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.
Schieder K, Zsoldos RR, Dippel M, Siedler C, Tichy A, Licka TF.Lameness evaluation (LE) is an important veterinary skill, but it can be a challenging task to teach. Acoustic and visual input in conjunction with acting are the three major learning channels for acquiring new information. Acting (e.g., physical self-experience) has not been reported as a didactic tool for LE; therefore, we investigated two physical self-experience techniques, imitation of lameness during LE instruction and head nod during LE. Undergraduate veterinary students ( = 78) who had not yet received any instructions for LE underwent standard instruction for LE, followed by instructi...
Abs V, Bonicelli J, Kacza J, Zizzadoro C, Abraham G.Interaction between epithelial cells and fibroblasts play a key role in wound repair and remodelling in the asthmatic airway epithelium. We present the establishment of a co-culture model using primary equine bronchial epithelial cells (EBECs) and equine bronchial fibroblasts (EBFs). EBFs at passage between 4 and 8 were seeded on the bottom of 24-well plates and treated with mitomycin C at 80% confluency. Then, freshly isolated (P0) or passaged (P1) EBECs were seeded on the upper surface of membrane inserts that had been placed inside the EBF-containing well plates and grown first under liquid...
Yang F, Shao Q, Jiang Z.Using the Yellow-River-Source National Park (YRSNP) as a study site, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) remote sensing and line transect method was used to investigate the number of wild herbivorous animals and livestock, including the kiang () and Tibetan gazelle (). A downscaling algorithm was used to generate the forage yield data in YRSNP based on a 30-m spatial resolution. On this basis, we estimated the forage-livestock balance, which included both wild animals and livestock, and analyzed the effects of functional zone planning in national parks on the forage-livestock balance in YRSNP. Th...
Mouloodi S, Rahmanpanah H, Burvill C, Davies HMS.The hierarchical nature of bone makes it a difficult material to fully comprehend. The equine third metacarpal (MC3) bone experiences nonuniform surface strains, which are a measure of displacement induced by loads. This paper investigates the use of an artificial neural network expert system to quantify MC3 bone loading. Previous studies focused on determining the response of bone using load, bone geometry, mechanical properties, and constraints as input parameters. This is referred to as a forward problem and is generally solved using numerical techniques such as finite element analysis (FEA...
Allen KJ, Tennant KV, Franklin SH.Published studies vary as to whether epithelial cells are included in differential counts for tracheal wash (TW) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cytology in horses. The aim of this study was to determine whether inclusion or exclusion of epithelial cells affects interpretation of airway cytology. Using criteria of >20% TW neutrophils, >10% BAL neutrophils and/or >5% BAL mast cells to indicate airway inflammation, there was a change in categorisation from 'normal' to 'abnormal' in 21%, 4% and 8% horses, respectively, when epithelial cells were excluded from differential counts. It is recommend...
Fazio F, Cicero N, Piccione G, Giannetto C, Licata P.Mercury (Hg) exists in various chemical forms, and it is different to health effects. The most toxic effects occur in the central nervous system during fetal development with irreversible alterations of the nerve cells of the cerebral cortex and, it is essential to monitor the tissue residues of Hg to protect the animal's health. The present investigation was carried out during May 2019 in 20 horses located in equine sport center near the area of Milazzo, Messina, that is a part of Sicilian territory heavily polluted by many toxic substances. The purpose of this study was to determine the conc...
Merlin A, Schneider J, Cazeau G, Sala C, Linster M, Foucher N, Ferry B, Delerue M, Amat JP, Tapprest J.The core of the French equine traceability system is the census database (SIRE) managed by the French horse and riding institute (IFCE). Following the death of an equine, owners are legally obliged to take charge of cadaver removal by contacting a rendering company directly or after registration on the national ATM-équidés ANGEE association (ATM) website, which proposes negotiated prices for removal and recording of the death in the SIRE database. Despite these offers, ATM notes few users. Owners are also legally obliged to return the equine's passport to the IFCE, but only 30-40 % of owners...
