Veterinary science and horses encompass the study and application of medical, surgical, and therapeutic practices to maintain and improve the health and welfare of equines. This field addresses a wide range of topics, including disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as nutrition, reproduction, and behavior. Research in veterinary science for horses often involves understanding the pathophysiology of equine-specific diseases, developing advanced diagnostic techniques, and improving treatment protocols. This page gathers peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore various aspects of veterinary science related to horses, providing insights into the latest advancements and methodologies in equine healthcare.
Lawson SE, Marlin DJ.The function of the forelimb is fundamental to understanding both sound and pathological locomotion. The precise movements of the equine shoulder are hidden by layers of skin and muscle and hence the shoulder is normally modelled as a simple pivot during locomotion which assumes that any translational motion is negligible. Objective: To record and quantify the sliding motion of the scapula during locomotion, using a novel imaging technique. Methods: Scapula motion during locomotion in the horse was calculated by tracking the ripple of the shoulder blade's movement under an array of markers pla...
Gu J, MacHugh DE, McGivney BA, Park SD, Katz LM, Hill EW.The wild progenitors of the domestic horse were subject to natural selection for speed and stamina for millennia. Uniquely, this process has been augmented in Thoroughbreds, which have undergone at least 3 centuries of intense artificial selection for athletic phenotypes. While the phenotypic adaptations to exercise are well described, only a small number of the underlying genetic variants contributing to these phenotypes have been reported. Objective: A panel of candidate performance-related genes was examined for DNA sequence variation in Thoroughbreds and the association with racecourse per...
de Cocq P, Mooren M, Dortmans A, van Weeren PR, Timmerman M, Muller M, Van Leeuwen JL.In the equestrian world it is assumed that riders use changes in weight distribution and leg forces as important instruments to give horses directions about speed and direction of movement. However, the changes of these forces have never been quantified. Objective: To investigate the distribution of normal forces (perpendicular to surface) underneath the saddle and of normal forces exerted by the rider's legs during lateral movements. Methods: Eleven riders performed 3 different exercises: riding straight ahead, shoulder-in and travers at trot. Three saddle force systems were used simultaneous...
Trigo P, Castejon F, Riber C, Muñoz A.Endurance races are the competition with the biggest metabolic demands for the sport horse. During races, some horses show homeostasis alterations, having repercussions in diverse biochemical parameters and negative consequences on performance and health. Objective: To evaluate the utility of biochemical analysis in the early diagnosis of metabolic stress and to determine cut-off values of biochemical parameters to assist in the prevention of metabolic alterations in endurance horses. Methods: This study involved 36 CEI races and 283 horses (41 eliminated because of metabolic disturbances). Bl...
Chateau H, Holden L, Robin D, Falala S, Pourcelot P, Estoup P, Denoix JM, Crevier-Denoix N.Sandy beaches are often considered good training surfaces for trotter horses. However, their biomechanical effects on locomotion are insufficiently documented. Events at hoof impact have mostly been studied under laboratory conditions with accelerometers, but there is lack of data (acceleration, force, movement) on events occurring under every day practical conditions in the field. Objective: To investigate hoof landing and stride parameters on different tracks (from wet to dry) of a sand beach and on an asphalt road. Methods: The right front hoof of 4 trotter horses was equipped with a triaxi...
Brito LF, Greene LM, Kelleman A, Knobbe M, Turner R.The objective of this study was to determine the effects of method and clinician on stallion sperm morphology evaluation. Five clinicians evaluated 60 semen samples using wet-mount preparations with phase-contrast, eosin/nigrosin-stained semen smears, and Papanicolaou-stained semen smears. There were significant differences among methods for all sperm morphology categories and most intra-class correlation coefficients were only fair to moderate. The use of wet-mount preparations facilitated detection of acrosome defects, nuclear vacuoles, and cytoplasmic droplets when compared to stained smear...
