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.
Panciera RJ, Slusher SA, Hayes KE.Simultaneous and successive occurrence of ovarian teratoma and granulosa cell tumor is reported in 2 mares. Simultaneous occurrence of the tumors may obscure clinical diagnosis. Whereas size, unilaterality, and the cystic nature of each may be similar, differentiating features include the potentially palpable presence of bone, cartilage, or teeth in teratoma, and the hormone-induced behavioral and reproductive effects of granulosa cell tumors. Thorough examination of surgical specimens may reveal the existence of a neoplastic process, previously obscured by the more obvious presence of another...
Shand N, Alexander SL, Irvine CH.For aqueous extracts of pituitary glands of oestrous mares, luteinizing hormone (LH) profiles were found to be similar to each other and to earlier work after chromatofocussing (CF) and isoelectricfocussing (IEF). After CF, both LH and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) in pituitary extracts focussed in multiple peaks in the acidic range, with 86% of LH and 80% of FSH found between pH 4 and 6. By contrast, in pituitary venous plasma, only 18% of the LH focussed in this range, whereas a significantly greater proportion (P less than 0.01) eluted above pH 7 than occurred in pituitary extracts (37...
Gill J.1. The use of an electronic recorder for the horse motor activity was described. 2. Examples of different types of motor activities are given in Figs 1-8. 3. The ultradian pattern of activity in all records was stressed. 4. The possibility of receiving of more physiological informations by this type of apparatus is discussed.
Bagy MM, Abdel-Mallek AY.Nine thermophilic genera and 17 species in addition to one variety of Aspergillus flavus, Malbranchea pulchella and Humicola grisea were collected from hair samples in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at 45 degrees C. Fifty-one hair specimens of rabbit, sheep, camel and horse were examined for the presence of thermophilic fungi. The most frequent species were Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus niger, Thermoascus aurantiacus and Malbranchea pulchella var. sulfurea. In low frequency, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus quadrilineatus, Paecilomyces variotii, Paecilomyces aerugineus, Mucor pusillus and Rhizopus s...
Morgan SJ, Stromberg PC, Storts RW, Sowa BA, Lay JC.Histological and morphometric evaluation of equine cranial mesenteric arteries was performed on 239 and 89 arteries, respectively. Histological examination revealed that thrombosis and the severity of inflammation varied on a seasonal basis and were directly associated with larval presence. Intimal and adventitial fibrosis were generally of greater severity than medial fibrosis. Fibrosis of the vasa vasorum was less frequent than fibrosis of the artery itself. Morphometry revealed a significant increase in intimal, adventitial and, to a lesser extent, medial area in affected as compared with n...
Hässig M, Casal M, Von Beust B, Nussbaumer M, Rüsch P.In human cancer treatment, CEA (carcino embryonic antigen) testing is a routine procedure, even though the test is of low sensitivity (40%) and low specificity (70%). Since tests with polyclonal antibodies render no reproducible results with animal sera, the applicability of a recently available monoclonal CEA test designed for human sera was evaluated. We were able to show that the latter test was of supplemental diagnostic value when testing animal sera. The upper normal limit for dogs is 1.65 ng/ml, for cats 2.81 ng/ml, for cows 2.85 ng/ml, for sheep 2.85 ng/ml and for horses 1.61 ng/ml.
Seither RL, Brown OR, Babu BV.Rat, cow and foal lung extracts contained an inhibitor for the liver NAD biosynthetic-pathway enzyme, nicotinatemononucleotide pyrophosphorylase (carboxylating) [EC 2.4.2.19]. The inhibitor was not dialyzable, was labile at 100 degrees C, was retained by a 30,000 dalton pore size Amicon membrane and, when partially purified by precipitation at 40-100% ammonium sulfate, inhibited the enzyme stoichiometrically. Lung reportedly does not contain nicotinate-mononucleotide pyrophosphorylase or make NAD de novo. However, the inhibitor would mask detection of the enzyme in lung extracts. We detected a...
Bhushan C, Müller I, Friedhoff KT.A rapid and simple method for concentrating leucocyte-free Babesia caballi-infected erythrocytes from in vitro cultures is described. Infected erythrocytes amounted to at least 95% of all red cells obtained.
