FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 10000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Veterinary surgery : VS2022; 51(6); 952-962; doi: 10.1111/vsu.13816

Proximal sesamoid bone microdamage is localized to articular subchondral regions in Thoroughbred racehorses, with similar fracture toughness between fracture and controls.

Abstract: To determine whether proximal sesamoid bone (PSB) microdamage and fracture toughness differ between Thoroughbred racehorses sustaining PSB fracture and controls. Methods: Cadaveric case-control. Methods: Twenty-four Thoroughbred racehorses (n = 12 PSB fracture, n = 12 control). Methods: Proximal sesamoid bones were dissected, and gross pathological changes and morphological measurements were documented. High-speed exercise history data were evaluated. Microdamage was assessed in fracture, fracture-contralateral limb (FXCL) and control PSBs using whole bone lead uranyl acetate (LUA) staining with micro-CT imaging or basic fuchsin histological analysis. Fracture toughness mechanical testing was carried out in 3-point-bending of microbeams created from PSB flexor cortices. Data were analyzed using ordinal logistic and linear regression models. Results: Microdamage was detected most commonly in the articular subchondral region of PSBs via LUA micro-CT and basic fuchsin histology. There were no differences in microdamage between FXCL and control PSBs. Fracture toughness values were similar for FXCL (1.31 MPa√m) and control (1.35 MPa√m) PSBs. Exercise histories were similar except that horses sustaining fracture spent a greater percentage of their careers in rest weeks. Conclusions: Microdamage was detected in the articular region of PSBs but was not greater in horses sustaining catastrophic PSB fracture. Fracture toughness of PSB flexor cortices did not differ between FXCL and control PSBs. Conclusions: Although uncommon, microdamage is localized to the articular region of Thoroughbred racehorse PSBs. Catastrophic PSB failure is not associated with lower PSB flexor cortex fracture toughness.
© 2022 American College of Veterinary Surgeons.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2022-06-07 PubMed ID: 35672916DOI: 10.1111/vsu.13816Google 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 research explores the microdamage and fracture toughness in the proximal sesamoid bones (PSBs) of racehorses, finding no significant disparity between horses that sustained PSB fracture and the control horses.

Research Methodology

  • The study compiles a case-control group consisting of 24 Thoroughbred racehorses, half of which suffering from PSB fracture, and the other half serving as the controls.
  • The PSBs of these horses were dissected and examined for any gross pathological changes and morphological measurements. Their high-speed exercise history data were also evaluated.
  • To assess microdamage in the PSBs, two methods were used. The first method involved staining the whole bone with lead uranyl acetate (LUA) and imaging it with micro-CT. The other method involved basic fuchsin histological analysis. The bones from fractured and control horses were studied and compared.
  • Testing for fracture toughness was conducted using the 3-point-bending technique on microbeams, created from PSB flexor cortices. The data gathered were analyzed using ordinal logistic and linear regression models.

Research Findings

  • Microdamage, detected most commonly in the articular subchondral region of PSBs, showed no significant difference between the control group and the group with fractures.
  • The study also found comparable fracture toughness in both fracture and control groups. The exercise histories of the horses also showed similarities, except for a higher percentage of career rest weeks among the horses that suffered fractures.
  • Despite its rarity, microdamage is localized to the articular region of racehorse PSBs. However, catastrophic PSB failure was not found to be associated with lower PSB flexor cortex fracture toughness.

Conclusions

The study concludes that horses enduring catastrophic PSB fractures do not necessarily have higher levels of microdamage or lesser fracture toughness in their PSB flexor cortices. This research plays a significant role in the understanding of bone health and injury mechanisms, particularly for racehorses which often face occupational risks of bone fractures. Additional considerations outside of the research’s scope may offer more insight into why certain horses are more prone to catastrophic PSB fractures than others.

Cite This Article

APA
Luedke LK, Ilevbare P, Noordwijk KJ, Palomino PM, McDonough SP, Palmer SE, Basran PS, Donnelly E, Reesink HL. (2022). Proximal sesamoid bone microdamage is localized to articular subchondral regions in Thoroughbred racehorses, with similar fracture toughness between fracture and controls. Vet Surg, 51(6), 952-962. https://doi.org/10.1111/vsu.13816

Publication

Veterinary surgery : VS
ISSN: 1532-950X
NlmUniqueID: 8113214
Country: United States
Language: English
Volume: 51
Issue: 6
Pages: 952-962

Researcher Affiliations

Luedke, Lauren K
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Ilevbare, Phoebe
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Noordwijk, Kira J
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Palomino, Pablo M
  • Cornell University College of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ithaca, New York, USA.
McDonough, Sean P
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Palmer, Scott E
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Basran, Parminder S
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Donnelly, Eve
  • Cornell University College of Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Reesink, Heidi L
  • Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Clinical Sciences, Ithaca, New York, USA.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Fractures, Bone / pathology
  • Fractures, Bone / veterinary
  • Horse Diseases / pathology
  • Horses
  • Humans
  • Sesamoid Bones / pathology
  • X-Ray Microtomography / veterinary

Grant Funding

  • Harry M. Zweig Memorial Fund for Equine Research to HLR
  • Harry M. Zweig Resident Research Grant to LKL and HLR
  • NSF CMMI 1452852 to ED and NSF DGE-1144153 to PMP / National Science Foundation:
  • National Institutes of Health: S10OD025049 to Cornell University Biotechnology Resource Center, National Institutes of Health, National Institutes of Health (S10OD025049 to Cornell University Biotechnology Resource Center)

