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.
de Lara NSS, Weiss RR, Oba E, Kozicki LE, Souza FA, Bergstein-Galan TG, Muehlbauer E, Silvestri M, de Lima PHL, Vaz ES.In equine reproduction, determining foetal sex is of economic and strategic importance, but currently available methods are often invasive, costly, or require specialised expertise. This study aimed to assess whether plasma progesterone concentrations could serve as a predictive tool for foetal sex determination in Criollo mares between the 4th and 8th months of gestation and to determine whether these measurements could identify foetal sex. Blood samples were collected at 30-day intervals from 17 Crioula mares between 114 days and 240 days of gestation. Maternal plasma progesterone concen...
Kawashima M, Kuroda T, Minamijima Y, Yamazaki Y, Mita H, Nomura M, Ohta M.Remimazolam (RMZ) is a new short-half-life benzodiazepine used in humans. We compared the pharmacokinetics and sedative effects of RMZ with those of midazolam (MDZ) in Thoroughbred horses. Six Thoroughbreds received a single IV dose of RMZ 0.05 mg/kg or MDZ 0.05 mg/kg in a randomized crossover design. Blood samples were collected, and plasma RMZ and MDZ concentrations were measured by LC-MS/MS. Plasma concentrations were analyzed by using non-compartmental analysis and a nonlinear mixed effect model. The half-life of RMZ (0.77 ± 0.15 h) was significantly shorter than that of MDZ (3....
Louro LF, Sinclair C, Hargreaves L, Coumbe K, Hajeeh Ali M, Percan V, Bacon B, Kukaswadia A, Mair T.The healthcare sector contributes significantly to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with anaesthetic gases being a notable contributor. Implementing sustainable practices in equine anaesthesia, such as low-flow anaesthesia, offers potential benefits. Objective: To audit oxygen and isoflurane usage in five equine hospitals, their associated GHG emissions, and the impact of anaesthesia training on mitigating these emissions. Methods: Multi-centre clinical audit. Methods: This audit covered two periods: study period one (1 June-30 September 2022) and study period two (1 June-30 September 20...
Bungărdean D, Pall E, Daradics Z, Popescu M, Tripon MA, Lupșan AF, Crecan CM, Morar IA, Nicolescu A, Bora FD, Marcus I.Musculoskeletal disorders are a major cause of lameness in horses, often necessitating innovative regenerative strategies to restore joint function and improve quality of life. This study investigated the effects of platelet-rich plasma (PRP), ozonized PRP, hyaluronic acid, paracetamol, and polyacrylamide hydrogel (NOLTREX) on the behavior of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) derived from equine synovial fluid. Synovial fluid samples were collected under strict cytological criteria to ensure viability, followed by in vitro expansion and phenotypic characterization of MSCs. Cultures were supplement...
Newcombe JR, Claes AN, Cuervo-Arango J.Early embryonic loss (EEL), particularly between Days 14 and 42 of pregnancy, remains a key concern in equine reproduction. This study investigates the incidence of spontaneous luteolysis-used here as a marker of maternal recognition of pregnancy (MRP) failure-in both pregnant Thoroughbred (TB) broodmares and recipient mares carrying either in vivo-derived (IVD) or in vitro-produced (IVP) embryos. Retrospective reproductive data from 2078 pregnancies in TB and 532 pregnancies in recipients were analysed to determine the incidence and characteristics of clinical luteolysis during pregnancy. Ove...
Rodero E, González-Martínez A, Diz A, Rodero J.One of a veterinarian's routine tasks is animal identification, with age being a crucial factor in the identification and evaluation of individuals. Knowledge of the morphological changes in animal dentition used to determine their age is essential in veterinary education. Today's students increasingly prefer innovative learning tools that incorporate 3D anatomical models over traditional 2D resources. As part of a teaching innovation project at the University of Córdoba, Spain, new educational materials were developed to aid students in identifying the age of animals using 3D images of equin...