Brewer BD, Clement SF, Lotz WS, Gronwall R.Urine (U) and serum (S) were obtained every 2 hours during a 12- or 24-hour period from eight healthy 96-hour-old pony or horse foals. Dams' milk samples were obtained concurrently. Urine volume was measured during this 12- or 24-hour period. The mean amount of urine produced was 148 +/- 20 ml/kg/day. Baseline urinalyses were evaluated on all foals at two days of age, before any manipulation. Urine generally was dilute (less than 1.008) but the specific gravity was as high as 1.027 in one normal foal. Continuous (12 or 24 hour) urinary catheterization resulted in bacteriuria but not white bloo...
Holtan DW, Houghton E, Silver M, Fowden AL, Ousey J, Rossdale PD.This study used gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) to identify and measure plasma progestagens. The method included deuterated internal standards, e.g. [17,21,21,21-2H]-5 alpha-pregnane-3,20-dione, solid-phase extraction, derivatization (methoxime/t-butyldimethylsilyl) and GC/MS. Full-scan screening identified 3 5-pregnenes, 2 4-pregnenes and 7 5 alpha-pregnanes (no 5 beta-pregnanes). The selected ion mode was used for routine quantitation from calibration curves; response was linear (r greater than 0.98) from 2 to 2000 ng equivalents/ml (0.5 ng/ml method sensitivity) and intra- and ...
May SA, Hooke RE, Lees P.The concentration of Percoll required for isolating equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells has been reinvestigated. A poor cell yield was obtained at the 60 per cent concentration already reported. It is recommended that workers specifically interested in high yields of mononuclear cells, for investigation of lymphocyte and monocyte functions, use a concentration of 65 per cent Percoll. However, workers wishing to isolate pure populations of equine neutrophils might consider a concentration of 70 per cent in the upper layer of Percoll used to retain the mononuclear cells.
Fritsche A, Mathis GA, Althaus FR.Biotin deficiency in animals causes pathological changes of the skin and its appendages including, for example, exfoliative dermatitis, depigmentation, and alopecia. The hooves of biotin-deficient swine are weak, brittle, and often necrotic. These changes disappear after dietary biotin supplementation. Biotin supplementation also noticeably improves the hoof quality of horses, cattle and swine having no apparent biotin deficiency. In order to elucidate the molecular basis of these effects, the influence of biotin on cytokeratin expression in a keratinocyte cell line (Ha-CaT) was investigated u...
Uboh CE, Rudy JA, Soma LR, Fennell M, May L, Sams R, Railing FA, Shellenberger J, Kahler M.The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to develop a simple and sensitive screening procedure for identifying and confirming bromhexine and ambroxol and, (2) to determine the effect of furosemide on the detection of bromhexine, ambroxol, or their metabolites in urine. Female horses (450-550 kg) treated with bromhexine or ambroxol (1 g, p.o.) were used. Urine samples were collected up to 48 h post-drug administration and analysed. Blind samples were used in evaluating the sensitivity of these methods and reproducibility of the results. Bromhexine and ambroxol were extensively metabolized in...
Freitas TV, Fortes-Dias CL, Diniz CR, Velarde DT, Freitas CF.1. A comparative study was carried out on horses immunized with Crotalus durissus terrificus venom using four different inoculation procedures, which included the use of Freund's adjuvant, A1(OH)3 and liposomes as adjuvants. The antibody titer was assessed by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the neutralizing potency by the neutralizing median effective dose (ED50). 2. The inoculation schedule used in horses to obtain antivenom serum consisted of sc injections of a 7.5 mg venom starting dose in 5.0 ml sterile saline emulsified with an equal volume of Freund's complete adjuvant. One...
Freestone JF, Wolfsheimer KJ, Ford RB, Church G, Bessin R.Ponies were evaluated for their response to feed withholding and exogenous administration of corticosteroids (dexamethasone 0.04 mg/kg intramuscular [IM]) in an attempt to reproduce the hyperlipemia syndrome. Because insulin resistance has been associated with hyperlipemia, all ponies were initially evaluated for insulin response to an oral glucose load and normal dexamethasone suppression of serum cortisol. Four ponies were identified as hyperinsulinemic reflecting insulin resistance. All ponies had suppressed cortisol concentrations following dexamethasone administration. Feed withdrawal res...