Mei M, Chen R, Gao X, Cao Y, Weng W, Duan Y, Tan X, Liu Z.Meat fraud and adulteration incidents occur frequently in almost all regions of the globe, especially with the increase in the world's population. To ensure the authenticity of meat products, we developed a 10-plex xMAP assay to simultaneously detect ten animal materials: bovine, caprine, poultry, swine, donkey, deer, horse, dog, fox and mink. Results: This method was investigated by analyzing DNA extracts from raw muscle, muscle mixtures, meat products and animal feeds. Our results indicated that the species of interest can be identified, differentiated and detected down to 1 g kg in bina...
Jaqueth AL, Hathaway M, Catalano DN, Linders NC, Mottet R, Martinson KL.Social media are an ever-present part of daily life and for researchers and may be a useful platform to increase potential participant pools for Web-based surveys. Although survey usage to evaluate practices in the equine community is not new, the use of social media to advertise and enhance the usage of Web-based surveys is novel. In 2018, the University of Minnesota (UMN) equine Extension program developed and administered two Web-based surveys through the UMN equine Extension Facebook page and monthly e-newsletter. Surveys focused on industry practices and motivating factors behind the usag...
Khalili M, Sakhaee E, Bagheri Amiri F, Safat AA, Afshar D, Esmaeili S.Leptospirosis is a neglected infectious zoonotic disease that affects domestic animals and wildlife as well as humans. Although leptospirosis is known as an endemic disease in Iran, there is no accurate information on the overall prevalence of this disease in humans and animals. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the seroprevalence of leptospirosis among human and domestic and wild animals in Iran. A systematic review of English and Persian articles (since 1998 to December 2017) was conducted using Google Scholar, Medline/PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Web of ...
Aziz KJ, Al-Barwary LTO.Equine piroplasmosis is a major tick-borne disease that can lead to serious health problems and economic losses in horse industry. The aim of the study is to determine the prevalence of and in different species of Equus namely (Horse, mule, donkey and pony) by Giemsa stained blood films and competitive ELISA. Methods: This study was conducted at various geographic areas of Erbil governorate. A total of 349 blood samples from equine (209 horses, 62 mule, 57 donkey and 21 ponies) were collected to estimate the prevalence rate of and by using Giemsa stained blood smear and competitive ELISA. ...
Krueger K, Marr I, Dobler A, Palme R.Non-invasive methods enable stress evaluation through measuring fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (FGMs), and immunoglobulin A (IgA) in the feces avoiding stressful blood drawing or stressful restraining of animals in the field. However, FGMs and IgA are mostly analysed in freshly frozen samples, which is difficult when fresh samples cannot be frozen immediately or frozen samples cannot be stored or transported. Good results were also derived from air-dried fecal samples, which are hampered by unstable air humidity in the field. These difficulties may be overcome, when drying of samples could b...
Trösch M, Cuzol F, Parias C, Calandreau L, Nowak R, Lansade L.Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies have aimed to gain more insight into the field of animal emotions. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether animals can cross-modally categorize the emotions of others. For domestic animals that share a close relationship with humans, we might wonder whether this cross-modal recognition of emotions extends to humans, as well. In this study, we tested whether horses could recognize human emotions and attribute the emotional valence of visual (facial expression) and vocal (non-verbal vocalization) stimuli to the same perceptua...
Budiono NG, Satrija F, Ridwan Y, Handharyani E, Murtini S.Schistosomiasis is endemic in Indonesia and is found in three remote areas in Central Sulawesi Province. Non-human mammals serve as reservoir hosts, meaning the disease is zoonotic. The previous schistosomiasis studies in animals from the Lindu Subdistrict did not determine which domestic animal species can serve as the primary source of transmission. No animals have been treated in Indonesia to control the disease; therefore, the parasite's life cycle is not blocked entirely. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and identify the risk factors associated with, infection in animals, and...