Aquino Gde V, Maluta RP, de Ávila FA.The aim of this work was to establish the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococci (MRS) in the animals and staff of a teaching and research farm. Samples of dairy cattle (36), beef cattle (26), sheep (19), horses (21), pigs (23), goats (23) and humans (13) were collected and screened for the presence of MRS. The detection of mecA gene was performed by PCR to determine the resistance of the samples to methicillin. Antimicrobial-resistance testing to penicillin, meropenem, ceftriaxone, cephalothin, oxacillin, levofloxacin, enrofloxacin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, clind...
Munsters CC, Visser KE, van den Broek J, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.A good horse-rider 'match' is important in the context of equine welfare. To quantify the influence of repetition and horse-rider matching on the stress of horses encountering challenging objects, 16 Warmblood horses were ridden in a test-setting on three occasions. On each occasion the horse was ridden by a different rider and was challenged by three objects (A-C). Heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV) of horse and rider, and behaviour score (BS) of the horse were obtained for each object and as a total for each test. The horse-rider interaction was evaluated with each combination and...
Conant EK, Juras R, Cothran EG.The domestic horse (Equus caballus) was re-introduced to the Americas by Spanish explorers. Although horses from other parts of Europe were subsequently introduced, some New World populations maintain characteristics ascribed to their Spanish heritage. The southeastern United States has a history of Spanish invasion and settlement, and this influence on local feral horse populations includes two feral-recaptured breeds: the Florida Cracker and the Marsh Tacky, both of which are classified as Colonial Spanish horses. The feral Banker horses found on islands off the coast of North Carolina, whic...
Spadari A, Spinella G, Grandis A, Romagnoli N, Pietra M.No endoscopic examination of the nasolacrimal duct has been described before. In contrast with other imaging techniques, endoscopy provides a direct inspection of the intralumen and ductal mucosa in standing sedation. Objective: To provide a reference against which the endoscopic and clinical features of obstructive nasolacrimal disease in the horse may be compared. Methods: Endoscopic examination of the nasolacrimal duct was performed in 10 French Thoroughbred bay mares with a 3 mm shaft diameter flexible fibrescope. The duct was divided into 3 zones (1, 2 and 3) from the nostril to the lacri...
Christensen JW, Zharkikh TL, Antoine A, Malmkvist J.During riding, horses are frequently exposed to pressure from the rider, e.g. through the bit and reins, but few studies have investigated at which point rein tension becomes uncomfortable for the horse. Objective: To investigate how much rein tension young inexperienced horses are willing to accept in order to obtain a food reward; whether the tension acceptance changes during 3 consecutive test days; and whether rein tension correlates with the expression of conflict behaviour and heart rate. Objective: Pressure-naïve horses will apply only little rein tension in the first voluntary trial, ...
Säre H, Ambrisko TD, Moens Y.Induction of anaesthesia using a face mask may cause workplace pollution with anaesthetics. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of the use of a standard versus a scavenging double face mask on isoflurane pollution during induction of anaesthesia in experimental animals: six dogs, 12 pigs and five ponies. Pigs were anaesthetized only once using either mask type randomly (n = 6). Dogs and ponies were anaesthetized twice, using different mask types for each occasion in a random order with at least 14 days between experiments. The masks were attached to a Bain breathing system (dogs an...
Madejón P, Domínguez MT, Murillo JM.Pasture selection by livestock is an essential topic for rangeland management, especially in trace element-contaminated soils. We have studied the composition (nutrients and trace elements) of a grass-based diet from soils affected by a mine spill at different growth stages (October 2008 to May 2009). A diet based on other plants (mainly Compositae species) was also studied (May 2009) for comparison. Faeces and mane hair of horses feeding on these pastures were also analysed. Micronutrient (Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn) and potentially toxic trace element (As, Cd, Pb, Tl) concentrations were below the ma...
Sankey C, Henry S, Clouard C, Richard-Yris MA, Hausberger M.The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of training experience on young horses (Equus caballus)' lateralized responses to an approaching human. The results show that the one year old untrained horses display asymmetrical responses to an approaching human, with more negative reactions (escapes, threats) when approached from the left side, while approaches towards the right shoulder elicited more positive behaviors. On the contrary, two years old trained horses reacted equally positively to approaches and contact on both sides. Our findings support those of previous studies investiga...