Seeger MG, de Vargas APC, Vogel FSF, Cargnelutti JF.Streptococcus equi subsp. equi (S. equi) is the etiological agent of strangles, a contagious equine disease characterized by lymph node abscess and respiratory complications. To clarify the epidemiology and virulence factors of isolates, this study demonstrated phenotypic and genotypic differences between S. equi obtained from nasal secretions and lymph node aspirates of clinical strangles cases. Additionally, circulating alleles were differentiated through sequencing of the 5' end of the seM gene. A total of 23 clinical isolates collected from horses with strangles over the past decade were a...
Frontiers in geneticsOctober 1, 2025
Volume 16 1676558 doi: 10.3389/fgene.2025.1676558
Ma S, Ren W, Li Z, Li L, Wang R, Su Y, Huang Q, Dehaxi S, Wang J.Equine athletic performance is modulated by both genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. As dynamic regulators of gene expression, MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a central role in the physiological response to exercise-induced stress18. This study focused on the top three elite Yili horses from a 5000-m race, collecting peripheral blood samples pre-race (group B) and post-race (group A). A longitudinal comparative analysis integrating miRNA omics profiling and target gene functional enrichment was performed. Nineteen miRNAs exhibited significant differential expression (10 upregulated, 9 downregulated), w...
Šarkūnas M, Schwahn A, Suleimanova K.The aim of present study was to examine the potency of moxidectin solution (Cydectin 1 %; Zoetis) and commercially available oral moxidectin gel (Equest®; Zoetis) to suppress the excretion of strongyle eggs in horses over a 6-week period. The horses naturally infected with strongyle nematodes (>500 eggs/g of feces) were divided into two comparable groups according age, sex and weight. On day 0 of the study, horses in Group OT (oral treatment; N=5) were dewormed with moxidectin gel (Equest®; Zoetis; 0.4 mg/kg of b.w.) according to the manufacturer's instructions, and horses in Group IT (intra...
Rimayanti R, Khairullah AR, Mustofa I, Utomo B, Lestari TD, Utama S, Akintunde AO, Mulyati S, Hernawati T, Dawood AQ, Riady G, Khan IU, Rasad SD.... is a protozoan parasite that causes the sexually transmitted disease known as "dourine" in horses. This chronic illness is directly spread from one animal to another during mating. Doflein proposed the name in 1901. Despite being distributed worldwide, the broad use of artificial insemination technology over the past three decades has resulted in only a few cases being documented. The condition is typically fatal and is characterized by gradual emaciation, nervous system involvement, and edematous lesions of the genitals. The incubation period between exposure and the onset of clinical sympt...
Zedler S, Jukic C, van Eps A, Stefanovski D, Genton M, Rossignol F.To compare the biomechanical properties of a three-dimensional (3D) printed titanium plate and spacer (3DM) and a 4.5 mm broad locking compression plate (LCP) for intervertebral fusion of C4-C5 in the horse. Methods: Ex vivo experimental study. Methods: Twenty-four equine cadaveric cervical spines. Methods: Twenty-four cadaver equine cervical spines were randomly assigned to ventral intervertebral fusion with either 3DM (n = 12) or LCP (n = 12) at C4-C5. Four-point bending tests were performed in flexion (3DM n = 6, LCP n = 6) and extension (3DM n = 6, LCP n = 6) in a sin...
Dumičić I, Ostojić L.Like other domesticated species, most notably dogs, horses have been reported to follow human gestures and successfully use them to gain rewards in an object choice task. Empirical support for the hypothesis that a domain-general mechanism may underlie this ability comes from studies in which horses have successfully solved the task by using not just a human pointing gesture but also an arbitrary physical cue, namely a wooden marker. Here, we replicated the two conditions in which these two cues were used by Proops et al. (2010) with two critical changes: first, we positioned the marker out of...
Scala E, Durie I, Gommeren K, Saegerman C, van Galen G.(1) Background: Ultrasonography of major vessels helps evaluate fluid status and responsiveness in critical human and canine patients. Aims: transrectal and inguinal ultrasonography of caudal vena cava (CVC), aorta (Ao), and femoral artery (FA) and vein (FV) in horses; calculate CVC collapsibility index (CI CVC) and vein-to-artery ratios; compare B- and M-mode; and evaluate repeatability and reproducibility. (2) Methods: B-mode and M-mode video loops were recorded twice by transrectal (Ao, CVC) and inguinal ultrasonography (FV, FA) by two operators on 17 healthy, sedated adult horses. Diameter...
