FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 9000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Home / Equine Research Bank / J Vet Intern Med / Fecal microbiota of horses with colitis and its association ...
Journal of veterinary internal medicine2022; 36(6); 2213-2223; doi: 10.1111/jvim.16562

Fecal microbiota of horses with colitis and its association with laminitis and survival during hospitalization.

Abstract: The association of microbiota with clinical outcomes and the taxa associated with colitis in horses remains generally unknown. Objective: Describe the fecal microbiota of horses with colitis and investigate the association of the fecal microbiota with the development of laminitis and survival. Methods: Thirty-six healthy and 55 colitis horses subdivided into laminitis (n = 15) and non-laminitis (n = 39, 1 horse with chronic laminitis was removed from this comparison) and survivors (n = 27) and nonsurvivors (n = 28). Methods: Unmatched case-control study. The Illumina MiSeq platform targeting the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene was used to assess the microbiota. Results: The community membership (Jaccard index) and structure (Yue and Clayton index) were different (analysis of molecular variance [AMOVA]; P < .001) between healthy and colitis horses. The linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe; linear discriminant analysis [LDA] >3; P < .05) and random forest analyses found Enterobacteriaceae, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus enriched in colitis horses, whereas Treponema, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcaceae, and Lachnospiraceae were enriched in healthy horses. The community membership and structure of colitis horses with or without laminitis was (AMOVA; P > .05). Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcus, and Lactobacillus were enriched in horses with laminitis (LDA > 3; P < .05). The community membership (AMOVA; P = .008) of surviving and nonsurviving horses was different. Nonsurviving horses had an enrichment of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus (LDA >3; P < .05). Conclusions: Differences in the microbiota of horses with colitis that survive or do not survive are minor and, similarly, the microbiota differences in horses with colitis that do or do not develop laminitis are minor.
© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2022-10-21 PubMed ID: 36271677PubMed Central: PMC9708523DOI: 10.1111/jvim.16562Google 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.
LinkedInCopy
  • 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.

The study aims to understand the relationship between the fecal microbiota of horses suffering from colitis and the occurrence of laminitis and survival rate. It uncovers minor differences in the microbiota of horses with colitis that either survive or succumb to the illness, and in those that develop laminitis or not.

Study Design and Methodology

  • The researchers studied the microbiota in 36 healthy horses and 55 horses with colitis, further subdividing the colitis set into 15 horses with laminitis and 39 without. They excluded a horse suffering from chronic laminitis from the comparison.
  • This work was an unmatched case-control study, where the researchers compared different groups exhibiting different outcomes (colitis with or without laminitis, survival or non-survival), with a healthy control group.
  • The technology used was an Illumina MiSeq platform, targeting the V4 region of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene for the assessment of microbiota. This technology enables a comprehensive analysis of microbial communities within the gut.

Primary Findings

  • The study found a significant difference in the community membership (composition of bacterial species) and structure (relative abundance of bacterial taxa) between healthy and colitis-affected horses.
  • Specific families of bacteria – Enterobacteriaceae, Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus – were more frequently found in horses with colitis. Conversely, Treponema, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcaceae, and Lachnospiraceae were abundant in healthy horses.
  • The community membership and structure of horses with laminitis did not significantly differ from those without.
  • A variation in the microbial community was found between surviving and nonsurviving horses. More specifically, the nonsurvivors had a higher abundance of Enterobacteriaceae, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, and Enterococcus.

Conclusion

  • The researchers observed minimal differences in the microbiota of horses with colitis based on whether they survived the condition or not and whether they developed laminitis or not.
  • The study is of importance for vets and researchers as it implicates certain bacterial taxa in horses’ health conditions, suggesting potential targets for future therapeutic interventions.

Cite This Article

APA
Ayoub C, Arroyo LG, MacNicol JL, Renaud D, Weese JS, Gomez DE. (2022). Fecal microbiota of horses with colitis and its association with laminitis and survival during hospitalization. J Vet Intern Med, 36(6), 2213-2223. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvim.16562

Publication

Journal of veterinary internal medicine
ISSN: 1939-1676
NlmUniqueID: 8708660
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 36
Issue: 6
Pages: 2213-2223

Researcher Affiliations

Ayoub, Cosette
  • Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Arroyo, Luis G
  • Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
MacNicol, Jennifer L
  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Ontario Agricultural College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Renaud, David
  • Department of Population Medicine, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Weese, J Scott
  • Department of Pathobiology, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
Gomez, Diego E
  • Department of Clinical Studies, Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

MeSH Terms

  • Horses
  • Animals
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Feces / microbiology
  • Microbiota / genetics
  • Colitis / veterinary
  • Streptococcus
  • Hospitalization
  • Horse Diseases / microbiology