König von Borstel U, Euent S, Graf P, König S, Gauly M.The aim of the present study was to compare horses' heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (RMSSD, pNN50) and behaviour in the same temperament test when being ridden, led, and released free. Behavioural measurements included scores and linear measurements for reactivity (R), activity (A), time to calm down (T) and emotionality (E), recorded during the approach (1) and/or during confrontation with the stimulus (2). Sixty-five horses were each confronted 3 times (1 ridden, 1 led, 1 free running in balanced order) with 3 novel and/or sudden stimuli. Mixed model analysis indicated that leading r...
Plowright RK, Foley P, Field HE, Dobson AP, Foley JE, Eby P, Daszak P.Anthropogenic environmental change is often implicated in the emergence of new zoonoses from wildlife; however, there is little mechanistic understanding of these causal links. Here, we examine the transmission dynamics of an emerging zoonotic paramyxovirus, Hendra virus (HeV), in its endemic host, Australian Pteropus bats (fruit bats or flying foxes). HeV is a biosecurity level 4 (BSL-4) pathogen, with a high case-fatality rate in humans and horses. With models parametrized from field and laboratory data, we explore a set of probable contributory mechanisms that explain the spatial and tempor...
Ricard A, Blouin C.The longevity of sport horses is an economic and ethical issue. The aim of this study was to analyze the duration of the competitive life of jumping horses in France to assess the potential for genetic evaluation and to propose rules of management for sport horses. Data included lifetimes spent in jumping competitions for the 209,296 horses born from 1968 onward with performances between 1972 and 2008; the data set contained 22% right-censored records. Longevity was measured in years. Discrete survival analysis included fixed effects of region of birth, month of birth, year of recording, age a...
You Y, Uboh CE, Soma LR, Guan F, Li X, Liu Y, Rudy JA, Chen J, Tsang D.The potential for using testosterone and nandrolone esters in racehorses to boost the biological concentrations of these steroids and enhance athletic performance is very compelling and should be seriously considered in formulating regulatory policies for doping control. In order to regulate the use of these esters in racehorses, a sensitive and validated method is needed. In this paper, we report such a method for simultaneous separation, screening, quantification and confirmation of 16 testosterone and nandrolone esters in equine plasma by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem ...
Estep LK, McClure CJ, Burkett-Cadena ND, Hassan HK, Hicks TL, Unnasch TR, Hill GE.Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen that cycles in birds but also causes severe disease in humans and horses. We examined patterns of avian host use by vectors of EEEV in Alabama from 2001 to 2009 using blood-meal analysis of field-collected mosquitoes and avian abundance surveys. The northern cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) was the only preferred host (fed on significantly more than expected based on abundance) of Culiseta melanura, the enzootic vector of EEEV. Preferred hosts of Culex erraticus, a putative bridge vector of EEEV, were American robin (Turdus ...
van der Burg LJ, Muller I, Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM.The horse milking industry is expanding in The Netherlands and Flanders. Horse milk has become popular due to its (supposed) health-enhancing properties. A horse-milking farm is not a common client for the Dutch veterinarian. When giving advice in this circumstance it should be recognised that these horses are production animals and that their milk is for human consumption. A review of the literature is given together with the results of an extensive enquiry amongst 13 horse-milking farms in The Netherlands and Flanders.
Earle-Richardson GB, Jenkins PL, Scott EE, May JJ.Agriculture ranks as one of the most hazardous industries in the nation. Ongoing injury surveillance is key to identifying and preventing major sources of injury. Objective: The objective of this study was to compare the total number and types of injuries identified from community reporting versus two newly available medical data systems. These new systems are important because they are less time consuming and expensive to maintain. Methods: Farm injury case records from 2007 were collected for 10 NY counties from the following sources: ambulance reports, hospital data, and community surveilla...
Ehizibolo DO, Gusi AM, Ehizibolo PO, Mbuk EU, Ocholi RA.Despite the endemicity of brucellosis in Nigeria, reports on equine brucellosis are rare. The Rose Bengal Plate Test (RBPT) was used to determine the serologic prevalence of Brucella abortus antibodies amongst 75 horses from three stables in two States of northern Nigeria. The highest prevalence (22.7%) was recorded in stable C located in Plateau State and the lowest (6.7%) was found in stable B in Kaduna State. The overall prevalence determined was 14.7%. There is need for the inclusion of horses in brucellosis surveillance and control strategies in Nigeria to safeguard people at high risk.