Park J, Kim EB.The ecosystem of an animal farm is composed of various elements, such as animals, farmers, plants, feed, soil, and microorganisms. A domesticated animal's health is largely connected with the reservoir of bacteria and viruses in animal farms. Although a few studies have focused on exploring the gut microbiome of animals, communities of microbiota and viruses in feedlots have not been thoroughly investigated. Methods: Here, we collected feces and dust samples (4 groups: cattle feces, C_F; horse feces, H_F; cattle dust, C_D; and horse dust, H_D) from cattle and horse farms sharing the same housi...
Solé M, Ablondi M, Binzer-Panchal A, Velie BD, Hollfelder N, Buys N, Ducro BJ, François L, Janssens S, Schurink A, Viklund Å, Eriksson S....Copy Number Variation (CNV) is a common form of genetic variation underlying animal evolution and phenotypic diversity across a wide range of species. In the mammalian genome, high frequency of CNV differentiation between breeds may be candidates for population-specific selection. However, CNV differentiation, selection and its population genetics have been poorly explored in horses. Results: We investigated the patterns, population variation and gene annotation of CNV using the Axiom® Equine Genotyping Array (670,796 SNPs) from a large cohort of individuals (N = 1755) belonging to eight ...
Li X, Ni HB, Ren WX, Jiang J, Gong QL, Zhang XX.Toxoplasmosis, one of the most common zoonoses worldwide, is caused by Toxoplasma gondii. T. gondii can infect almost all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Horses are an intermediate host of T. gondii, representing a potential risk for humans. To determine the T. gondii seroprevalence in horses worldwide, a global meta-analysis was conducted. A total of 35 publications were obtained by searching the PubMed, ScienceDirect, Chinese Web of knowledge (CNKI) and Wanfang databases. A total of 12,354 horses were assessed, of which 1580 were positive for T. gondii. The pooled overall seroprevale...
Álvarez-Narváez S, Giguère S, Anastasi E, Hearn J, Scortti M, Vázquez-Boland JA.Antibiotic use has been linked to changes in the population structure of human pathogens and the clonal expansion of multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains among healthcare- and community-acquired infections. Here we present a compelling example in a veterinary pathogen, , the causative agent of a severe pulmonary infection affecting foals worldwide. We show that the (46) gene responsible for emerging macrolide resistance among equine isolates in the United States is part of a 6.9-kb transposable element, Tn, actively mobilized by an IS family transposase. Tn is carried on an 87-kb conjugative pla...
Dai F, Dalla Costa A, Bonfanti L, Caucci C, Di Martino G, Lucarelli R, Padalino B, Minero M.The present work aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a self-loading training using positive reinforcement on stress-related behaviors shown by meat horses during loading procedures into a truck. Thirty-two meat horses ( = 18; = 14; 6 month-old) were included in the study. All horses had limited interactions with the farmer and were not used to be restrained nor lead by halter. Horses were divided in two groups: Control Group (C; = 14) and Training Group (T; = 18). T horses were trained to self-load: in order to teach the horses to enter into the truck, a targeting training technique throughou...
Bourély C, Cazeau G, Jarrige N, Jouy E, Haenni M, Lupo A, Madec JY, Leblond A, Gay E.To examine the relevance of co-resistance to amoxicillin and tetracycline as an indicator of multidrug resistance (MDR) in animal health. Methods: isolates collected between 2012 and 2016 by the French surveillance network for antimicrobial resistance in diseased animals (RESAPATH) were analyzed. The proportions of MDR isolates and the proportions of isolates presenting co-resistance to amoxicillin and tetracycline were calculated for seven animal species (cattle, horse, dog, swine, poultry, duck, and turkey). The degree of agreement between these two proportions was estimated by calculating ...
Clayton HM, Hobbs SJ.Gaits are typically classified as walking or running based on kinematics, the shape of the vertical ground reaction force (GRF) curve, and the use of inverted pendulum or spring-mass mechanics during the stance phase. The objectives of this review were to describe the biomechanical characteristics that differentiate walking and running gaits, then apply these criteria to classify and compare the enhanced natural gait of collected trot with the artificial gaits of passage and piaffe as performed by highly trained dressage horses. Limb contact and lift off times were used to determine contact se...
