Effects of alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonism and antagonism on equine blood insulin and glucose concentrations after oral carbohydrate load.
Abstract: Alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonist detomidine is a commonly used sedative agent in horses. In addition to the sedative effect, detomidine has been reported to elicit changes in energy metabolism such as hypoinsulinaemia and hyperglycaemia. This study aimed to investigate the effects of detomidine with and without peripherally acting alpha-2-adrenoceptor antagonist vatinoxan on insulin and blood glucose (BG) concentrations in horses after a standard dose of oral carbohydrates. Sixteen horses were assigned to four intravenous treatments in a randomised cross-over design: saline (SAL), detomidine (0.02 mg/kg; DET), vatinoxan (0.2 mg/kg; VAT), and a combination of detomidine and vatinoxan (DET+VAT). Horses were administered corn syrup (0.45 mL/kg) immediately before each treatment. Blood samples were collected until 360 min. The differences between treatments were evaluated with repeated measures analysis of covariance and change from baseline was used as a response. P<0.05 was considered significant. After oral carbohydrate load, DET reduced insulin (median 30 min nadir 3.7, min-max 0.6-7.4 µIU/mL) significantly compared with SAL (P<0.0001; 17.4, 9.3-65.4 µIU/mL) and DET+VAT (P=0.0005; 6.4, 2.9-12.9 µIU/mL). BG increased significantly after DET (peak; 130.5, 8.8-15.8 mmol/L) compared with SAL (P<0.0001; 8.7, 6.9-12.4 mmol/L) and DET+VAT (P<0.0001; 8.5, 6.8-10.6 mmol/L). Vatinoxan alone reduced BG (peak median 7.6, 7.0-9.9 mmol/L) compared with SAL (P=0.02) and delayed insulin responses to carbohydrates. In conclusion, vatinoxan alleviated the detomidine-induced changes (DET+VAT compared to DET) in insulin and BG after oral carbohydrate load. Additionally, vatinoxan is potentially able to modulate BG concentration and insulin response after oral carbohydrate administration in horses, but more research is warranted.
Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2024-02-14 PubMed ID: 38360134DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2024.106080Google 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
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.
This research investigates how a common horse sedative, detomidine, affects energy metabolism, specifically insulin and blood glucose levels, in horses after ingestion of carbohydrates, and how the effects are altered with the use of an alpha-2-adrenoceptor antagonist called vatinoxan.
Objective and Methodology
- The main goal of the study was to examine how detomidine impacts insulin and blood glucose levels in horses after they consume a standard dose of oral carbohydrates.
- In addition, the study also evaluated the effects when detomidine was used in combination with vatinoxan.
- The experiment included sixteen horses which were randomly allocated to one of four treatment groups: a saline control, detomidine only, vatinoxan only, or a combination of detomidine and vatinoxan.
- Researchers used corn syrup to deliver the carbohydrates and collected blood samples up to 360 minutes after administration.
- Differences between treatment groups were statistically analyzed with P<0.05 as the significance threshold.
Findings
- Results showed that detomidine significantly reduced insulin concentration and increased blood glucose levels compared to the saline control and the combination treatment of detomidine and vatinoxan.
- Put simply, detomidine induced hypoinsulinaemia (low insulin levels) and hyperglycaemia (high blood glucose levels) following carbohydrate consumption.
- On the other hand, vatinoxan displayed a potential to lower blood glucose levels compared to the saline control, and delayed insulin response to carbohydrate intake.
- When used in combination with detomidine, vatinoxan appeared to counteract detomidine-induced changes in insulin and blood glucose concentrations.
Conclusion
- In conclusion, the results showed that vatinoxan can help mitigate the effects of detomidine on insulin and blood glucose levels following carbohydrate consumption in horses.
- Furthermore, vatinoxan alone has the potential to regulate blood glucose concentration and insulin responses after carbohydrate intake, indicating that it may have potential for use in equine metabolic illness treatments.
- The study calls for more research to further explore the effects and potential applications of vatinoxan.
Cite This Article
APA
Hallman IAM, Raekallio MR, Koho N, Weckman MJ, Karikoski NP.
(2024).
Effects of alpha-2-adrenoceptor agonism and antagonism on equine blood insulin and glucose concentrations after oral carbohydrate load.
Vet J, 304, 106080.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2024.106080 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, FI-00014, Finland. Electronic address: isa.hallman@helsinki.fi.
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, FI-00014, Finland.
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, FI-00014, Finland.
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, FI-00014, Finland.
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, FI-00014, Finland.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following interests of financial nature, which may be considered as potential competing interests: the drugs (detomidine, vatinoxan) used in this study were manufactured and donated by Vetcare Finland Oy (Helsinki, Finland). Vetcare Finland Oy did not partake in study planning, study designing, sampling, analysis, interpretation of results, preparation of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Marja Raekallio is named as one of the inventors, with no financial gain, in a patent concerning vatinoxan; the patent holder is Vetcare Ltd. The other authors have no financial or personal relationships that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.
Citations
This article has been cited 0 times.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
