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.
Gee EK, Grace ND, Firth EC, Fennessy PF.To monitor the change in liver copper concentration of Thoroughbred foals from birth to 160 days of age and to determine the effects of supplementation by two injections of copper edetate given to dams in late gestation on the liver copper concentration of their foals at birth. Methods: Ten mares pregnant to the same stallion were randomised into two groups on the basis of age, liver copper concentration and expected foaling date. The treatment group mares were given 100 mg and 250 mg copper edetate intramuscularly during the ninth and tenth months of gestation respectively. Foals had liver bi...
Mazerbourg S, Zapf J, Bar RS, Brigstock DR, Monget P.We recently showed that insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-4 (IGFBP-4) proteolytic degradation in ovine preovulatory ovarian follicles is IGF-dependent and regulated by the heparin-binding domain (HBD) from IGFBP-3 and from connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), heparan/heparin-interacting protein (HIP), and vitronectin. The present study investigated regulation of IGFBP-4 proteolytic degradation in porcine, bovine, and equine ovarian preovulatory follicles. Follicular fluid from such preovulatory follicles contains proteolytic activity, degrading exogenous IGFBP-4. An excess of IGF-I...
Kurotaki T, Narayama K, Oyamada T, Yoshikawa H, Yoshikawa T.An immunohistochemical study was carried out on the kinetics of Langerhans cells (LCs) at various pathological stages of "Kasen". Skin lesions of "Kasen" that were collected by biopsy from May to October were classified histopathologically into three stages: initial (Group I, 31 cases), developing (Group II, 50 cases) and regressing (Group III, 13 cases). LCs showed a positive reaction with anti-equine thymocytes (EqT6) monoclonal antibody (MoAb) and anti-major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II MoAb by immunohistochemical staining. The anti-EqT6 MoAb was intensely positive along the cy...
Fenton JI, Chlebek-Brown KA, Peters TL, Caron JP, Orth MW.Objective To determine whether glucosamine inhibits experimentally induced degradation of equine articular cartilage explants. Methods Articular cartilage was obtained from the antebrachio-carpal and middle joints of horses (2-8 years old) killed for reasons unrelated to lameness. Cartilage discs were harvested from the weight-bearing region of the articular surface and cultured. Media were exchanged daily and the recovered media stored at 4 degrees C. Explants were maintained in basal media 2 days prior to the start of four treatment days. On days 1-4 lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 10 microg/ml) or...
Racklyeft DJ, Raidal S, Love DN.To review relevant literature on factors associated with the development of equine pleuropneumonia. Methods: A review of the literature using a range of databases including Current Contents, Medline, ChemAbstracts, Biological Abstracts and CAB and a comprehensive search strategy which involved use of keywords, author and subject category searches. Additional sources included review of articles cited by key accumulated references. Results: Since the early years of this century, many of the "gaps" in our knowledge of the pathogenesis of this disease have been filled. We now know that equine pleu...
Bergman HJ, de Kruif A, van Dessel S.In this article different possible treatments for problem mares are discussed. The therapeutic possibilities vary and can be classified into anatomical correction, anti-infectious therapy, and treatment to enhance the uterine defence mechanisms. Anatomical correction and treatment with antibiotics are valuable therapies and have been used for many years. In recent years, stimulation of the mechanical defence mechanism of the uterus, by flushing it with physiological solution combined with parenteral oxytocin, has been shown to increase the chance of getting problem mares in foal.
Carvalho R, Passos LM, Martins AS.In this study, a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure was developed for differentiation of strains and field isolates of equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and type 4 (EHV-4). Specific oli-gonucleotide primers were combined to amplify the thymidine kinase (TK) gene region of EHV-1 and EHV-4, which would yield fragments of different lengths for each virus in the same amplification reaction. The specificity of the largest PCR amplicon for EHV-4 was confirmed by restriction digestion with HindIII. The multiplex PCR proved to be a fast and sensitive method for typing EHV-1 and EHV-4 ...
Tan JH, Sasaki F.To determine the effect of age on immunocytochemical staining characteristics of adenohypophyseal cells of Mongolian pony mares and stallions. Methods: 35 Mongolian ponies. Methods: Pituitary glands from 1- to 22-year-old horses of both sexes were collected at a commercial slaughterhouse in China and allocated into 7 groups according to age and sex: prepubertal stallions (n = 5; 1 to 2 years old), young stallions (6; 3 to 7 years old), middle-aged stallions (4; 10 to 12 years old), old stallions (5; 15 to 22 years old), young mares (3; 3 to 7 years old), middle-aged mares (5; 10 to 12 years ol...
