Cyclooxygenase expression in the early stages of equine laminitis: a cytologic study.
Abstract: Recent reports indicate increased amounts of mRNA from inflammation-related genes in the prodromal stage of laminitis. Objective: Cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) undergo distinct patterns of expression in equine laminae in the developmental stage (DEV) and acute clinical stage (LAM) of laminitis. Methods: Horses selected from an outbred population were placed into 1 of 4 groups: DEV (n = 5), CON-3h (control group for DEV, n = 5), LAM (n = 5) and CON-10h (control group for LAM, n = 5). Methods: Laminar and skin samples were obtained from (1) animals either undergoing leukopenia (DEV) or the onset of clinical signs of laminitis (LAM) after black walnut extract (BWE) administration and (2) animals either 3 (CON-3h) or 10 (CON-10h) hours after administration of water. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), immunoblotting, and immunohistochemical analysis were performed for COX-1 and COX-2. Results: Upon immunohistochemical analysis of all 4 groups, COX-2 was expressed by most viable epithelial cells in both laminae and skin. COX-1 exhibited similar epithelial expression to COX-2 in skin epidermis, but was expressed exclusively in the basal layer of laminar epidermis. COX-1 protein was not detectable in dermal vasculature of equine skin or laminae, whereas COX-2 was present in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells of dermal vasculature in both skin and laminae in all groups. A marked increase in laminar COX-2 protein concentrations was detected on immunoblotting in the DEV group, although a lesser increase was observed in the LAM group. Conclusions: COX-2 protein expression is markedly increased in the resident laminar cell types in the developmental stage of BWE-induced laminitis.
Publication Date: 2006-10-27 PubMed ID: 17063715DOI: 10.1892/0891-6640(2006)20[1191:ceites]2.0.co;2Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
- Research Support
- U.S. Gov't
- Non-P.H.S.
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
The research paper investigates the expression patterns of two inflammation-related enzymes, cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), in the early stages of equine laminitis, a painful disease affecting the hooves of horses. The findings highlight an increased expression of COX-2 during the development stage of the disease.
Study Design and Methodology
- The research involved an examination of horses chosen from an outbred population. The horses were divided into four different groups.
- Two of these groups were under the developmental stage (DEV, n=5) and clinical stage (LAM, n=5) of laminitis respectively. The other two groups acted as control analogues (CON-3h, n=5 for DEV, and CON-10h, n=5 for LAM).
- The laminitis in the horses was induced with the administration of black walnut extract (BWE) and the skin and lamina samples were taken from these horses. The control horses received only water administration.
- The expression of COX-1 and COX-2 in the collected samples was analysed using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), immunoblotting, and immunohistochemical analysis.
Key Findings
- The results showed that COX-2 was generally expressed in most viable epithelial cells in both skin and laminar tissues across all groups.
- COX-1 expression pattern was similar to COX-2 in skin epidermis, however, it was only present in the basal layer of the laminar epidermis.
- In the case of dermal vasculature, COX-1 was not identified, while COX-2 was observed in the endothelial and smooth muscle cells.
- Interestingly, a significant increase in laminar COX-2 protein concentrations was observed in the DEV group compared to a lesser increase in the LAM group on immunoblotting.
Conclusions
- The study concluded that the COX-2 protein expression increases significantly in cell types present in the lamina during the developmental stage of BWE-induced laminitis. This suggests the enzyme’s potential involvement in the progression of this stage of laminitis.
Cite This Article
APA
Blikslager AT, Yin C, Cochran AM, Wooten JG, Pettigrew A, Belknap JK.
(2006).
Cyclooxygenase expression in the early stages of equine laminitis: a cytologic study.