Assunção P, Barbosa T, Yonezawa L, Barbosa L, Watanabe M, Kohayagawa A, Schmidt E.High-intensity exercise can be associated with the occurrence of muscle injury, as well as the induction of an acute-phase response (APR). The present study aims to investigate the synthesis and profile of serum proteins in horses before and after participating in 2 different exercise protocols and to relate this profile to the presence or absence of muscular injury caused by exercise. Ten purebred Arabian (n = 5) and Criollo (n = 5) horses were subjected to 2 different tests on a treadmill, one consisting of short-duration and rapid-acceleration training (TRA) that was mostly anerobic and the...
Browne C, Medlock JM.Last summer saw an unusually high number of cases of West Nile fever in horses and people in south and south-east Europe, but it is too early to tell if this was a one-off increase or a sign of things to come. Here, , , and discuss the various West Nile fever surveillance and control mechanisms in place in the UK.
Zavistanaviciute P, Poskiene I, Lele V, Antanaitis R, Kantautaite J, Bartkiene E.The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the newly isolated Lactobacillus plantarum LUHS135 and Lactobacillus paracasei LUHS244 strains grown in potato juice (with a cell count of 8.0-9.0 log10 CFU/ml) on the blood and faeces parameters of exercising horses. The horses were classified into four different groups: a control group (which received no probiotics); the first group (which received 200 ml of L. plantarum culture in potato juice); the second group (which received 200 ml of L. paracasei culture in potato juice); and the third group (which received an L. plantarum and L. pa...
Martin-Giménez T, Cruz AM, Barragán A, Montero E, Sanchez PG, Caballero G, Corradini I.Occipital condylar fractures (OCFs) causing delayed onset lower cranial nerve paralysis (LCNPs) are rare. We present a 7-year-old Friesian horse with delayed onset dysphagia caused by vagus nerve (CNX) paralysis and suspicion of glossopharyngeal nerve (CNIX) paralysis developed several days after a minor head injury. Endoscopic examination revealed right laryngeal hemiplegia and intermittent dorsal displacement of the soft palate. An area of submucosal hemorrhage and bulging was appreciated over the dorsal aspect of the medial compartment of the right guttural pouch. Radiological examination o...
Tang L, Yan L, Jia H, Xiong Y, Ma X, Chu H, Sun Z, Wang L, Shalitanati M, Li K, Hu D, Zhang D.Host-associated microbiota can significantly impact host fitness. Therefore, naturally occurring variations in microbiota may influence the health and persistence of their hosts. This finding is particularly important in reintroduced animals, as they typically experience habitat changes during translocations. However, little is known about how microbiomes are altered in response to conservation translocation. Here, we accessed the gut microbiome of Przewalski's horse (Equus przewalskii) populations in China from three nature reserves (i.e. Xinjiang Kalamaili Nature Reserve, KNR; Dunhuang Xihu ...
Osterman-Lind E, Hedberg Alm Y, Hassler H, Wilderoth H, Thorolfson H, Tydén E.Horses, as grazing animals, are inadvertently exposed to intestinal parasites that, if not controlled, may cause disease. However, the indiscriminate use of anthelmintic drugs has led to drug resistance, highlighting the need for pasture-management practices to reduce the level of parasitic exposure and lessen reliance on drugs. The efficacy of such methods depends both on the epidemiology of the parasites and the prevailing weather conditions. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of faecal removal and harrowing on reducing the number of parasite larvae in herbage. Moreover, the ...
Contasti AL, Tissier EJ, Johnstone JF, McLoughlin PD.Fine-scale spatial variation in genetic relatedness and inbreeding occur across continuous distributions of several populations of vertebrates; however, the basis of observed variation is often left untested. Here we test the hypothesis that prior observations of spatial patterns in genetics for an island population of feral horses (Sable Island, Canada) were the result of spatial variation in population dynamics, itself based in spatial heterogeneity in underlying habitat quality. In order to assess how genetic and population structuring related to habitat, we used hierarchical cluster analys...