Greenberg CB, Suckow MA, Clauson RM, Kalinauskas AE, Lucroy MD.Precision medicine is a therapeutic strategy to provide treatment that is tailored to a specific patient based on factors unique to that individual, such as the genetic makeup or the environment. Autologous cancer vaccines (ACVs) are ideal for a precision medicine approach because they incorporate antigens specific to the patient's tumor and provide an elegant solution to identifying and selecting relevant immunogenic neoantigens. ACVs are an appealing option for veterinary medicine because they are cancer-type and species agnostic. Over the past 50 years, many innovative ACVs have been evalua...
Cournoyer N, Hostnik ET, Urion R.A 1-month-old Arabian filly presented for central neurologic signs that developed shortly after birth. Hyperammonemia and elevated bile acids were identified, prompting abdominal computed tomography angiography (CTA) evaluation on suspicion of congenital portosystemic shunting (PSS). CTA revealed an anomalous vessel connecting the intrahepatic central divisional portal branch and caudal vena cava, with microhepatica and bilateral renomegaly. Necropsy confirmed a single, congenital, and intrahepatic central divisional portocaval shunt. Imaging literature addressing PSS in foals is sparse, with ...
Wilson KE, Davis JL.Adverse drug events (ADEs) are any harms caused by medical interventions used for treatment, prevention, or diagnosis. These events can happen due to human error or as unintended, harmful reactions to drugs when given at normal therapeutic doses. This review focuses on common ADEs associated with drugs frequently used in equine practice. Recognizing and understanding the manifestations of ADEs can help with early detection and more effective management, ultimately leading to better outcomes for equine patients. Additionally, knowledge of the potential harmful effects of drugs also aids in appr...
Tucker-Retter EK, Yamagata M, Gilger B, Oh A.To assess whether topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) with or without episcleral brinzolamide implants control intraocular pressure (IOP) in horses with glaucoma. Methods: 12 client-owned horses diagnosed with glaucoma. Methods: Medical records of horses treated with topical CAIs for ≥ 14 days, with a subset receiving episcleral brinzolamide implants, were reviewed. Diagnosis, signalment, concurrent ocular disease, medications, IOP, visual status, and additional procedures were recorded. Treatment failure was defined as horses with IOP > 30 mmHg resulting in phthisis bulbi o...
Vidal-Cardos R, Fàbrega E, Dalmau A.The sustainability of extensive livestock systems is compromised. It is necessary to enhance our understanding of the activity and grazing behavior of different livestock species (cows, horses, and sheep) sharing the same mountainous areas. Nowadays, the observation and analysis of animal activity is greatly facilitated by remote tracking technology, especially in zones with difficult access. In this article, we proved that commercial geolocation collars can provide meaningful data on animal activity, behavior, and distribution, which can be used to model daily distances, activity patterns, gr...
Samol MA, Barrett MF, Frisbie DD.Significant distal interphalangeal joint (DIPJ) pathology, particularly affecting soft tissue and articular cartilage, is often not identifiable on radiographs but can be accompanied by joint capsule enthesopathy on the middle phalanx (P2), which can be readily identified. Objective: To explore frequency and correlations between DIPJ capsule enthesopathy identified on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and radiographs and DIPJ articular cartilage abnormalities and other concurrent soft tissue or osseous pathology within the foot found on MRI. Methods: Retrospective descriptive case series. Metho...
Merle R, Feuer L, Frenzer K, Plenio JL, Bethe A, Sarnino N, Lübke-Becker A, Bäumer W.: A mandatory monitoring of the use of antibiotics in horses in the European Union will come into force from 2027 on. The aim of the study was to explore the potential implementation of a monitoring system and to provide an overview of antibiotic use in horses in Germany. : Data on all consultations from 57 German practices between 2018 and 2023 were obtained. The dataset included basic data about the horse, free-text diagnoses (allocated to one of 20 categories), and treatments. Information on the administered or dispensed pharmaceutical product was recorded for antibiotic treatment consultat...