Grant Funding

  • 055097 / Equine Guelph

Conflict of Interest Statement

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

This article includes 57 references
  1. Shaw SD, Stämpfli H. Diagnosis and treatment of undifferentiated and infectious acute diarrhea in the adult horse. Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract 2018;34:39‐53.
    pmc: PMC7134835pubmed: 29426709
  2. Uzal FA, Arroyo LG, Navarro MA, Gomez DE, Asin J, Henderson E. Bacterial and viral enterocolitis in horses: a review. J Vet Diag Investig 2022;34(3):354‐375.
    pmc: PMC9254067pubmed: 34763560
  3. Gomez DE, Arroyo LG, Stämpfli HR, Cruz LE, Oliver OJ. Physicochemical interpretation of acid‐base abnormalities in 54 adult horses with acute severe colitis and diarrhea. J Vet Intern Med 2013;27:548‐553.
    pubmed: 23551698
  4. Costa MC, Arroyo LG, Allen‐Vercoe E. Comparison of the fecal microbiota of healthy horses and horses with colitis by high throughput sequencing of the V3‐V5 region of the 16S rRNA gene. PLoS One 2012;7(7):e41484.
    pmc: PMC3409227pubmed: 22859989
  5. Arroyo LG, Rossi L, Santos BP, Gomez DE, Surette MG, Costa MC. Luminal and mucosal microbiota of the cecum and large colon of healthy and diarrheic horses. Animals (Basel) 2020;10(8):1403.
    pmc: PMC7460328pubmed: 32806591
  6. Rodriguez C, Taminiau B, Brévers B. Faecal microbiota characterisation of horses using 16 rdna barcoded pyrosequencing, and carriage rate of clostridium difficile at hospital admission. BMC Microbiol 2015;16(15):181.
    pmc: PMC4573688pubmed: 26377067
  7. Berryhill EH, Magdesian KG, Aleman M, Pusterla N. Clinical presentation, diagnostic findings, and outcome of adult horses with equine coronavirus infection at a veterinary teaching hospital: 33 cases (2012‐2018). Vet J 2019;248:95‐100.
    pmc: PMC7110482pubmed: 31113572
  8. Cohen ND, Woods AM. Characteristics and risk factors for failure of horses with acute diarrhea to survive: 122 cases (1990‐1996). J Am Vet Med Assoc 1999;214:382‐390.
    pubmed: 10023402
  9. Magdesian KG, Dujowich M, Madigan JE, Hansen LM, Hirsh DC, Jang SS. Molecular characterization of Clostridium difficile isolates from horses in an intensive care unit and association of disease severity with strain type. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2006;228(5):751‐755.
    pubmed: 16506942
  10. Weese JS, Staempfli HR, Prescott JF. A prospective study of the roles of clostridium difficile and enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens in equine diarrhoea. Equine Vet J 2001;33(4):403‐409.
    pubmed: 11469775
  11. Parsons CS, Orsini JA, Krafty R, Capewell L, Boston R. Risk factors for development of acute laminitis in horses during hospitalization: 73 cases (1997‐2004). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2007;230:885‐889.
    pubmed: 17362165
  12. Groover ES, Woolums AR, Cole DJ, LeRoy BE. Risk factors associated with renal insufficiency in horses with primary gastrointestinal disease: 26 cases (2000‐2003). J Am Vet Med Assoc 2006;228(4):572‐577.
    pubmed: 16478436
  13. Elliott J, Bailey SR. Gastrointestinal derived factors are potential triggers for the development of acute equine laminitis. J Nutr 2006;136(7 Suppl):2103‐2107.
    pubmed: 16772511
  14. Luethy D, Feldman R, Stefanovski D, Aitken MR. Risk factors for laminitis and nonsurvival in acute colitis: retrospective study of 85 hospitalized horses (2011‐2019). J Vet Intern Med 2020;35(4):1‐7.
    pmc: PMC8295695pubmed: 33938584
  15. Milinovich GJ, Klieve AV, Pollitt CC, Trott DJ. Microbial events in the hindgut during carbohydrate‐induced equine laminitis. Vet Clin North Equine Pract 2010;26:79‐94.
    pubmed: 20381737
  16. Bailey SR, Menzies‐Gow NJ, Marr CM, Elliott J. The effects of vasoactive amines found in the equine hindgut on digital blood flow in the normal horse. Equine Vet J 2004;36:267‐272.
    pubmed: 15147136
  17. Garner HE, Moore JN, Johnson JH. Changes in the caecal flora associated with the onset of laminitis. Equine Vet J 1978;10(4):249‐252.
    pubmed: 738266