Dhakal P, Tsunoda N, Nakai R, Nagaoka K, Nambo Y, Sato F, Taniyama H, Taya K.The aim of present study was to clarify the post-natal profile of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), immunoreactive (ir)-inhibin, progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol-17β, and their relationships in Thoroughbred colts. Six hundred and thirty-six colts were used for the study. Single plasma samples from each animal were harvested from the blood drawn through jugular venipuncture. The subjects were born with high amounts of progesterone, testosterone, and estradiol-17β, all of which dropped significantly and remained at lower levels till the end of 6 months. FSH...
Wong CH, Tang FP, Wan TS.The authors' laboratory at one time employed four liquid chromatography/mass spectrometric (LC/MS) methods for the detection of a large variety of drugs in equine urine. Drug classes covered by these methods included anti-diabetics, anti-ulcers, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors, sedatives, corticosteroids, anabolic steroids, sulfur diuretics, xanthines, etc. With the objective to reduce labour and instrumental workload, a new ultra performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometric (UPLC/MS/MS) method has been developed, which encompasses all target analytes detected by the origina...
Kirkpatrick JF, Lyda RO, Frank KM.Wildlife, free-ranging and captive, poses and causes serious population problems not unlike those encountered with human overpopulation. Traditional lethal control programs, however, are not always legal, wise, safe, or publicly acceptable; thus, alternative approaches are necessary. Immunocontraception of free-ranging wildlife has reached the management level, with success across a large variety of species. Thus far, the immunocontraceptive research and management applications emphasis have been centered on porcine zona pellucida and gonadotropin-releasing hormone vaccines. Contraceptive succ...
Tozaki T, Hill EW, Hirota K, Kakoi H, Gawahara H, Miyake T, Sugita S, Hasegawa T, Ishida N, Nakano Y, Kurosawa M.Using 1710 Thoroughbred racehorses in Japan, a cohort study was performed to evaluate the influence of genotypes at four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on equine chromosome 18 (ECA18), which were associated in a previous genome-wide association study for racing performance with lifetime earnings and performance rank. In males, both g.65809482T>C and g.65868604G>T were related to performance rank (P= 0.005). In females, g.65809482T>C (P = 1.76E-6), g.65868604G>T (P=6.81E-6) and g.66493737C>T (P=4.42E-5) were strongly related to performance rank and also to lifetime ...
Gramiccia M.The leishmanioses are diseases caused by protozoa of the genus Leishmania, parasites infecting numerous mammal species, including humans, and transmitted by the bite of phlebotomine sand flies. They are a large group of diseases ranging over inter-tropical zones of America and Africa, and extend into temperate regions of Latin America, Europe and Asia. Pet animals are found infected with different Leishmania species but Leishmania infantum is the most widespread being dogs the main reservoir of zoonotic visceral leishmaniosis (ZVL). Dogs are very susceptible to this parasite and may suffer fro...
Fox V, Sinclair C, Bolt DM, Lowe J, Weller R.Joint injections are commonly used in equine practice for diagnosis and treatment of joint disorders. Performing joint injections is hence an essential skill for equine practitioners. However, opportunities for veterinary students to practice this skill are often scarce in veterinary curricula. The aim of this study was to design and validate an equine joint injection simulator. We hypothesized that the simulator will enhance student ability and confidence in performing joint injections. The simulator was constructed around an equine forelimb skeleton with soft tissues rebuilt using building f...
Honkanen MKM, Mohammadi A, Te Moller NCR, Ebrahimi M, Xu W, Plomp S, Pouran B, Lehto VP, Brommer H, van Weeren PR, Korhonen RK, Töyräs J....Post-traumatic osteoarthritis is a frequent joint disease in the horse. Currently, equine medicine lacks effective methods to diagnose the severity of chondral defects after an injury. Objective: To investigate the capability of dual-contrast-enhanced computed tomography (dual-CECT) for detection of chondral lesions and evaluation of the severity of articular cartilage degeneration in the equine carpus ex vivo. Methods: Pre-clinical experimental study. Methods: In nine Shetland ponies, blunt and sharp grooves were randomly created (in vivo) in the cartilage of radiocarpal and middle carpal joi...