González-Medina S, Barrett MF, Aboellail TA, Nelson BB, Nout-Lomas YS.While computed tomographic (CT) myelography is increasingly available and has been evaluated in alive horses, objective criteria for diagnosing cervical vertebral compressive myelopathy (CVCM) are lacking. Objective: To establish morphometric dimensions of the cervical vertebral canal and spinal cords from horses with CVCM and compare those to unaffected horses with the use of cone beam CT (CBCT). Methods: Prospective observational study. Methods: Four control horses and ten horses with CVCM underwent diagnostic imaging and histopathology. Morphometric measurements were obtained from cervical ...
Lugo T, Myers S, Nguyen TA.In vitro models have revolutionized our understanding of biological pathways and mechanisms, offering a viable alternative to direct patient testing. However, there is a significant lack of models for different animals, particularly equine models. This study presents a novel primary cell culture extracted from a 3-year-old horse diagnosed with multisystemic eosinophilic epitheliotropic disease. Tissue samples were collected from lymph nodes at various locations. Growth curves of extracted primary cells were analyzed and the optimal conditions were assessed. Biomarkers, such as CD31, ZO-1, CD79...
Sharshar A, Hammad A, Salem M, El-Sunsafty M.This study was carried out to evaluate a rectal pull-back one-stage technique, which is a modification of the one-stage Goetz technique, for treating third-degree perineal laceration or rectovestibular fistula. Methods: This study was performed on 12 mares, ten of whom suffered from third-grade perineal laceration, and two suffered from rectovestibular fistula and were included in this study. After incision of the vestibular shelf horizontally, the dissected rectal flap was pulled caudally and sutured to the anal sphincter during its reconstruction at the final stage. While the vestibular shel...
Smith R, Perkins L, Pinchbeck G, Ireland J.The decisions made by horse owners on behalf of their animal, including decisions to involve a veterinarian, play an important role in the management of pain. This study explored horse owners' experiences to understand how they conceptualised chronic pain within the context of their horse-human relationship, what led them to seek veterinary involvement, and how veterinary interactions shaped their perceptions of pain and its management. An ethnographic approach using constructivist grounded theory methods was adopted. This paper draws upon field notes generated through 200 h of observation und...
Webster AP, Wright RK, Hammond JB, Kotey NA, Gleason CB, White RR.This study explored whether thermal imaging could provide an objective means of body condition scoring (BCS) horses and multiparous, gestating beef cows. This study consisted of two parts: one part assessed BCS in horses of the Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred breed types while the other evaluated BCS of gestating beef cows. Ground truth BCS were assigned by five to eight trained scorers for each animal. Thermal images were also collected from one or both sides of the body and analyzed for surface temperature. Surface temperature and BCS were evaluated with the whole body, and for five (cows) or ...
Stanisławczyk R, Żurek J, Rudy M, Gil M, Krajewska A, Dziki D.The aim of this study was to demonstrate the effect of horse age, high-pressure cooking, and various heat-treatment methods on the quality of horse meat. The research material consisted of samples of the longissimus thoracis muscle obtained from 14 horse carcasses from two age groups. Samples of the muscle were subjected to traditional cooking (TC), sous-vide cooking (S-V), high-pressure cooking (HHP), HHP + TC, and HHP + S-V. The chemical composition, physicochemical properties, color parameters, pigment levels, texture parameters, and sensory properties of the meat were determined. Exposing...
Hou L, Sulayman A, Zeng Y, Zhou L, Aimaier A, Kader A, Shi L.The study of horse genetic diversity is imperative for informing conservation strategies, safeguarding ancestral lineages, and enhancing breed adaptability to environmental and disease pressures. This study employed 13 microsatellite markers with fluorescent-labeled capillary electrophoresis to analyze the genetic diversity of the Kyrgyz horse ( = 30) and Barkol horse ( = 30) for the first time, comparing them with three other indigenous horse breeds ( = 30 per breed) from Xinjiang, China. A total of 208 alleles were detected. The Polymorphic Information Content (PIC) results from GenAlEx 6.51...