  18. Milinovich GJ, Burrell PC, Pollitt CC. Microbial ecology of the equine hindgut during oligofructose‐induced laminitis. ISME J 2008;2(11):1089‐1100.
    pubmed: 18580970
  19. Milinovich GJ, Trott DJ, Burrell PC. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of hindgut bacteria associated with the development of equine laminitis. Environ Microbiol 2007;9(8):2090‐2100.
    pubmed: 17635552
  20. Tuniyazi M, He J, Guo J. Changes of microbial and metabolome of the equine hindgut during oligofructose‐induced laminitis. BMC Vet Res 2021;17(1):11.
    pmc: PMC7789226pubmed: 33407409
  21. Nicholson SE, Merrill D, Zhu C. Polytrauma independent of therapeutic intervention alters the gastrointestinal microbiome. Am J Surg 2018;216(4):699‐705.
    pubmed: 30100050
  22. Houlden A, Goldrick M, Brough D. Brain injury induces specific changes in the caecal microbiota of mice via altered autonomic activity and mucoprotein production. Brain Behav Immun 2016;57:10‐20.
    pmc: PMC5021180pubmed: 27060191
  23. Huang G, Sun K, Yin S. Burn injury leads to increase in relative abundance of opportunistic pathogens in the rat gastrointestinal microbiome. Front Microbiol 2017;8:1237.
    pmc: PMC5498482pubmed: 28729860
  24. Nicholson SE, Burmeister DM, Johnson TR. A prospective study in severely injured patients reveals an altered gut microbiome is associated with transfusion volume. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2019;86(4):573‐582.
    pmc: PMC6433524pubmed: 30633104
  25. Waligora‐Dupriet AJ, Lafleur S, Charrueau C. Head injury profoundly affects gut microbiota homeostasis: results of a pilot study. Nutrition 2018;45:104‐107.
    pubmed: 29129229
  26. Kigerl KA, Hall JC, Wang L. Gut dysbiosis impairs recovery after spinal cord injury. J Exp Med 2016;213(12):2603‐2620.
    pmc: PMC5110012pubmed: 27810921
  27. Earley ZM, Akhtar S, Green SJ. Burn injury alters the intestinal microbiome and increases gut permeability and bacterial translocation. PLoS One 2015;10(7):e0129996.
    pmc: PMC4496078pubmed: 26154283
  28. Burmeister DM, Johnson TR, Lai Z. The gut microbiome distinguishes mortality in trauma patients upon admission to the emergency department. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2020;88(5):579‐587.
    pmc: PMC7905995pubmed: 32039976
  29. Vaishnavi C. Translocation of gut flora and its role in sepsis. Indian J Med Microbiol 2013;31:334‐342.
    pubmed: 24064638
  30. Shimizu K, Ogura H, Hamasaki T. Altered gut flora are associated with septic complications and death in critically ill patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Dig Dis Sci 2011;56(4):1171‐1177.
    pmc: PMC3059822pubmed: 20931284
  31. La Rosa PS, Brooks JP, Deych E. Hypothesis testing and power calculations for taxonomic‐based human microbiome data. PLoS One 2012;7(12):e52078.
    pmc: PMC3527355pubmed: 23284876
  32. Klindworth A, Pruesse E, Schweer T. Evaluation of general 16S ribosomal RNA gene PCR primers for classical and next‐generation sequencing‐based diversity studies. Nucleic Acids Res 2013;41(1):e1.
    pmc: PMC3592464pubmed: 22933715
  33. Walters W, Hyde ER, Berg‐Lyons D. Improved bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V4 and V4‐5) and fungal internal transcribed spacer marker gene primers for microbial community surveys. mSystems 2015;1(1):e00009‐e00015.
    pmc: PMC5069754pubmed: 27822518
  34. Schloss PD, Westcott SL, Ryabin T. Introducing mothur: open‐source, platform‐independent, community‐supported software for describing and comparing microbial communities. Appl Environ Microbiol 2009;75(23):7537‐7541.
    pmc: PMC2786419pubmed: 19801464
  35. Kozich JJ, Westcott SL, Baxter NT, Highlander SK, Schloss PD. Development of a dual‐index sequencing strategy and curation pipeline for analyzing amplicon sequence data on the MiSeq Illumina sequencing platform. Appl Environ Microbiol 2013;79:5112‐5120.
    pmc: PMC3753973pubmed: 23793624
  36. Good IJ. The population frequencies of species and the estimation of population parameters. Biometrika 1953;40:237‐264.
