Hepatic cirrhosis and hemochromatosis in three horses.

This research article details a study on three horses diagnosed with hemochromatosis, an iron storage disease, along with hepatic cirrhosis. The article explores the connections between the disease, the horses’ health conditions, and their dietary iron intake.

Hemochromatosis Diagnosis in Horses

• The researchers diagnosed three unrelated horses with hemochromatosis and hepatic cirrhosis.
• Upon examination, all horses had a condition called bridging portal fibrosis (scarring tissue that connects the liver’s functional units) and excessive iron deposits in the hepatocyte’s cytoplasm (the substance within a cell).
• Although a horse’s serum (fluid part of the blood) typically has a high concentration of liver-derived enzymes and total bile acids with hemochromatosis, the researchers found this to not necessarily signify a high serum iron concentration.

Contrasting Features: Human and Horse Hemochromatosis

• The article briefly compares the features of hemochromatosis in humans and mynah birds to those of horses.
• Humans and birds typically have a familial disease (i.e., it runs in families) where iron absorption is inappropriate compared to the level of stored iron.
• In contrast, the examined horses were not genetically related and showed no evidence of high dietary iron intake, making a genetic or dietary connection to the disease less likely.

Types of Hemochromatosis and its Occurrence

• The authors mention the existence of several types of hemochromatosis: some tied to familial disease, others occurring secondary to hepatic cirrhosis, and those that occur in specific anemia diseases.
• Another type of hemochromatosis is associated with dietary iron overload, but the examined horses showed no evidence of high dietary iron intake.
• The researchers did find a high iron concentration in the liver of one horse, which was 20 times the reference limits, despite having an iron binding capacity that was only 46% saturated. This indicates that hemochromatosis was likely to have developed for reasons other than an iron-rich diet.