Pilati N, Pressanto MC, Palumbo Piccionello A, De Angelis Corvi F, Beccati F.The term overriding spinous processes (ORSPs), commonly known as "kissing spine syndrome," refers to a skeletal abnormality in horses that is characterized by the narrowing (<4 mm) of the interspinous space and touching or overlapping of the spinous processes (SPs). This condition primarily affects the mid- and caudal thoracic vertebrae; however, ORSP can also affect the lumbar SPs. In the veterinary community, kissing spine is widely recognized as a common condition in sport horses, as it is often associated with chronic back pain and contributes to poor performance. Despite its significant c...
Kassymbekova SN, Bimenova ZZ, Iskhan KZ, Sobiech P, Jastrzebski JP, Brym P, Babis W, Kalykova AS, Otebayev ZM, Kabylbekova DI, Baneh H, Romanov MN.Mugalzhar horses are a relatively young native breed of Kazakhstan, prized for meat and milk production and adaptation. This study was conducted to investigate genetic diversity and pinpoint genomic regions associated with selection signatures in this breed using whole-genome sequence data. Variant calling yielded a total of 21,722,393 high-quality variants, including 19,495,163 SNPs and 2,227,230 indels. Most variants were located in introns and intergenic regions, while only 1.94% were exonic. Estimates of genetic diversity were moderate, with expected and observed heterozygosity and nucleot...
Field H, Schaaf K, Kung N, Simon C, Waltisbuhl D, Hobert H, Moore F, Middleton D, Crook A, Smith G, Daniels P, Glanville R, Lovell D.To determine the epidemiologic and clinical features of a 2008 outbreak of Hendra virus infection in a veterinary clinic in Australia, we investigated the equine case-series. Four of 5 infected horses died, as did 1 of 2 infected staff members. Clinical manifestation in horses was predominantly neurologic. Preclinical transmission appears likely.
de Jonge N, Carlsen B, Christensen MH, Pertoldi C, Nielsen JL.The gut microbiome plays a critical role in many aspects of host life, and the microbial community composition is heavily influenced by the prevailing conditions in the gut environment. Community composition has been suggested to have large implications for conservation efforts, and gut health has become of interest for optimizing animal care in captivity. In this study, we explore the gut microbiome of a wide range of animals in the context of conservation biology. The composition of the gut microbial community of 54 mammalian animal species was investigated using 16S rRNA gene amplicon seque...
Klymiuk MC, Balz N, Elashry MI, Heimann M, Wenisch S, Arnhold S.Mesenchymal stem cells are used for different therapeutic approaches, e.g. for osteoarthritis, lesions of the tendon as well as for bone defects. Current research on the mechanism of stem cells on the repair of damaged tissue suggest an important role of a cell-to-cell communication through secreted extracellular vesicles, mainly represented by exosomes. To enhance the scarce knowledge on the functional role of exosomes we compared as a first step different techniques to isolate and identify exosomes from the supernatant of equine adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells for further characteriza...
Nielsen MK, Baptiste KE, Tolliver SC, Collins SS, Lyons ET.Increasing levels of anthelmintic resistance in equine nematodes have led to recommendations of more sustainable anthelmintic treatment protocols with emphasis on parasite surveillance and diagnosis, rather than prophylactic calendar-based treatments. This requires knowledge of the diagnostic test performance of techniques for counts of eggs per gram of feces (EPG) as well as methods for culturing, counting and identifying third stage (L(3)) strongyle larvae per gram of feces (LPG). For horses, such information does not exist in the published literature. The aim of this study was to examine th...
Walther B, Monecke S, Ruscher C, Friedrich AW, Ehricht R, Slickers P, Soba A, Wleklinski CG, Wieler LH, Lübke-Becker A.Despite the increasing importance of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in veterinary medicine, knowledge about the epidemiology of the pathogen in horses is still poor. The phylogenetic relationship of strains of human and equine origins has been addressed before, usually by analyzing results of common standard classification methods for MRSA. This work intends to go beyond the baseline of typing procedures in order to comparatively characterize equine and human MRSA strains with similar phylogenetic backgrounds. In addition to multilocus sequence typing, pulsed-field gel elec...