Del Piero F.Equine viral arteritis (EVA) can cause prominent economic losses for the equine industry. The purpose of this review is to provide the pathologist some familiarity with the clinical history, lesions, pathogenesis, and diagnosis of EVA. EVA is caused by an arterivirus (equine arteritis virus, EAV), and the vascular system is the principal but not unique viral target. EVA has variable presentations, including interstitial pneumonia, panvasculitis with edema, thrombosis and hemorrhage, lymphoid necrosis, renal tubular necrosis, abortion, and inflammation of male accessory genital glands. EAV anti...
Myshkin AE, Khromova VS.Histidin has been shown to effectively inhibit coagulation of horse oxyhemoglobin (HbO(2)) modified by mercury(II) ion bound to reactive thiol groups of protein. Kinetic parameters were measured and the histidin-to-mercury binding constant was kinetically estimated. Histidin, as other pharmaceutically acceptable compounds with some mercury-binding capacity, has been suggested to alleviate mercury intoxication conditions.
Chesters PM, Hughes A, Edington N.Cell mediated responses to Equid herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) are of short duration in vivo and require considerable expansion to be detected in vitro. Raised serum levels of active transforming growth factor B (TGF-B1) have been shown to depress proliferative T cell responses in experimental infections with EHV-1 in ponies. The present work indicates that latent transforming growth factor B (TGF-B1) is present in circulating platelets, lymph node, bronchial epithelium and alveolar macrophages. Activation of platelets in vitro by thrombin resulted in the release of latent TGF-B1 from platelets, with ...
Bailey SR, Andrews MJ, Elliott J, Cunningham FM.Altered platelet responsiveness has been demonstrated in human atopic dermatitis. This study has compared the in vitro function of platelets from normal ponies and those with the allergic skin disease, sweet itch. Methods: Ponies with a clinical history of sweet itch and normal ponies were used as blood donors. Methods: PAF and ADP-induced platelet aggregation was measured and TxB2 production quantitated at the time of maximal aggregation; 12-HETE was additionally measured in some samples. Agonist-induced release of 3[H]5-HT was also studied. Results: Although both PAF and ADP caused equine pl...
John HA, Laffling AJ, Marrs J, Baird A, Jat PS, Holdstock NB, Rossdale PD.To enable direct testing of a range of potential toxins or pathogens that might be involved in grass sickness, equine thoracic sympathetic chain ganglion cell lines were established from primary cell cultures by retroviral-mediated transduction of the temperature-sensitive mutant of the establishment oncogene encoding SV40 large T antigen. Morphological and behavioral features, temperature dependence, and immunocytochemical characteristics of the cell lines were investigated. The majority of cells were noradrenergic neurons in which dopamine-beta-hydroxylase, the enzyme that catalyzes norepine...
Deriusheva SE, Loginova IuA, Chiriaeva OG, Iasinetskaia NI, Efimov AM.Restriction endonuclease in situ digestion of metaphase chromosomes gives an opportunity to reveal strips with different structure within GC-rich pericentric heterochromatin of the domestic horse and the wild Przewalski horse. Blocks of heterochromatin, which are insensitive to HaeIII and brightly stained with chromomycin A3 after restriction enzyme digestion, are localized on the border with euchromatin in the majority of chromosomes of Equus caballus and E. przewalskii. In contrast to chromosome 5 of E. caballus, acrocentric chromosomes of E. prezewalskii which are homologous to this chromos...
McGorum BC, Fry SC, Wallace G, Coenen K, Robb J, Williamson G, Aruoma OI.To investigate the etiology of equine dysautonomia (ED), a degenerative polyneuropathy affecting grazing horses, the biochemical composition and antioxidant/prooxidant activities of aqueous extracts of plants collected from ED pastures were determined. Plants collected immediately after an outbreak of ED had reduced antioxidant and weak prooxidant activities when compared with control plants (plants collected from ED pastures out of ED season and control plants from ED pastures that were grown under favorable conditions). ED plants also had significantly increased concentrations of fructose an...
Geelen SN, Jansen WL, Geelen MJ, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Beynen AC.The hypothesis tested was that dietary fat, when compared with an isoenergetic amount of non-structural carbohydrates, stimulates lipolysis in adipose tissue and also stimulates the fatty-acid oxidative capacity in skeletal muscle from horses. Six adult horses were fed a high-fat, glucose or starch containing diet according to a 3 x 3 Latin square design with feeding periods of three weeks. The diets were formulated so that the intake of soybean oil versus either glucose or corn starch were the only variables. In accordance with previous work, whole plasma triacylglycerol (TAG) concentration d...
