys in order to clarify the role of the horse as reservoir host in european endemic areas.
Go YY, Li Y, Chen Z, Han M, Yoo D, Fang Y, Balasuriya UB.The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of equine arteritis virus (EAV) on type I interferon (IFN) production. Equine endothelial cells (EECs) were infected with the virulent Bucyrus strain (VBS) of EAV and expression of IFN-β was measured at mRNA and protein levels by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and IFN bioassay using vesicular stomatitis virus expressing the green fluorescence protein (VSV-GFP), respectively. Quantitative RT-PCR results showed that IFN-β mRNA levels in EECs infected with EAV VBS were not increased compared to those in mock-infected cells. Consistent wit...
Kilcoyne I, Spier SJ, Carter CN, Smith JL, Swinford AK, Cohen ND.To quantify the number of horses with Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection identified in the United States from January 2003 through December 2012. Methods: Cross-sectional study. Methods: State veterinary diagnostic laboratory records of 2,237 C pseudotuberculosis culture-positive samples from horses. Methods: 44 state veterinary diagnostic laboratories throughout the United States were invited by mail to participate in the study. Data requested included the number of C pseudotuberculosis culture-positive samples from horses identified per year, geographic location from which the C ps...
Kasapi MA, Gosline JM.Morphological and mechanical studies were conducted on samples of equine hoof wall to help elucidate the relationship between form and function of this complex, hierarchically organized structure. Morphological findings indicated a dependence of tubule size, shape and helical alignment of intermediate filaments (IFs) within the lamellae on the position through the wall thickness. The plane of the intertubular IFs changed from perpendicular to the tubule axis in the inner wall to almost parallel to the tubule axis in the outer wall. Morphological data predicted the existence of three crack dive...
Oliveira PR, Borges LM, Leite RC, Freitas CM.The population dynamics of all stages of the Cayenne tick, Amblyomma cajennense (Fabricius) (Acari: Ixodidae) on horses was evaluated over a period of 2 years in the district of Pedro Leopoldo, State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Every 14 days, the left side of 20 horses was brushed for collection of immature stages; counts of adults were also undertaken. Infestation by larvae was detected from April to August, whereas nymphs were observed from June to October. Infestation by adults was detected throughout the year, and the highest population density occurred from September to March. The number of ...
Noiman S, Yaniv A, Sherman L, Tronick SR, Gazit A.The pattern of expression of the equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) genome in a persistently infected canine cell line was determined. Five EIAV-specific transcripts (8.2, 5.0, 4.0, 2, and 1.8 kilobases [kb]) were detected by using subgenomic restriction enzyme fragments of EIAV DNA and EIAV-specific oligonucleotides as probes. The 8.2-kb mRNA could be shown to represent viral genomic RNA, whereas the smaller transcripts were generated by splicing events. Evidence was obtained that indicated that each subgenomic RNA species shared a common 5'-splice donor. The 5.0-kb mRNA was found to be ex...
Morota G, Peñagaricano F, Petersen JL, Ciobanu DC, Tsuyuzaki K, Nikaido I.An integral part of functional genomics studies is to assess the enrichment of specific biological terms in lists of genes found to be playing an important role in biological phenomena. Contrasting the observed frequency of annotated terms with those of the background is at the core of overrepresentation analysis (ORA). Gene Ontology (GO) is a means to consistently classify and annotate gene products and has become a mainstay in ORA. Alternatively, Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) offers a comprehensive life science vocabulary including additional categories that are not covered by GO. Although...