Yahagi Rodrigues L, da Silva Faria RA, de Vasconcelos Silva JAI.The aim of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity and to identify the most influential ancestors in the population of Brazilian Quarter Horses participating in cutting competitions. Data from 1,590 elite horses born between 1970 and 2015, which participated in cutting competitions between 1981 and 2018, were evaluated based on the pedigree file that contained 5,832 animals born since 1834. Evaluation of the quality of the pedigree data showed a mean number of known equivalent generations of 5.4 ± 1.5 and a mean generation interval of 11.7 ± 8.8 years. The inbreeding coefficient (1...
Sartori C, Guzzo N, Normando S, Bailoni L, Mantovani R.The present work is aimed at evaluating the behaviour of Italian Heavy Draught Horse (IHDH) foals reared in semi-covered stables and fed two isoenergetic total mixed rations with different dietary protein levels (13.2% and 10.6% of CP on dry matter). The study was prompted by the restrictions for nitrate emissions in farms of the European Nitrate Directive. One suggested solution is to reduce dietary protein while maintaining normal performance and welfare, but there is a lack of literature in studies of horses. The behaviours of 20 foals of 437±60 kg of BW, aged 379±37 days and stabled in f...
Yu M, Robinson NE, Wang Z, Derksen FJ.Selective muscarinic receptor antagonists were used to identify muscarinic receptor subtypes in equine trachealis strips. The M1 receptor antagonist pirenzepine (10(-7) mol/L to 3 x 10(-5) mol/L) and the M3 receptor antagonist 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methylpiperidine (4-DAMP, 10(-9) mol/L to 3 x 10(-7) mol/L3) dose dependently inhibited the contractile responses to electrical field stimulation (EFS) and exogenous acetylcholine (ACh). Schild plots yielded a pA2 value for pirenzepine vs ACh of 6.75 +/- 0.09, which is consistent with the affinity for M2 or M3 receptors, and a pA2 value for 4-DAMP vs ...
Smyth GB, Young DW, Hammond LS.Gastrin is the only hormone known to stimulate secretion of hydrochloric acid. It also has trophic effects on specific parts of the mucosa of the gastrointestinal tract. Using radioimmunoassay techniques, postprandial serum gastrin and insulin concentrations were measured in six adult horses to establish effects of different diets on gastrin concentrations. Insulin concentrations were measured to provide support to the patterns of gastrin secretion because patterns of insulin secretion were already known. The horses were fed coastal bermuda hay, or twice daily 5 kg of a complete pelleted ratio...
Stomp M, Leroux M, Cellier M, Henry S, Hausberger M, Lemasson A.While the vocal coding of human and animal internal states has been widely studied, the possible acoustic expression of "positive" emotions remains poorly known. Recent studies suggest that snorts (non-vocal sounds produced by the air expiration through the nostrils) appear to be reliable indicators of positive internal states in several ungulate species. Here, we hypothesised in horses that the acoustic structure of the snort could vary with the subjects' current emotional state. Indeed, a preliminary sound analysis of snorts let us suggest structure variations related to the presence of puls...
Patterson Rosa L, Campos FA, Martin K, Vierra M, Foster G, Lundquist E, Brooks SA, Lafayette C.Pedigrees and horse written ancestry contain numerous inconsistencies and divergence between farm histories, owner accounts and registration records. In particular, the origins of the Brazilian Mangalarga, or "Mangalarga Paulista'' horse breed is controversial, and the breed's popular history claims that one of its most famous individuals, Turbante J.O., may have been sired by an unknown Hanoverian stallion. Turbante J.O. sired over 1678 offspring and is present in about 71% of the male pedigrees. We genotyped Turbante J.O. and 29 registered Mangalarga individuals using a commercially availabl...