  37. Jaccard P. Nouvelles recherches sur la distribution florale. Nature 1908;44:223‐270.
  38. Yue JC, Clayton MK. Similarity measure based on species proportions. Commun Stat Methods 2005;34:2123‐2131.
  39. Holmes I, Harris K, Quince C. Dirichlet multinomial mixtures: generative models for microbial metagenomics. PLoS One 2012;7:e30126.
    pmc: PMC3272020pubmed: 22319561
  40. Benjamini Y, Hochberg Y. Controlling the false discovery rate: a practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. J R Stat Soc 1995;57:289‐300.
  41. Segata N, Izard J, Waldron L. Metagenomic biomarker discovery and explanation. Genome Biol 2011;12(6):R60.
    pmc: PMC3218848pubmed: 21702898
  42. Pasolli E, Truong DT, Malik F, Waldron L, Segata N. Machine learning meta‐analysis of large metagenomic datasets: tools and biological insights. PLoS Comput Biol 2016;12:1‐26.
    pmc: PMC4939962pubmed: 27400279
  43. Rigottier‐Gois L. Dysbiosis in inflammatory bowel diseases: the oxygen hypothesis microbe‐microbe and microbe‐host interactions. ISME J 2013;7:1256‐1261.
    pmc: PMC3695303pubmed: 23677008
  44. Stecher B. The roles of inflammation, nutrient availability and the commensal microbiota in enteric pathogen infection. Microbiol Spectrum 2015;3:3.
    pubmed: 26185088
  45. Shin NR, Whon TW, Bae JW. Proteobacteria: microbial signature of dysbiosis in gut microbiota. Trends Biotechnol 2015;33:496‐503.
    pubmed: 26210164
  46. Ilhan ZE, Marcus AK, Kang DW, Rittmann BE, Krajmalnik‐Brown R. pH‐mediated microbial and metabolic interactions in fecal enrichment cultures. mSphere 2017;2(3):e00047‐e00017.
    pmc: PMC5415631pubmed: 28497116
  47. Sorbara MT, Pamer EG. Interbacterial mechanisms of colonization resistance and the strategies pathogens use to overcome them. Mucosal Immunol 2019;12:1‐9.
    pmc: PMC6312114pubmed: 29988120
  48. Bailey SR, Baillon ML, Rycroft AN, Harris PA, Elliott J. Identification of equine cecal bacteria producing amines in an in vitro model of carbohydrate overload. Appl Environ Microbiol 2003;69:2087‐2093.
    pmc: PMC154823pubmed: 12676687
  49. Bailey SR, Marr CM, Elliott J. Current research and theories on the pathogenesis of acute laminitis in the horse. Vet J 2004;167:129‐142.
    pubmed: 14975387
  50. Peled JU, Gomes ALC, Devlin SM. Microbiota as predictor of mortality in allogeneic hematopoietic‐cell transplantation. N Engl J Med 2020;382(9):822‐834.
    pmc: PMC7534690pubmed: 32101664
  51. Shimizu K, Ogura H, Goto M. Altered gut flora and environment in patients with severe SIRS. J Trauma 2006;60(1):126‐133.
    pubmed: 16456446
  52. Yang XJ, Liu D, Ren HY, Zhang XY, Zhang J, Yang XJ. Effects of sepsis and its treatment measures on intestinal flora structure in critical care patients. World J Gastroenterol 2021;27(19):2376‐2393.
    pmc: PMC8130038pubmed: 34040329
  53. Milinovich GJ, Burrell PC, Pollitt CC, Bouvet A, Trott DJ. Streptococcus henryi sp. nov. and Streptococcus caballi sp. nov., isolated from the hindgut of horses with oligofructose‐induced laminitis. Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 2008;2008(58):262‐266.
    pubmed: 18175719
  54. Garber A, Hastie P, Murray JA. Factors influencing equine gut microbiota: current knowledge. J Equine Vet Sci 2020;88:102943.
    pubmed: 32303307
  55. Collinet A, Grimm P, Julliand S, Julliand V. Sequential modulation of the equine fecal microbiota and fibrolytic capacity following two consecutive abrupt dietary changes and bacterial supplementation. Animals (Basel) 2021;11(5):1278.
    pmc: PMC8144951pubmed: 33946811
  56. Szemplinski KL, Thompson A, Cherry N. Transporting and exercising unconditioned horses: effects on microflora populations. J Equine Vet Sci 2020;90:102988.
    pubmed: 32534767
  57. Schoster A, Mosing M, Jalali M, Staempfli HR, Weese JS. Effects of transport, fasting and anaesthesia on the faecal microbiota of healthy adult horses. Equine Vet J 2016;48(5):595‐602.
    pubmed: 26122549
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 99,344 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.