J Vet Intern Med, 20(5), 1191-1196.
https://doi.org/10.1892/0891-6640(2006)20[1191:ceites]2.0.co;2 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Cyclooxygenase 1 / biosynthesis
- Cyclooxygenase 1 / genetics
- Cyclooxygenase 2 / biosynthesis
- Cyclooxygenase 2 / genetics
- Disease Models, Animal
- Foot Diseases / enzymology
- Foot Diseases / genetics
- Foot Diseases / veterinary
- Horse Diseases / enzymology
- Horse Diseases / genetics
- Horses
- Immunoblotting / veterinary
- Immunohistochemistry / veterinary
- RNA, Messenger / biosynthesis
- RNA, Messenger / genetics
- Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / veterinary
- Skin Diseases / enzymology
- Skin Diseases / genetics
- Skin Diseases / veterinary
Citations
This article has been cited 12 times.- Burns TA, Watts MR, Belknap JK, van Eps AW. Digital lamellar inflammatory signaling in an experimental model of equine preferential weight bearing. J Vet Intern Med 2023 Mar;37(2):681-688.
- Budik S, Walter I, Leitner MC, Ertl R, Aurich C. Expression of Enzymes Associated with Prostaglandin Synthesis in Equine Conceptuses. Animals (Basel) 2021 Apr 20;11(4).
- Cassimeris L, Engiles JB, Galantino-Homer H. Interleukin-17A pathway target genes are upregulated in Equus caballus supporting limb laminitis. PLoS One 2020;15(12):e0232920.
- Ding J, Li S, Jiang L, Li Y, Zhang X, Song Q, Hayat MA, Zhang JT, Wang H. Laminar Inflammation Responses in the Oligofructose Overload Induced Model of Bovine Laminitis. Front Vet Sci 2020;7:351.
- Stokes SM, Burns TA, Watts MR, Bertin FR, Stefanovski D, Medina-Torres CE, Belknap JK, van Eps AW. Effect of digital hypothermia on lamellar inflammatory signaling in the euglycemic hyperinsulinemic clamp laminitis model. J Vet Intern Med 2020 Jul;34(4):1606-1613.
- Zhang X, Ding J, Li Y, Song Q, Li S, Hayat MA, Zhang J, Wang H. The changes of inflammatory mediators and vasoactive substances in dairy cows' plasma with pasture-associated laminitis. BMC Vet Res 2020 Apr 23;16(1):119.
- Patan-Zugaj B, Egerbacher M, Licka TF. Endotoxin-induced changes in expression of cyclooxygenase isoforms in the lamellar tissue of extracorporeally haemoperfused equine limbs. Anat Histol Embryol 2020 Sep;49(5):597-605.
- Dern K, van Eps A, Wittum T, Watts M, Pollitt C, Belknap J. Effect of Continuous Digital Hypothermia on Lamellar Inflammatory Signaling When Applied at a Clinically-Relevant Timepoint in the Oligofructose Laminitis Model. J Vet Intern Med 2018 Jan;32(1):450-458.
- Leise BS, Watts MR, Roy S, Yilmaz AS, Alder H, Belknap JK. Use of laser capture microdissection for the assessment of equine lamellar basal epithelial cell signalling in the early stages of laminitis. Equine Vet J 2015 Jul;47(4):478-88.
- Burns TA, Watts MR, Weber PS, McCutcheon LJ, Geor RJ, Belknap JK. Effect of dietary nonstructural carbohydrate content on activation of 5'-adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase in liver, skeletal muscle, and digital laminae of lean and obese ponies. J Vet Intern Med 2014 Jul-Aug;28(4):1280-8.
- Coyne MJ, Cousin H, Loftus JP, Johnson PJ, Belknap JK, Gradil CM, Black SJ, Alfandari D. Cloning and expression of ADAM-related metalloproteases in equine laminitis. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2009 Jun 15;129(3-4):231-41.
- Underberg BA, Van der Vekens E, Drews B, Kaessmeyer S. Cyclooxygenase-2 and von Willebrand factor-an immunohistochemical study of the equine foot with and without laminitis, post-mortem perfused with paraffin oil. Front Vet Sci 2025;12:1673415.
Use Nutrition Calculator
Check if your horse's diet meets their nutrition requirements with our easy-to-use tool Check your horse's diet with our easy-to-use tool
Talk to a Nutritionist
Discuss your horse's feeding plan with our experts over a free phone consultation Discuss your horse's diet over a phone consultation
Submit Diet Evaluation
Get a customized feeding plan for your horse formulated by our equine nutritionists Get a custom feeding plan formulated by our nutritionists