Harley JJ, Stack JD, Braid H, McLennan KM, Stanley CR.Validated assessment protocols have been developed to quantify welfare states for intensively managed sport, pleasure, and working horses. There are few protocols for extensively managed or free-roaming populations. Here, we trialed welfare indicators to ascertain their feasibility, reliability, and repeatability using free-roaming Carneddau Mountain ponies as an example population. The project involved (1) the identification of animal and resource-based measures of welfare from both the literature and discussion with an expert group; (2) testing the feasibility and repeatability of a modified...
Hodgkinson JE.The future implementation of improved and sustainable control strategies for the major equine parasites will be dependent on a greater insight into their basic biology, pathogenicity and epidemiology together with an enhanced ability for accurate diagnosis. This paper will provide a review of the current molecular methods under development for the detection of equine parasites and their application to current scientific questions. In particular, the strongyles are recognised as important pathogens of horses and recent advances made in the study of this parasitic group at the single species lev...
Kim DH, Chung YS, Park YK, Yang SJ, Lim SK, Park YH, Park KT.Antimicrobial-resistant (AR) enterococci have emerged as leading nosocomial pathogens. Transmission of AR Enterococci from animals to humans has been demonstrated. However, there is limited information on the transmission of enterococci from horses to humans. To address this issue, we characterized 260 enterococci isolated from horse-associated samples in Korea in 2013 based on their AR profiles and virulence traits. AR profiling revealed an average ratio of AR enterococci of 23.8%. Seven isolates (2.7%) were multidrug-resistant Enterococcus faecalis. Most tetracycline-resistant enterococci ha...
Calderón JC, Astudillo M, Romero MH.Introduction: Police working horses are in close contact with their managers and the general population during recreational and patrol activities, which can favor the transmission of leptospirosis among the horses and the occupationally exposed personnel. Objective. To characterize epidemiologically leptospirosis through serology, urine culture and PCR in working horses and in the occupationally exposed population in six police stations in Colombia. Materials and methods. We tested 153 castrated male horses and 123 people in six police stations in the municipalities of Manizales, Pereira, Arme...
Abutarbush SM, Naylor JM, Parchoma G, D'Eon M, Petrie L, Carruthers T.To evaluate the effectiveness of a self-learning computer module (SLCM) versus traditional instruction in teaching how to pass a nasogastric tube (NG) in the horse. Methods: A double-blind, monocentric study. Methods: 52 third-year students in the DVM program were randomly assigned to two groups: traditional instruction (N = 25) or SLCM instruction (N = 27). Methods: Traditional instruction consisted of an instructor and live demonstration; SCLM students were given a CD-ROM each. Both sessions lasted one hour. The students were then united in one session to practice passing the NG tube. Their ...
Al Abri MA, Brooks SA, Al-Saqri N, Alkharousi K, Johnson EH, Alqaisi O, Al-Rawahi A, Al Marzooqi W.Arabian horses were selected for metabolic efficiency, beauty, efficiency and endurance. Therefore, Bedouins have for centuries traced their prized horses' ancestries. With the establishment of the World Arabian Horse Organization (WAHO), registration of Arabian horses became centralized and countries worldwide registered them in its database. Most existing Arabian horses in Oman today were imported after the 1970s and are predominantly flat-racing Arabians. This work aimed at revealing the genetic background and diversity of Omani Arabian horses by comparing them with Arabian horses from a di...
Ricci-Bonot C, Romero T, Nicol C, Mills D.Social buffering occurs when the presence of one animal attenuates another's stress response during a stressful event and/or helps the subject to recover more quickly after a stressful event. Inconsistent previous results might reflect previously unrecognised contextual influences, such as the nature of the stimulus presented or social factors. We addressed these issues in a two-part study of horses paired with familiar (16 subjects) or unfamiliar (16 subjects) companions. Each subject performed 4 tests in a counterbalanced order: novel object test (static ball)-alone or with companion; and um...