Jones AJ, Bee JA.The digital flexor tendons of the neonate and adult horse have been compared with respect to variation in extracellular matrix composition along their length. Two pepsin-sensitive, acetic acid soluble proteins, molecular weight (Mr) 52 kD (np 52) and Mr 54 kD (np 54), were prominent throughout the length of neonatal tendons. In adult tendon, np 52 and np 54 were less abundant and restricted to the cannon (metacarpal) region. In contrast, a single pepsin- and collagenase-resistant protein of Mr 55 kD (fp 55) was exclusive to the fetlock (metacarpophalangeal joint) region regardless of age, alth...
Journal of mass spectrometry : JMSFebruary 1, 1997
Volume 32, Issue 2 152-158 doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1096-9888(199702)32:2<152::AID-JMS456>3.0.CO;2-W
Anderson MA, Wachs T, Henion JD.A method based on ionspray liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) was developed for the determination of reserpine in equine plasma. A comparison was made of the isolation of reserpine from plasma by liquid-liquid extraction and by solid-phase extraction. A structural analog, rescinnamine, was used as the internal standard. The reconstituted extracts were analyzed by ionspray LC/MS/MS in the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The calibration graph for reserpine extracted from equine plasma obtained using liquid-liquid extraction was linear from 10 to 5000 pg ml-1 and t...
MacLaren JA, McHorse BK.The absence of preserved soft tissues in the fossil record is frequently a hindrance for palaeontologists wishing to investigate morphological shifts in key skeletal systems, such as the limbs. Understanding the soft tissue composition of modern species can aid in understanding changes in musculoskeletal features through evolution, including those pertaining to locomotion. Establishing anatomical differences in soft tissues utilising an extant phylogenetic bracket can, in turn, assist in interpreting morphological changes in hard tissues and modelling musculoskeletal movements during evolution...
Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan MM, Wensing T, Barneveld A, Breukink HJ.To determine whether a clinical examination was adequate to assess the fitness of horses in an endurance ride, and to characterise the relationship between a clinical assessment of the horse's fitness and its blood biochemistry, 23 horses were monitored before, during and after an 87 to 100 km endurance ride. Blood samples were taken before the ride, at three checkpoints on the ride, immediately after the ride and one day later for the determination of packed cell volume, total protein, lactate, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, creatine phosphokinase, aspartate aminotransferase and plasma ...
Pelyva IZ, Kresák R, Szovák E, Tóth ÁL.Multiple studies have investigated the positive effects of human-animal interactions and showed that animal-assisted activities can be successfully used to better human physical and mental health. Equine-assisted activities have also raised considerable attention within the field. Our research focuses on healthy students (aged 14-18) without deviations or special educational needs. We analyze the occurrence of behavior problems and prosocial behavior among adolescents who regularly have interactions with horses, and those who have no connection to horses at all. The subjects of our investigati...
Zhou R, Yang J, Zhang K, Qi Y, Ma W, Wang Z, Ente M, Li K.The absolute dominant species that infests wild population of Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) is Gasterophilus pecorum, and feces of released Przewalski's horse, a habitat odor, plays an important role in mating and ovipositing locations of G. pecorum. To screen out unique volatiles for attracting G. pecorum, volatiles from fresh feces of released horses at stages of pre-oviposition (PREO), oviposition (OVIP), and post-oviposition (POSO) of G. pecorum, and feces with three different freshness states (i.e., Fresh, Semi-fresh, and Dry) at OVIP were collected by dynamic headspace adsorptio...
McElroy A, Klinge PM, Sledge D, Donahue JE, Glabman RA, Rashmir A.The objectives of this study were to describe the anatomy, histology, and ultrastructure of the equine filum terminale (FT) and to describe the FT in hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia (HERDA), a model of human Ehlers-Danlos syndromes (EDS). Those humans suffer from tethered cord syndrome (TCS) caused by an abnormally structured FT wherein its attachment at the base of the vertebral column leads to long-term stretch-induced injury to the spinal cord. The pathophysiology of TCS in EDS is poorly understood, and there is a need for an animal model of the condition. Histopathologic and ult...
