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Home / Equine Research Bank / Animals (Basel) / Infrared Thermography Correlates with Lactate Concentration ...
Animals : an open access journal from MDPI2020; 10(11); 2072; doi: 10.3390/ani10112072

Infrared Thermography Correlates with Lactate Concentration in Blood during Race Training in Horses.

Abstract: In horse racing the most acceptable way to objectively evaluate adaptation to increased exertion is to measure lactate blood concentration. However, this may be stressful for the horse, therefore, a simple, noninvasive procedure to monitor race progress is desirable. Forty Thoroughbreds attended race training, with blood samples collected at rest, immediately after, and 30 min after exercise. The lactate concentration was determined 60 s after blood collection using an Accusport. Thermal imaging of the neck and trunk areas was performed following international veterinary standards from a distance of approximately 2 m from the horse using the same protocol as the blood sampling. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients (ρ) between the changes in the blood lactate concentration and surface temperature measures were found for the regions of interest. The highest positive correlation coefficients were found in the region for the maximal temperature (T Max; ρ = 0.83; < 0.0001), the minimal temperature (T Min; ρ = 0.83; < 0.0001), and the average temperature (T Aver; ρ = 0.85; < 0.0001) 30 min after the exercise. The results showed that infrared thermography may supplement blood measurements to evaluate adaptation to increased workload during race training, however, more research and references values are needed.
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Publication Date: 2020-11-09 PubMed ID: 33182281PubMed Central: PMC7695344DOI: 10.3390/ani10112072Google Scholar: Lookup
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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 study explored the use of infrared thermography, a noninvasive procedure, to monitor horse race training by tracking changes in surface temperature and correlating these with blood lactate concentration, an established indicator of exertion.

Objective and Methodology

  • The researchers aimed to develop a noninvasive way to evaluate horses’ adaptation to increased exertion during race training. Instead of invasive methods like blood sampling, they proposed the use of infrared thermography.
  • Infrared thermography is a technique that uses thermal imaging to measure temperatures from a distance. The technique was applied to the neck and trunk areas of the horses, following veterinary standards.
  • The study involved forty Thoroughbred horses, and the infrared thermography was conducted at the same times when blood samples were taken: at rest, immediately after exercise, and 30 minutes post exercise.
  • Blood lactate concentrations were determined 60 seconds after blood collection using an Accusport device as a reference measure of exertion.

Findings

  • The researchers found significant correlations between changes in blood lactate concentrations and measures of surface temperature in the horses’ neck and trunk areas. This suggests that changes in body temperature could indicate exertion levels.
  • The highest positive correlation coefficients were detected in the regions for maximal temperature (T Max), minimal temperature (T Min), and average temperature (T Aver) 30 minutes after the exercise, indicating that these could be key measures to track during post-exercise recovery.

Implications and Conclusion

  • This research indicates that infrared thermography could potentially supplement blood measurements in evaluating exertion and adaptation to increased workload during race training. This opens up possibilities for a simpler, less stressful method of monitoring racehorses during training.
  • The researchers also pointed out that more research is needed to validate this method, and to establish reference values for temperature changes correlated with various levels of exertion. This indicates that, while promising, this method is still in the preliminary stages and needs further development before it can be adopted widely.

Cite This Article

APA
Witkowska-Piłaszewicz O, Maśko M, Domino M, Winnicka A. (2020). Infrared Thermography Correlates with Lactate Concentration in Blood during Race Training in Horses. Animals (Basel), 10(11), 2072. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10112072

Publication

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
ISSN: 2076-2615
NlmUniqueID: 101635614
Country: Switzerland
Language: English
Volume: 10
Issue: 11
PII: 2072

Researcher Affiliations

Witkowska-Piłaszewicz, Olga
  • Department of Pathology and Veterinary Diagnostics, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Science, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.
Maśko, Małgorzata
  • Department of Animal Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 02-786 Warsaw, Poland.
Domino, Małgorzata
  • Department of Large Animal Diseases and Clinic, Veterinary Research Centre and Center for Biomedical Research, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, 00-797 Warsaw, Poland.
Winnicka, Anna
  • Department of Pathology and Veterinary Diagnostics, Institute of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw University of Life Science, 02-787 Warsaw, Poland.

Grant Funding

  • 2017/25/N/NZ6/02750 / Narodowym Centrum Nauki

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

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Citations

This article has been cited 28 times.
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