Posta J, Somogyvári E, Mihók S.Gene conservation and management of small populations requires proper knowledge of the background and history of the breed. The aim of the study was the evaluation of population structure and changes of the Hungarian Hucul horse population. Population changes were described for the actual breeding stock as well as for groups of 10-year epochs reflecting major periods of change in the breed. Pedigree data of the registered population were analyzed using Endog and GRain software. The average value of equivalent complete generations was above nine for the actual breeding population. The longest g...
Rahman SA, Walker L, Ricketts W.In Asia and the Far East, livestock undergo major suffering due to malnutrition, overloading, and ill-treatment. At slaughter animals are handled roughly and watch other animals being killed; stunning is not practised. Cruelty to other animals such as elephants, horses, donkeys, bears, dogs, and circus animals has largely been prevented through the efforts of animal welfare organisations. Governments have taken initiatives to establish Animal Welfare Boards and enact laws for the prevention of cruelty to animals, but their efforts are far too limited to be of any significance and financial con...
Karlström K, Essén-Gustavsson B, Lindholm A.Samples were taken at slaughter from heart and both locomotor and nonlocomotor muscles from animals of similar body weight but adapted to different levels of activity: three horses and three steers. All samples were analyzed biochemically to measure the activity of key metabolic enzymes. The skeletal muscles were analyzed histochemically for fibre type composition, fibre area and capillary supply. The general pattern of differences in fibre type composition and metabolic profile between muscle groups was similar in both horses and steers. The hearts of both species had high citrate synthase (C...
Bazzano M, Laghi L, Zhu C, Lotito E, Sgariglia S, Tesei B, Laus F.In the present study, data related to the metabolomics of saliva and serum in trained standardbred horses are provided for the first time. Metabolomic analysis allows to analyze all the metabolites within selected biofluids, providing a better understanding of biochemistry modifications related to exercise. On the basis of the current advances observed in metabolomic research on human athletes, we aimed to investigate the metabolites' profile of serum and saliva samples collected from healthy standardbred horses and the relationship with physical exercise. Twelve trained standardbred horses we...
Domino M, Borowska M, Trojakowska A, Kozłowska N, Zdrojkowski Ł, Jasiński T, Smyth G, Maśko M.Appropriate matching of rider-horse sizes is becoming an increasingly important issue of riding horses' care, as the human population becomes heavier. Recently, infrared thermography (IRT) was considered to be effective in differing the effect of 10.6% and 21.3% of the rider:horse bodyweight ratio, but not 10.1% and 15.3%. As IRT images contain many pixels reflecting the complexity of the body's surface, the pixel relations were assessed by image texture analysis using histogram statistics (HS), gray-level run-length matrix (GLRLM), and gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) approaches. The st...
Lagos J, Rojas M, Rodrigues JB, Tadich T.Mules are essential for pack work in mountainous areas, but there is a lack of research on this species. This study intends to assess the perceptions, attitudes, empathy and pain perception of soldiers about mules, to understand the type of human-mule relationship. For this, a survey was applied with closed-ended questions where the empathy and pain perception tools were included and later analyzed through correlations. Open-ended questions were analyzed through text mining. A total of 73 soldiers were surveyed. They had a wide range of ages and years of experience working with equids. Signifi...
Brum AM, Sabeur K, Ball BA.The objective was to evaluate apoptotic markers in ejaculated equine spermatozoa after separation by density-gradient centrifugation and after cryopreservation. Subpopulations of percoll-separated equine spermatozoa differed (P<0.05) in the percentage of live, caspase-activated spermatozoa (2.9+/-0.7% vs 14.2+/-6.4%; mean+/-S.E.M.), low mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP; 6.8+/-1.1 vs 23.8+/-3.7), altered plasma membrane permeability (1.3+/-0.2 vs 3.0+/-0.5), DNA fragmentation (2.0+/-1.3 vs 14.3+/-3.6), total motility (81.8+/-3.3 vs 35.1+/-5.4), and progressive motility (66.3+/-4.3 vs 24...