Nawroth C, Langbein J, Coulon M, Gabor V, Oesterwind S, Benz-Schwarzburg J, von Borell E.Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on u...
Anderson MA, Whitlock JE, Harwood VJ.Escherichia coli is the most completely characterized prokaryotic model organism and one of the dominant indicator organisms for food and water quality testing, yet comparatively little is known about the structure of E. coli populations in their various hosts. The diversities of E. coli populations isolated from the feces of three host species (human, cow, and horse) were compared by two subtyping methods: ribotyping (using HindIII) and antibiotic resistance analysis (ARA). The sampling effort required to obtain a representative sample differed by host species, as E. coli diversity was consis...
Endimiani A, Hujer KM, Hujer AM, Bertschy I, Rossano A, Koch C, Gerber V, Francey T, Bonomo RA, Perreten V.We investigated whether Acinetobacter baumannii isolates of veterinary origin shared common molecular characteristics with those described in humans. Methods: Nineteen A. baumannii isolates collected in pets and horses were analysed. Clonality was studied using repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR (rep-PCR) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST). PCR and DNA sequencing for various β-lactamase, aminoglycoside-modifying enzyme, gyrA and parC, ISAba1 and IS1133, adeR and adeS of the AdeABC efflux pump, carO porin and class 1/2/3 integron genes were performed. Results: Two main clones [A (n =...
Tagliabue S, Figarolli BM, D'Incau M, Foschi G, Gennero MS, Giordani R, Giordani R, Natale A, Papa P, Ponti N, Scaltrito D, Spadari L, Vesco G....Nowadays, leptospirosis is a re‑emerging widespread infectious disease often underestimate worldwide. The National Reference Centre for Leptospirosis (NRCL), at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Lombardia e dell'Emilia Romagna, Brescia (Italy), with the cooperation of all the other Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali (IIZZSS), evaluated the distribution of such important zoonosis in Italy. Serological data obtained between 2010‑2011 by each laboratory were collected by the NRCL and discussed. Serum samples collected from 43,935 animal specimens were analysed by the Microsco...
Uller C, Lewis J.The ability to select the greater numerosity over another in small sets seems to stem from the calculation of which set contains more, and has been taken as evidence of a primordial representation at the roots of the primate numerical system. We tested 56 horses (Equus caballus) in a paradigm previously used with human infants and nonhuman primates. Horses saw two quantities paired in contrasts-2 versus 1, 3 versus 2, 6 versus 4 and a control for volume, 2 versus 1 big-and had to make a choice by snout touching the container holding the numerosity selected. The horses spontaneously selected th...
Berny P, Caloni F, Croubels S, Sachana M, Vandenbroucke V, Davanzo F, Guitart R.This is the second in a series of three review articles on animal poisoning in Europe and focuses on cases in pet animals and horses in five European countries (Belgium, France, Greece, Italy and Spain) reported over the last decade. In the participating countries, dogs were the most commonly poisoned species, particularly younger animals. The majority of cases in companion animals resulted from exposure to insecticides, although rodenticides (especially anticoagulants and strychnine) posed a significant risk. In all five countries, horses and cats appeared to be more susceptible to plant toxi...
Druart X, Rickard JP, Mactier S, Kohnke PL, Kershaw-Young CM, Bathgate R, Gibb Z, Crossett B, Tsikis G, Labas V, Harichaux G, Grupen CG, de Graaf SP.Seminal plasma contains a large protein component which has been implicated in the function, transit and survival of spermatozoa within the female reproductive tract. However, the identity of the majority of these proteins remains unknown and a direct comparison between the major domestic mammalian species has yet to be made. As such, the present study characterized and compared the seminal plasma proteomes of cattle, horse, sheep, pig, goat, camel and alpaca. GeLC-MS/MS and shotgun proteomic analysis by 2D-LC-MS/MS identified a total of 302 proteins in the seminal plasma of the chosen mammali...