Plasenzotti R, Windberger U, Ulberth F, Osterode W, Losert U.The rheologic properties of red blood cells (RBC) are determined by humoral and cellular factors. Fatty acid composition of the RBC phospholipid bilayer is one factor influencing membrane fluidity this could affect RBC aggregation because of a higher bias of RBC deformability. The present investigation was performed to investigate a possible relationship between fatty acid composition and erythrocyte aggregation using animals with high RBC aggregation (horse and pig) and animals with immeasurable RBC aggregation (sheep). Horse and pig showed similar distribution of the four major components pa...
Gilger BC.This review, which is part of the "Currents in One Health" series, describes the importance of the study of immune-mediated ocular disease in the development of innovative therapeutics, such as cell and gene therapy for the eye. Recent examples of cell and gene therapy studies from the author's laboratory are reviewed to emphasize the importance of One Health initiatives in developing innovative therapies for ocular diseases. Spontaneous immune-mediated corneal disease is common in horses, cats, dogs, and humans. Autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) injected subconju...
Clauss M, Codron D, Hummel J.Like other members of the odd-toed ungulates (the perissodactyls), equids once had a higher species diversity in the fossil record than they have today. This is generally explained in comparison to the enormous diversity of bovid ruminants. Theories on putative competitive disadvantages of equids include the use of a single toe as opposed to two toes per leg, the lack of a specific brain cooling (and hence water-saving) mechanism, longer gestation periods that delay reproductive output, and in particular digestive physiology. To date, there is no empirical support for the theory that equids fa...
Guan F, You Y, Fay S, Li X, Robinson MA.To address the limitations of current targeted analytical methods that can only detect known doping agents, a novel methodology that permits untargeted drug detection (UDD) has been developed to help in the fight against doping in sports. Fifty-seven drugs were spiked into blank equine plasma and were treated as unknowns since their exact masses and chromatographic retention times were not utilized for detection. The spiked drugs were extracted from the plasma samples and were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). The acquired LC-HRMS raw ...
Cerebral lateralisation is the tendency for an individual to preferentially use one side of their brain and is apparent in the biased use of paired sensory organs. Horses vary in eye use when viewing a novel stimulus which may be due to different physiological reactions. To understand the interplay between physiology and lateralisation, we presented a novel object (an inflated balloon) to 20 horses while electrocardiogram traces were collected. We measured the amount of time each horse looked at the balloon with each eye. We calculated 'sample entropy' as a measure of non-linear heart rate var...
Belyaev RI, Kuznetsov AN, Prilepskaya NE.The vertebral column is a hallmark of vertebrates; it is the structural basis of their body and the locomotor apparatus in particular. Locomotion of any vertebrate animal in its typical habitat is directly associated with functional adaptations of its vertebrae. This study is the first large-scale analysis of mobility throughout the presacral region of the vertebral column covering a majority of extant odd-toed ungulates from 6 genera and 15 species. In this study, we used a previously developed osteometry-based method to calculate available range of motion. We quantified all three directions ...
Zaitseva S, Dagurova O, Radnagurueva A, Kozlova A, Izotova A, Krylova A, Noskov S, Begmatov S, Patutina E, Barkhutova DD.The Buryatian horse is an ancient breed and, as an indigenous breed, they have unique adaptive abilities to use scarce pastures, graze in winter, and survive in harsh conditions with minimal human care. In this study, fecal microbiota of Buryatian horses grazing in the warm and cold seasons were investigated using NGS technology on the Illumina MiSeq platform. We hypothesized that the composition of microbial communities in the feces of horses maintained on pasture would change in the different seasons, depending on the grass availability and different plant diets. We conducted microhistologic...
Høie S, Fossum K.An agar diffusion method using microtiter plates was used to detect antibodies to the DNases produced by Staphylococcus aureus, S. intermedius, and S. hyicus. Antibodies to DNase from S. aureus were demonstrated in most of the sera from the species investigated, except dogs, only 11% of whose sera were positive. Positive titers to S. intermedius DNase were found in 84% of deg sera, 61% of Icelandic pony sera, 41% of pig sera, 21% of human sera, and 20% of cow sera but in only 2 and 4% of goat and sheep sera, respectively. Although antibodies to DNase from S. hyicus were not found in sera from ...