Vollmar B, Laschke MW, Rohan R, Koenig J, Menger MD.To develop a model for the study of physiological angiogenesis, we transplanted ovarian follicles onto striated muscle tissue and analyzed the process of microvascularization in vivo using repeated fluorescence microscopy. Follicles were mechanically isolated from unstimulated as well as pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin (PMSG)- or PMSG/luteinizing hormone (LH)-stimulated Syrian golden hamster ovaries and were transplanted as free grafts into dorsal skinfold chambers of untreated or synchronized hamsters. Follicles lacking thecal cell layers did not vascularize regardless whether harvested fr...
Braverman Y.The biology, veterinary importance and control of certain Nematocera are described and discussed. Culicoides spp. (family Ceratopogonidae) transmit the arboviruses of bluetongue (BT), African horse sickness (AHS), bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) and Akabane. Some other arboviruses have been isolated from these species, while fowl pox has been transmitted experimentally by Culicoides. These insects are vectors of the parasitic protozoans Leucocytozoon caulleryi and Haemoproteus nettionis, and the parasitic nematodes Onchocerca gutturosa, O. gibsoni and O. cervicalis. They also cause recurrent summ...
Giardina B, Brix O, Clementi ME, Scatena R, Nicoletti B, Cicchetti R, Argentin G, Condo SG.Despite the fact that the horse is one of the more common domesticated animals, there are few reports dealing with the properties of its blood, and no comprehensive study has been performed on the reactivity of horse haemoglobin towards organic and inorganic ions. Here we report data on the effects of the organic phosphates D-glycerate-2,3-bisphosphate (2,3-DPG) and InsP6, and of chloride on the properties of horse haemoglobin. Thus the effect of saturating concentrations of 2,3-DPG on the oxygen affinity of horse haemoglobin is about 60% lower than with human adult haemoglobin under the same ...
VanderBroek AR, Engiles JB, Kästner SBR, Kopp V, Verhaar N, Hopster K.Strangulating small intestinal lesions in the horse have increased morbidity and mortality compared to nonstrangulating obstructions due to mucosal barrier disruption and subsequent endotoxaemia. Objective: To investigate protective effects of dexmedetomidine on small intestinal ischaemia-reperfusion injury in the horse. Methods: Randomised, controlled, experimental study. Methods: Eighteen systemically healthy horses were randomly assigned to three groups: control, preconditioning, and post-conditioning. During isoflurane anaesthesia, complete ischaemia was induced in a 1-m segment of jejunum...
Heuer C, Scheel C, Tetens J, Kühn C, Thaller G.Categorical traits without ordinal representation of classes do not qualify for threshold models. Alternatively, the multinomial problem can be assessed by a sequence of independent binary contrasts using schemes such as one-vs-all or one-vs-one. Class probabilities can be arrived at by normalization or pair-wise coupling strategies. We assessed the predictive ability of whole-genome regression models and support vector machines for the classification of horses into four German Warmblood breeds. Results: Prediction accuracies of leave-one-out cross-validation were high and ranged from 0.75 to ...
Cully P, Nielsen B, Lancaster B, Martin J, McGreevy P.Laterality can be observed as side biases in locomotory behaviour which, in the horse, manifest inter alia as forelimb preferences, most notably in the gallop. The current study investigated possible leading-leg preferences at the population and individual level in Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 2095) making halt-to-gallop transitions. Videos of flat races in the UK (n = 350) were studied to record, for each horse, the lead-leg preference of the initial stride into gallop from the starting stalls. Races from clockwise (C) and anti-clockwise (AC) tracks were chosen alternately at random to ensure...