Higuera A, Herrera G, Jimenez P, García-Corredor D, Pulido-Medellín M, Bulla-Castañeda DM, Pinilla JC, Moreno-Pérez DA, Maloney JG, Santín M.... is frequently reported in fecal samples from animals and humans worldwide, and a variety of subtypes (STs) have been observed in wild and domestic animals. In Colombia, few studies have focused on the transmission dynamics and epidemiological importance of in animals. In this study, we characterized the frequency and subtypes of in fecal samples of domestic animals including pigs, minipigs, cows, dogs, horses, goats, sheep, and llama from three departments of Colombia. Of the 118 fecal samples included in this study 81.4% ( = 96) were positive for using a PCR that amplifies a fragment of t...
Julliand V, de Vaux A, Millet L, Fonty G.Detection and quantification of cellulolytic bacteria with oligonucleotide probes showed that Ruminococcus flavefaciens was the predominant species in the pony and donkey cecum. Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus albus were present at low levels. Four isolates, morphologically resembling R. flavefaciens, differed from ruminal strains by their carbohydrate utilization and their end products of cellobiose fermentation.
Olson ME, Thorlakson CL, Deselliers L, Morck DW, McAllister TA.Giardia intestinalis and Cryptosporidium spp. are commonly identified intestinal pathogens in humans and animals. In light of the clinical disease, production losses and zoonotic potential of both Giardia and Cryptosporidium infections, a study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of these parasites in cattle, sheep, pigs and horses in Canadian farms at different geographical locations. A total of 104 cattle, 89 sheep, 236 pigs and 35 horses were sampled from 15 different Canadian geographical locations. Fecal samples were examined after concentration and immunofluorescent staining. Gi...
Gurgul A, Jasielczuk I, Semik-Gurgul E, Pawlina-Tyszko K, Stefaniuk-Szmukier M, Szmatoła T, Polak G, Tomczyk-Wrona I, Bugno-Poniewierska M.The genetic differentiation of the current horse population was evolutionarily created by natural or artificial selection which shaped the genomes of individual breeds in several unique ways. The availability of high throughput genotyping methods created the opportunity to study this genetic variation on a genome-wide level allowing detection of genome regions divergently selected between separate breeds as well as among different horse types sharing similar phenotypic features. In this study, we used the population differentiation index (FST) that is generally used for measuring locus-specifi...
Venter M, Swanepoel R.West Nile virus (WNV) is widely distributed in South Africa, but since a few cases of neurological disease have been reported from this region, endemic lineage 2 strains were postulated to be of low virulence. Several cases of nonfatal encephalitis in humans as well as fatal cases in a foal, dog, and ostrich chicks have, however, been associated with lineage 2 WNV in South Africa. The pathogenesis of lineage 2 WNV strains was investigated using mouse neuroinvasive experiments, gene expression experiments, and genome sequence comparisons which indicated that lineage 2 strains that are highly pa...
O'Mahony R, Abbott Y, Leonard FC, Markey BK, Quinn PJ, Pollock PJ, Fanning S, Rossney AS.Reports of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in animals have become more frequent in recent years. This paper documents the recovery of MRSA from animals with respiratory, urinary tract or wound infection and from animals subjected to surgical procedures following treatment in one veterinary hospital and 16 private veterinary clinics in different geographical locations throughout Ireland. MRSA was recovered from 25 animals comprising 14 dogs, eight horses, one cat, one rabbit and a seal, and also from 10 attendant veterinary personnel. Clinical susceptibility testing suggested...
Islam MZ, Espinosa-Gongora C, Damborg P, Sieber RN, Munk R, Husted L, Moodley A, Skov R, Larsen J, Guardabassi L.Denmark is a country with high prevalence of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) clonal complex (CC) 398 in pigs. Even though pig farming is regarded as the main source of human infection or colonization with MRSA CC398, 10-15% of the human cases appear not to be linked to pigs. Following the recent reports of MRSA CC398 in horses in other European countries and the lack of knowledge on S. aureus carriage in this animal species, we carried out a study to investigate whether horses constitute a reservoir of MRSA CC398 in Denmark, and to gain knowledge on the ...
