Digestion in horses after resection or ischemic insult of the large colon.

The research investigates how resection or ischemic insult of 60% of the large colon in horses affects their ability to digest grass hay. It reveals that both treatments decreased the ability to digest certain nutrients, but returned to normal after six months, with horses maintaining good body condition throughout.

Study Design and Methodology

• The study compared the effects on digestion of two surgical interventions in horses: resection, which involves removal, of 60% of the large colon, and ischemic insult, which involves reducing blood flow without resection.
• Researchers carried out digestion trials on nine horses. These trials took place before surgery (to establish a baseline), and at different times after surgery: three weeks, six weeks, and six months.
• The trials included observing and measuring the digestion of a range of nutrients, including crude protein, crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc.

Results

• The results indicated that horses subjected to resection (five out of nine) showed a decrease in the apparent digestion of crude protein, crude fiber, and phosphorus three weeks after surgery.
• These decreases were more significant when compared to horses that underwent ischemic insult (the remaining four horses) and compared to the baseline observations before surgery.
• The horses that underwent ischemic insult also showed a decrease in the digestion of crude protein three weeks after surgery compared to the baseline observations.

Recovery

• By the six-month mark, all the horses had returned to baseline levels of digestion.
• Intriguingly, the horses that underwent resection had higher levels of phosphorus and nitrogen-free extract in their feces after six months compared to the horses that went through ischemic insult.
• Despite these surgical interventions and their effects on digestion, all the horses maintained good body condition throughout the duration of the study.