González Medina S, Hyde C, Lovera I, Piercy RJ.Hypoglycin A (HGA) toxicity, following ingestion of material from certain plants, is linked to an acquired multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency known as atypical myopathy, a commonly fatal form of equine rhabdomyolysis seen worldwide. Whilst some plants are known to contain this toxin, little is known about its function or the mechanisms that lead to varied HGA concentrations between plants. Consequently, reliable tools to detect this amino acid in plant samples are needed. Analytical methods for HGA detection have previously been validated for the food industry, however, these technique...
Abs V, Bonicelli J, Kacza J, Zizzadoro C, Abraham G.Interaction between epithelial cells and fibroblasts play a key role in wound repair and remodelling in the asthmatic airway epithelium. We present the establishment of a co-culture model using primary equine bronchial epithelial cells (EBECs) and equine bronchial fibroblasts (EBFs). EBFs at passage between 4 and 8 were seeded on the bottom of 24-well plates and treated with mitomycin C at 80% confluency. Then, freshly isolated (P0) or passaged (P1) EBECs were seeded on the upper surface of membrane inserts that had been placed inside the EBF-containing well plates and grown first under liquid...
Tomlinson JE, Wagner B, Felippe MJB, Van de Walle GR.Immune phenotyping of equine peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) is commonly described by single or double marker labeling, which limits complex phenotypic descriptions and subpopulation identification. Our objective was to develop a new multispectral flow cytometry protocol to identify and sort equine lymphocyte subpopulations using commercially available, pre-conjugated monoclonal antibodies to cell surface markers. Two clones of anti-equine CD8 (CVS8 and CVS21) were compared in combination with CD3. Clone CVS21 bound non-T CD3 cells in addition to CD8 T cells. Further analysis using c...
Grotmol S, Totland GK, Kryvi H, Breistøl A, Essén-Gustavsson B, Lindholm A.Skeletal muscle fascicles from superficial and deep portions of semitendinosus (ST) and gluteus medius (GM) muscles from Standardbred trotters were analyzed with regard to muscle fiber type proportion (types I, IIA, and IIB) and spatial distribution. Muscle fibers within a fascicle were divided into four layers (L(1-4)) from the fascicle periphery toward the center. The observed proportions of fiber types among layers were found to be statistically significantly different from a random distribution of fiber types. Type IIB fibers predominated in the peripheral layer, type I fibers prevailed in...
Delank K, Reese S, Erhard M, Wöhr AC.This study had the aim to demonstrate the midterm effects (three weeks) of weaning on foals' welfare. For this purpose, foals' behavioral changes and fecal levels metabolites of cortisol were evaluated. The observations took place at the state stud farm of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany. Ten foals (six colts and four fillies) were observed from one day before weaning up until three weeks after weaning. Weaning was divided into three blocks, the first in September, the second in October, and the last in November. The behavioral observation was done during an eight-hour period between 7:00 a.m. a...
Cochran JD, Amann RP, Froman DP, Pickett BW.Five experiments evaluated the effects of processing, freezing and thawing techniques on post-thaw motility of equine sperm. Post-thaw motility was similar for sperm frozen using two cooling rates. Inclusion of 4% glycerol extender was superior to 2 or 6%. Thawing in 75 degrees C water for 7 sec was superior to thawing in 37 degrees C water for 30 sec. The best procedure for concentrating sperm, based on sperm motility, was diluting semen to 50 x 10(6) sperm/ml with a citrate-based centrifugation medium at 20 degrees C and centrifuging at 400 x g for 15 min. There was no difference in sperm mo...
Kang OD, Park YS.This study aimed to analyze the on heart rate, blood lactate concentration, packed cell volume (PCV) and hemoglobin (Hb) response after conducting exercise in endurance horses. Methods: A total of 20 healthy 3-9-years-old Jeju crossbreed mares (5.95 ± 2.24 year) of age and 312.65 ± 13.59 kg of weight) currently participating the endurance competition were used. The field tests selected for the experiment was gallop (approximately 8.3 m/s) along the selected 2.5 km course (a natural forest trail, not artificial road; a closed loop course). The horses were divided into three groups...