Williams IF, McCullagh KG, Silver IA.During tissue response to injury the glycoproteins fibronectin and Type III collagen are synthesized in increased amounts. We have studied the distribution of these molecules in the healing tendon at various times after injury by comparison with that of the major constituent of normal tendon, Type I collagen. Immunofluorescent localization demonstrated the presence of fibronectin throughout the tendon within one week after injury. Staining was found in the matrix, both around capillaries and around fibroblast-like cells. Fibronectin was still apparent in the healing tendon at one month after i...
Yarnell K, Hall C, Royle C, Walker SL.The predominant housing system used for domestic horses is individual stabling; however, housing that limits social interaction and requires the horse to live in semi-isolation has been reported to be a concern for equine welfare. The aim of the current study was to compare behavioural and physiological responses of domestic horses in different types of housing design that provided varying levels of social contact. Horses (n = 16) were divided equally into four groups and exposed to each of four housing treatments for a period of five days per treatment in a randomized block design. The four h...
Biddle AS, Black SJ, Blanchard JL.Laminitis is a chronic, crippling disease triggered by the sudden influx of dietary starch. Starch reaches the hindgut resulting in enrichment of lactic acid bacteria, lactate accumulation, and acidification of the gut contents. Bacterial products enter the bloodstream and precipitate systemic inflammation. Hindgut lactate levels are normally low because specific bacterial groups convert lactate to short chain fatty acids. Why this mechanism fails when lactate levels rapidly rise, and why some hindgut communities can recover is unknown. Fecal samples from three adult horses eating identical di...
Westhoff D, Kamp G.Evidence is provided that the glycolytic enzyme glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase is covalently linked to the fibrous sheath. The fibrous sheath is a typical structure of mammalian spermatozoa surrounding the axoneme in the principal piece of the flagellum. More than 90% of boar sperm glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity is sedimented after cell disintegration by centrifugation. Detergents, different salt concentrations or short term incubation with chymotrypsin do not solubilize the enzyme, whereas digestion with trypsin or elastase does. Short term incubation with trypsin...
Caliari SR, Harley BA.Biomolecular environments encountered in vivo are complex and dynamic, with combinations of biomolecules presented in both freely diffusible (liquid-phase) and sequestered (bound to the extracellular matrix) states. Strategies for integrating multiple biomolecular signals into a biomimetic scaffold provide a platform to simultaneously control multiple cell activities, such as motility, proliferation, phenotype, and regenerative potential. Here we describe an investigation elucidating the influence of the dose and mode of presentation (soluble, sequestered) of five biomolecules (stromal cell-de...
Loeffler A, Lloyd DH.This article reviews the literature on the epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in dogs, cats and horses. Over the past 10 years, MRSA has emerged as an important pathogen in veterinary medicine, especially in countries with a high MRSA burden in human hospitals. During the same period, community-associated MRSA (CA-MRSA) infections in humans without apparent links to healthcare facilities have increased dramatically. Although animal infections occur outside human hospitals, significant epidemiological, clinical and genetic differences exist between CA-MRSA in hum...
Hoynowski SM, Fry MM, Gardner BM, Leming MT, Tucker JR, Black L, Sand T, Mitchell KE.Stem cells are being evaluated in numerous human clinical trials and are commercially used in veterinary medicine to treat horses and dogs. Stem cell differentiation, homing to disease sites, growth and cytokine factor modulation, and low antigenicity contribute to their therapeutic success. Bone marrow and adipose tissue are the two most common sources of adult-derived stem cells in animals. We report on the existence of an alternative source of primitive, multipotent stem cells from the equine umbilical cord cellular matrix (Wharton's jelly). Equine umbilical cord matrix (EUCM) cells can be ...
Fortier LA, Nixon AJ, Williams J, Cable CS.To isolate mesenchymal stem cells from adult horses and determine specific monolayer culture conditions required to enhance biochemically and phenotypically defined chondrocytic differentiation. Methods: 2 adult horse bone marrow donors without skeletal or hematologic abnormalities. Methods: Bone marrow was aspirated from the sternebra, and mesenchymal stem cells were isolated by centrifugation and cultured in monolayers. Subcultures were established in 24-well plates on day 13. Culture medium was harvested every 2 days, and culture of 12 of the 24 wells was terminated on day 6 and of the rema...
