Crotalaria spectabilis poisoning in horses fed contaminating oats.

The research article documents the adverse effects on horses that consumed oats contaminated with Crotalaria spectabilis seeds, a plant known to contain harmful pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Nearly a quarter of the exposed horses died, with symptoms and pathological changes typically linked to this type of poisoning.

Objective of the Study

• The study aimed to investigate the clinical symptoms and pathological changes in horses that consumed oats contaminated with Crotalaria spectabilis seeds.

Subject and Methodology

• The subjects were eighty horses who were exposed to oats containing 10 g/kg of the C. spectabilis seeds that contain 0.46% pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
• The seeds were planted, and adult plants were botanically identified to confirm the diagnosis of C. spectabilis poisoning.

Findings and Conclusion

• Of the eighty horses exposed to the contaminated oats, 21 died within a six-month period.
• The clinical signs observed in the horses included jaundice, apathy, a hypotonic tongue, ataxia, decreased appetite, weight loss, aimless wandering, violent behavior, and proprioceptive deficits.
• The pathological changes occurred predominantly in the liver, reflecting symptoms such as periportal bridging fibrosis, megalocytosis, centrilobular necrosis, and bile stasis.
• Other observations participated in the cortex, midbrain, basal nuclei, brainstem, and pons showing Alzheimer’s type II astrocytes; edema and hemorrhage in the lungs; and tubular epithelium degeneration and necrosis of the kidneys.
• The study concluded that horses are highly susceptible to plants containing pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and the observed signs and changes align with this type of poisoning.