Winder NC, Grünig G, Hermann M, von Fellenberg R.Equine bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid collected from 70 horses and respiratory secretions (RS) obtained from 61 of these horses were evaluated cytologically and grouped according to the histological diagnosis of the lungs from which they were obtained. The histological categories included: normal lung (8 horses); pulmonary eosinophilic infiltration (9 horses); interstitial pneumonia (5 horses); pulmonary hemorrhage (5 horses); and mild (12 horses), moderate (7 horses) and severe (24 horses) chronic small airway disease. In horses with pulmonary disease, all BAL samples and all but one RS s...
May SA, Hooke RE, Lees P.Interleukin-1 and a casein-degrading enzyme have been identified in an experimental system for studying acute inflammation in the horse. The levels of both the cytokine and the proteinase increased over the first 24 hours following initiation of the inflammatory response, and remained at high levels through to the last sample collected at 48 hours. This is in marked contrast to prostaglandin E2 concentrations which were low initially, peaked at four to eight hours and had returned to low levels by 12 to 24 hours. It is likely that interleukin-1 and various proteinases are involved in the later...
Bowling AT, Williams MJ.Two additional specificities (Dq and Dr) were assigned to the D system of horse red cell alloantigens following discussion of the 1989 ISAG Horse Comparison Test (HCT) results. Family and population data support 25 phenogroups defined by the enhanced battery of 17 D system factors.
Evans MJ, Alexander SL, Irvine CH, Livesey JH, Donald RA.In vitro, the prolactin response of perifused anterior pituitary cells of horses to thyrotrophin-releasing hormone (TRH) (0.1, 1.0, 10 and 100 nM), correlated significantly with hours of daylight (P less than 0.01). Baseline concentrations of prolactin also were significantly correlated with daylength (P less than 0.01). When response and baseline data were fitted by nonlinear least squares to a cosine function, the circannual phase was -0.06072 (+/- 0.02170) and -0.05560 (+/- 0.0255), respectively, which are not significantly different from that of daylength. In vivo, prolactin secretion was ...
Koskinen E.In a previous study, times from parturition to the first ovulation were followed in 55 Finnhorse mares on the basis of milk progesterone determinations. Ninety-six per cent of mares had ovulated by day 20 post-partum. If intervals of more than 19 days are excluded from the data, the time from parturition to 1st ovulation was 117 days. However, in cases of foaling before and after the beginning of June the times were 13.0 days and 8.8 days, respectively (p less than 0.001). Long intervals (over 16 days) occurred mainly before 1st May (in 6 out of 7 cases). In a 2nd study, 25 post-partum Finnhor...
Trotter GW, McIlwraith CW, Yovich JV, Norrdin RW, Wrigley RH, Lamar CH.The effects of the corticosteroid 6-alpha-methylprednisolone acetate on normal equine articular cartilage were evaluated, using the middle carpal joint in 4 clinically normal young horses. One middle carpal joint of each horse was injected 3 times with 100 mg of 6-alpha-methylprednisolone acetate, at 14-day intervals. The opposite middle carpal joint (control) was injected with 2.5 ml of lactated Ringer solution at the same intervals. Effects were studied until 8 weeks after the first injection. Evaluation included clinical and radiographic examination, and gross, microscopic, and biochemical ...
Brooks M, Leith GS, Allen AK, Woods PR, Benson RE, Dodds WJ.Bleeding diathesis in a Quarter Horse filly was caused by von Willebrand disease. Hemorrhage occurred mainly from mucosal surfaces and after trauma. Quantitative and qualitative measurements of plasma von Willebrand factor (vWF) documented a specific deficiency of vWF high molecular weight multimers, and concurrently greater than expected deficiency of vWF activity relative to vWF concentration. These findings are characteristic of type-II von Willebrand disease in human beings. Application of vWF assays used in human and small animal medicine now permits evaluation of vWF and diagnosis of von...
Kirkpatrick JF, Liu IM, Turner JW, Bernoco M.Twenty-six free-roaming feral mares were immunized against porcine zonae pellucidae (PZP) between February and May, 1988. Eight sexually mature mares received 2 inoculations 2 weeks apart, and 18 mares received 3 inoculations at intervals of 2 and 4 weeks. Analysis of urinary oestrone conjugates (E1C) and non-specific progesterone metabolites (iPdG) in samples collected in October, 1988, revealed that none of the 18 mares that received 3 and only 1 of the 6 mares that received two inoculations were pregnant, whereas 3 of 6 sham-injected control mares and 5 of 11 untreated mares were pregnant. ...