Votion DM, Habyarimana JA, Scippo ML, Richard EA, Marcillaud-Pitel C, Erpicum M, Gustin P.Equine atypical myopathy in Europe results from hypoglycin A (HGA) exposure through the ingestion of samaras or seedlings of the sycamore maple tree. This pilot study aimed at better defining sources of HGA intoxication in spring. Samaras fallen on the ground and then seedlings were collected at two-week intervals from sycamore, Norway, and field maple trees over the spring 2016. In early April, rainwater from wet seedlings collected after a rainy night was harvested to be analysed. Mid-May, samaras of the box elder, common ash, and inflorescences of sycamore maples were collected on the tree....
Neustädter LT, Kamphues J, Ratert C.In this study, influences of a reduced macromineral intake on the trace element metabolism in horses at maintenance were investigated. Background of this study is the revised recommendation on the macromineral supply for horses (GfE ). Balance studies on three adult pony geldings with body weights of 405 / 348 / 384 kg were performed to obtain data on apparent digestibility (aD), retention and serum concentrations of different trace elements (Cu, Zn, Se) at different dietary macromineral levels. A mineral supplement or a complementary feed-with a reduced macromineral content-was added to a ha...
Papasouliotis K, Cue S, Graham M, Sparkes AH, Gruffydd-Jones T.Blood samples form 120 consecutive clinical cases (40 cats, 40 dogs and 40 horses) were analyzed on the QBC VetAutoread analyzer and the results compared with those obtained by a Baker 9000 electronic resistance cell counter and a 100-cell manual differential leukocyte (WBC) count. Packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin (Hb) concentration, mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), and platelet, total WBC, granulocytes, and lymphocyte plus monocyte (L+M) counts were determined. Indistinct separation of red blood cell and granulocytes layers on the QBC VetAutoread was observed in samples from fiv...
Haase B, Obexer-Ruff G, Dolf G, Rieder S, Burger D, Poncet PA, Gerber V, Howard J, Leeb T.The KIT receptor protein-tyrosine kinase plays an important role during embryonic development. Activation of KIT is crucial for the development of various cell lineages such as melanoblasts, stem cells of the haematopoietic system, spermatogonia and intestinal cells of Cajal. In mice, many mutations in the Kit gene cause pigmentation disorders accompanied by pleiotropic effects on blood cells and male fertility. Previous work has demonstrated that dominant white Franches-Montagnes horses carry one copy of the KIT gene with the p.Y717X mutation. The targeted breeding of white horses would be et...
Glade MJ.Skeletal homeostasis during late gestation, lactation, and the post-lactational recovery period is poorly understood. In an experiment using an animal model (the horse), metacarpal breaking strengths (MBS) estimated via transmission ultrasonics were examined during the last 12 weeks of gestation and for 40 weeks after parturition. MBS increased during the last 6-10 weeks of gestation in mares fed amounts of calcium (Ca) recommended by the National Research Council; maximum MBS coincided with the week of parturition. In contrast, MBS in mares fed 20% less Ca remained relatively constant during ...
Özçelik R, Graubner C, Remy-Wohlfender F, Dürr S, Faverjon C.Equine health is important in regard to trade, economy, society, and the veterinary, as well as public health. To reduce the burden of equine infectious diseases internationally, it is important to collect, review, and distribute equine health surveillance data as accurate and timely as possible. Within this study, we aimed at providing a comprehensive descriptive analysis of data submitted to Equinella, a voluntary veterinary-based surveillance system of non-notifiable equine infectious diseases and clinical signs, in Switzerland. This was achieved by reviewing the reports submitted since its...
Hallowell GD, Corley KT.To assess the suitability of a human algorithm for calculation of continuous cardiac output from the arterial pulse waveform, in anaesthetized horses. Methods: Prospective clinical study. Methods: Twenty-four clinical cases undergoing anaesthesia for various conditions. Methods: Cardiac output (Qt), measured by lithium dilution (QtLiDCO), was compared with a preceding, calibrated Qt measured from the pulse waveform (QtPulse). These comparisons were repeated every 20-30 minutes. Positive inotropes or vasopressors were administered when clinically indicated. Cardiac indices from 30.7 to 114.9 mL...