Brinsko SP, Rowan KR, Varner DD, Blanchard TL.This study was conducted to compare the cooling rates and storage temperatures within equine semen transport containers exposed to different ambient temperatures, and to evaluate the ability of these containers to preserve spermatozoal motility following 24 h of storage under these conditions. In Experiment 1, nonfat dried milk solids, glucose, sucrose, equine semen extender was divided into seven 40-mL aliquots and loaded into seven different semen transport containers: Equitainer I, Equitainer II, Equitainer III, ExpectaFoal, Bio-Flite, Lane STS, and Equine Express. After containers were loa...
Faber NA, Crawford M, LeFebvre RB, Buyukmihci NC, Madigan JE, Willits NH.Leptospiral organisms have long been presumed to be associated with the presence of equine recurrent uveitis. This project was undertaken to determine the presence of Leptospira spp. in the aqueous humor of horses with uveitis to determine if there was an association with inflammation. Thirty horses were determined to have recurrent uveitis based on clinical evaluation or history. Sixteen horses were judged clinically and historically to be free of uveitis and were used as controls. Aqueous humor samples were cultured and evaluated by PCR for the presence of Leptospira DNA. Serum was collected...
Bergman HJ, de Kruif A, van Dessel S.A review is given of treatment for 'problem' mares that do not become pregnant. To determine the best therapy, it is necessary to understand the defence mechanisms of the uterus and the pathogenesis of not getting in foal. A thorough clinical examination is absolutely necessary to come to a correct diagnosis. This examination will be explained in a practical way. In the second article the different therapies for treating problem mares are discussed. The therapeutic possibilities vary widely. They can be classified in: anatomical corrections, anti-infectious therapy, and treatment to enhance th...
Newton JR, Lakhani KH, Wood JL, Baker DJ.Young Thoroughbred racehorses (222 yearlings entering training and 246 2-year-old horses already in training) from eight flat-training yards in Newmarket, UK were used to monitor serological responses to vaccination with an inactivated influenza virus vaccine. Blood samples taken prior to and after vaccination were tested by single radial haemolysis (SRH) to determine antibody titres (expressed as area of haemolysis in mm(2)). Prior to vaccination, yearlings had mean antibody titres (64+/-4 mm(2)) that were approximately half of those of 2-year-olds (115+/-3 mm(2)) and 89% of yearlings and 73%...
Raidal SL, Love DN, Bailey GD, Rose RJ.The effect of strenuous exercise on the functional capacity of pulmonary alveolar macrophages (PAM) and bronchoalveolar lavage-derived lymphocytes was determined in eight horses prior to and after 7 weeks of training. Strenuous exercise had no effect on the total cell count or the percentage of live cells in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples prior to or following training. However, training was associated with a significant increase in the total cell count of pre-exercise BAL samples and a significant reduction in the percentage of live cells in post-exercise samples. Strenuous exercise was...
Malikides N, Mollison PJ, Reid SW, Murray M.The haematological response of regular, repeated blood harvesting was investigated in 40 Thoroughbred and non-Thoroughbred horses that donate 8 litres of blood every 3 weeks for the purposes of commercial blood production. When this volume of blood was removed on five occasions over 12 weeks, no adverse effect on packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (HB), and red blood cell count (RCC) was observed. Although PCV, RCC and Hb values decreased during the first week after blood collection, followed by a gradual increase in values until the next harvest time, all values remained within published r...
Cabañas R, López-Serrano MC, Carreira J, Ventas P, Polo F, Caballero MT, Contreras J, Barranco P, Moreno-Ancillo A.Different allergenic proteins have been involved in cross-reactivity among animals. Albumins seem to be cross-sensitizing allergenic components. The aim of this study was to assess the importance of albumin as a cross-reactive allergen in patients sensitized to cat, dog and horse. One hundred and seventeen patients sensitized to cat were tested for IgE reactivity using skin prick tests and RAST assays with cat, dog and horse hair/dander extracts and their purified albumin extracts. RAST-inhibition studies were carried out to assess cross-reactivity among cat, dog and horse and among their puri...
Larsen M.Resistance against anthelmintics is widespread, particularly in parasitic nematode populations of small ruminants. Several new techniques or supplements have been developed or are under investigation. Biological control (BC) is one of these new methods. The net-trapping predacious fungus Duddingtonia flagrans produces thick walled resting spores, chlamydospores, which are able to survive passage through the gastrointestinal tract of cattle, horses, sheep and pigs. Under Danish climatic conditions it has been shown that the number of parasite larvae on pasture and the worm burden of the grazing...
Archambault D, St-Laurent G.Equine arteritis virus (EAV) is the etiological agent of equine viral arteritis, a contagious viral disease of equids. EAV is the prototype virus of the arteriviruses, a group of small enveloped viruses with positive single-stranded RNA genomes. Because apoptosis or programmed cell death is believed to play an important role in the biogenesis of several cytopathogenic viruses, we examined whether EAV was able to induce cell apoptosis in vitro. To do this, Vero cells were infected with EAV at a multiplicity of infection of 0.1 tissue culture infectious dose (TCID50) per cell, and analyzed at va...