Lea RG, Bolton AE.Commercial preparations of equine chorionic gonadotrophin (eCG) and extracts of horse placenta taken at 80 days gestation were incorporated into mixed lymphocyte culture and mitogen stimulation assays of horse peripheral blood mononuclear cells. A dose-related inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation, indicative of immunosuppressive activity, was observed in both systems, both with commercial eCG preparations and tissue extracts. Negligible inhibitory activity was observed with an extract of term placenta. The inhibitory activity of the placental samples was not related to their eCG content as m...
Pruitt JA, Forrest DW, Burghardt RC, Evans JW, Kraemer DC.The viability and ultrastructure of equine embryos were assessed following culture in a static or perifusion system. The percentage change in diameter was greater (P less than 0.025) for embryos in the static treatment (71%) than in the perifusion treatment (33%). Fluorescein diacetate (FD) scores, the percentage of fluorescing cells (FC) and fluorescent intensity (FI), also were greater (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.01) following static culture than for embryos cultured in the perifusion system. Four of 9 control embryos resulted in pregnancies but no embryos cultured in either system p...
Stewart F, Maher JK.The number of genes encoding the common alpha-subunit and hormone-specific beta-subunits of the equine gonadotrophins (FSH, LH and CG) were investigated in the horse (Equus caballus), donkey (E. asinus) and 2 horse x donkey hybrids (the mule and hinny). The Southern technique, involving restriction enzyme digestion, blotting and DNA hybridization to 32P-labelled DNA probes was used to estimate the copy number for each gene and to assess the extent to which equids resemble primates, the only other animals that secrete a CG during pregnancy. These methods indicated that, in common with mammals, ...
GARDIKAS C, KALLINIKOU M, KALLINIKOS G.The present experiments seem to indicate that horse blood is deficient in both Factors VIII and IX, the concentration of Factor VIII varying from 30 to 60 per cent of the normal human levels, and the concentration of Factor IX varying from 50 to 80 per cent, the corresponding concentrations in 12 normal human males varying from 60 to 150 per cent and from 70 to 150 per cent, respectively.
The finding that the recalcification time of horse plasma was considerably longer than that of normal human plasma is of interest, since it is known that only very low concentrations of Factor VIII or Fact...
Pickett BW, Voss JL.Experimental and clinical observations were made to treat abnormal sexual behaviour. The most common cause of abnormality was mismanagement of the animal; over-use and rough treatment at service and too-frequent ejaculation during winter had a detrimental effect on the behaviour of young stallions. Pain due to injury incurred at copulation or when associated with mounting attempts was also a common cause of impotence. Most impotent stallions responded well to re-training and recovery can be achieved without pharmacological treatment in most cases.
Hudson NP, Pearson GT, Mayhew IG.Ileal samples were harvested fresh from euthanized adult horses. The tissues were microdissected to prepare wholemount preparations for immunohistochemistry and for either explant or dissociated culture systems of the enteric nervous system. Explant culture systems were established using whole-mounts of either the submucous plexus or the muscularis externa (including the myenteric plexus). Dissociated cell cultures could only be obtained from the submucous plexus. Culture systems were maintained for up to 5 days. Immunoreactivity for a neuronal marker (Pan-N) and for glial cell markers (GFAP a...
Schönherr W.Francis CLATER presumably was born in 1754 near Nottingham. He became farrier after years of apprenticeships at Newark and Retford. In 1783 the first edition of his book "Every man his own farrier" was published. Within 50 years at least 30 editions were printed. This book was translated by PRETOT into French (1822), by S. von TENNECKER (1823) and by LENTIN (1834) into German and by TURNE (1838) into Russian language. Contents of some editions are compared and valued.
Wilson DV, Berney CE, Peroni DL, Mullineaux DR, Robinson NE.Acupuncture may be recommended for horses with 'heaves' because it is being increasingly applied to treat human asthma. Therefore, its efficacy was investigated in horses with this asthma-like disease. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a single acupuncture treatment for the relief of airway obstruction in heaves-affected horses. Methods: The efficacy of a single acupuncture treatment was tested in 10 heaves-affected horses, and the effect of removal from the dusty stall environment in 5 heaves-affected horses. Before treatment, horses were stabled to induce airway obstruction and, apart f...