Hahn CN, Mayhew IG, Washbourne JR.Lateral thoracic nerve reflex latencies values were measured in ponies using a simple, non-invasive technique. The reflex was elicited using an external triggering hammer attached to an electrodiagnostic unit. The resulting evoked, compound muscle action potentials were recorded with electrodes, which were placed over the 6th ribs or 11th rib level with the axilla. Two superimposed repeats of 4 signal-averaged sweeps of 50 or 100 milliseconds were recorded and the estimated reflex pathway was measured for each subject in order to calculate the reflex latencies and latency velocities. Mean left...
Fowler AL, Pyles MB, Bill VT, Hayes SH, Harris PA, Lawrence LM.Equine obesity is increasing in prevalence, and weight loss diets are frequently recommended for these horses. However, there are also management situations in which horses are deemed to be too thin. To monitor the efficacy of weight change programs, estimates of body fat are often made. There are several systems available to estimate body fat, and there are benefits and challenges to using each method. The objective of this study was to compare four different methods of estimating body fat in Thoroughbred horses. In 14 mature Thoroughbred horses, relationships among body condition score (BCS)...
Kreeger JM, Templer A, Tumquist SE, Bailey KL, Johnson PJ, Wilson DA.Paranasal meningioma was diagnosed in a 5-year-old Appaloosa gelding. The mass occupied the right maxillary, frontal, and sphenopalatine sinuses but did not invade the calvarium. The diagnosis was based on histologic evaluation, positive immunohistochemical staining for vimentin and cytokeratin, and ultrastructural features including the presence of interdigitating spindle cells with numerous desmosomes.
David JS.A total of 424 eggs was recovered from flushings of 176 pairs of oviducts. Of these eggs, 324 were in a state of advanced degeneration (Type 4) and ten appeared to have been recently ovulated (Type 1). The number of eggs/oviduct varied from 0 to 13, most being up to 3 eggs, but fifty oviducts contained no eggs. It is widely believed that unfertilized ova are selectively retained in the oviducts but an alternative explanation for their presence is put forward.
Pearson W.Standardbred trainers from 1 racetrack and 7 off-track training facilities were surveyed to determine the most common drugs, and prevalence of concurrent herb administration. Furosemide (on-track) and anti-inflammatory drugs (off-track) were the most common drugs administered. Among horses on-track, 9.8% received herbs compared with 13.8% off-track horses; 67% and 58% of these horses, respectively, received concurrent drugs. Les soigneurs de Standardbreds de 1 piste de course et de 7 installations d’entraînement hors piste ont été interrogés afin de déterminer les médicaments les plus...
Blue MG.The objective of this study was to investigate an hypothesis that chromosome anomalies are an important cause of prenatal loss in the mare. An attempt was made to analyse, cytogenetically, a series of 26 equine abortuses. Cell cultures were prepared from a range of tissues, but failed to grow, and chromosome analysis was therefore not possible for any of these specimens. Consequently, a study was made of the metaphase chromosomes prepared from 22 equine embryos after their surgical removal from mares' uteri. The karyotypes prepared for each specimen were normal. The current findings are discus...
Stucki M, Voegel CD, Binz TM, Kraemer T, Lavaud A, Voelter K.Equine sport agencies list steroids as prohibited substances for competing horses. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate if the controlled substances dexamethasone and prednisolone are detectable in equine serum and urine samples during and after treatment with eye drops and if this can generate a positive doping test. Methods: Prospective cohort study. Methods: The study cohort included 11 horses. One eye of the horses was treated with either dexamethasone (Maxitrol 0.1%, n = 5 eyes) or prednisolone (Pred forte 1%, n = 6 eyes) eye drops 3 times daily for 14 days. Dexa...
Durham A.Although the treatment and management of laminitis in the horse requires a holistic and often multidisciplinary approach from the veterinarian, farrier, and nutritionist, this review focuses on pharmacologic interventions that might have prophylactic benefit, specifically in the horse with laminitis as a result of pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction and equine metabolic syndrome.
Romagnano A, King WA, Richer CL, Perrone MA.A technique is described for the preparation of banded chromosomes from early equine embryos cultured for less than 10 h in a medium containing bromodeoxyuridine. In addition to standard Giemsa staining and C-banding, chromosomes thus prepared can also be R-banded by either the RBA or the RB-FPG methods. This technique is rapid, repeatable, and limits cell loss, making it ideal for the preparation of early embryos.