References

This article includes 36 references
  1. Johnson BJ, Stover SM, Daft BM. Causes of death in racehorses over a 2 year period.. Equine Vet J 1994;26(4):327-330.
  2. Anthenill LA, Stover SM, Gardner IA. Association between findings on palmarodorsal radiographic images and detection of a fracture in the proximal sesamoid bones of forelimbs obtained from cadavers of racing thoroughbreds.. Am J Vet Res 2006;67(5):858-868.
  3. Peloso JG, Vogler JB, Cohen ND, Marquis P, Hilt L. Use of standing MRI and a new MRI grading system of the subchondral bone of the distal third metacarpal bone to identify bone changes in the thoroughbred racehorse when comparing 21 cases of catastrophic biaxial proximal sesamoid bone fracture with 53 controls.. Equine Vet J 2014;46:24-24.
  4. Anthenill LA, Gardner IA, Pool RR, Garcia TC, Stover SM. Comparison of macrostructural and microstructural bone features in thoroughbred racehorses with and without midbody fracture of the proximal sesamoid bone.. Am J Vet Res 2010;71:755-765.
  5. Palmer SE, McDonough SP, Mohammed HO. Reduction of thoroughbred racing fatalities at New York racing association racetracks using a multi-disciplinary mortality review process.. J Vet Diagn Invest 2017;29(4):465-475.
  6. Riggs CM. Fractures - a preventable hazard of racing thoroughbreds?. Vet J 2002;163(1):19-29.
  7. Kristoffersen M, Hetzel U, Parkin TDH, Singer ER. Are bi-axial proximal sesamoid bone fractures in the british thoroughbred racehorse a bone fatigue related fracture?: a histological study.. Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 2010;23(5):336-342.
  8. Stewart HL, Kawcak CE. The importance of subchondral bone in the pathophysiology of osteoarthritis.. Front Vet Sci 2018;5(AUG):178.
  9. Estberg L, Stover SM, Gardner IA. Fatal musculoskeletal injuries incurred during racing and training in thoroughbreds.. J Am Vet Med Assoc 1996;208(1):92-96.
  10. Whitton RC, Ayodele BA, Hitchens PL, Mackie EJ. Subchondral bone microdamage accumulation in distal metacarpus of thoroughbred racehorses.. Equine Vet J 2018;50(6):766-773.
  11. Shaffer SK, To C, Garcia TC, Fyhrie DP, Uzal FA, Stover SM. Subchondral focal osteopenia associated with proximal sesamoid bone fracture in thoroughbred racehorses.. Equine Vet J 2021;53:294-305.
  12. Spriet M, Espinosa-Mur P, Cissell DD. 18F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography of the racing thoroughbred fetlock: validation and comparison with other imaging modalities in nine horses.. Equine Vet J 2019;51(3):375-383.
  13. Norrdin RW, Bay BK, Drews MJ, Martin RB, Stover SM. Overload arthrosis: strain patterns in the equine metacarpal condyle.. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2001;1(4):357-362.
  14. Burr DB, Hooser M. Alterations to the en bloc basic fuchsin staining protocol for the demonstration of microdamage produced in vivo.. Bone 1995;17(4):431-433.
  15. Burr DB, Stafford T. Validity of the bulk-staining technique to separate artifactual from in vivo bone microdamage.. Clin Orthop Relat Res 1990;260:305-308.
  16. Poundarik AA, Vashishth D. Multiscale imaging of bone microdamage.. Connect Tissue Res 2015;56(2):87-98.
    doi: 10.3109/03008207.2015.1008133.multiscalegoogle scholar: lookup
  17. Tang SY, Vashishth D. A non-invasive in vitro technique for the three-dimensional quantification of microdamage in trabecular bone.. Bone 2007;40(5):1259-1264.
  18. Cresswell EN, McDonough SP, Palmer SE, Hernandez CJ, Reesink HL. Can quantitative computed tomography detect bone morphological changes associated with catastrophic proximal sesamoid bone fracture in thoroughbred racehorses?. Equine Vet J 2019;51(1):123-130.
  19. Peloso JG, Vogler JB, Cohen ND, Marquis P, Hilt L. Association of catastrophic biaxial fracture of the proximal sesamoid bones with bony changes of the metacarpophalangeal joint identified by standing magnetic resonance imaging in cadaveric forelimbs of thoroughbred racehorses.. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2015;246(6):661-673.
  20. Shi L, Wang D, Riggs CM, Qin L, Griffith JF. Statistical analysis of bone mineral density using voxel-based morphometry-an application on proximal sesamoid bones in racehorses.. J Orthop Res 2011;29(8):1230-1236.
  21. Ritchie RO, Koester KJ, Ionova S, Yao W, Lane NE, Ager JW. Measurement of the toughness of bone: a tutorial with special reference to small animal studies.. Bone 2008;43(5):798-812.
  22. Taylor D. Measuring fracture toughness in biological materials.. J Mech Behav Biomed Mater 2018;77:776-782.
  23. Bonfield W. Advances in the fracture mechanics of cortical bone.. J Biomech 1987;20(11-12):1071-1081.
  24. Alto A, Pope MH. On the fracture toughness of equine metacarpi.. J Biomech 1979;12(6):415-421.
  25. Cresswell EN, Ruspi BD, Wollman CW. Determination of correlation of proximal sesamoid bone osteoarthritis with high-speed furlong exercise and catastrophic sesamoid bone fracture in thoroughbred racehorses.. Am J Vet Res 2021;82(6):467-477.
  26. Diab T, Vashishth D. Effects of damage morphology on cortical bone fragility.. Bone 2005;37(1):96-102.
  27. Ayodele BA, Hitchens PL, Wong ASM, Mackie EJ, Whitton RC. Microstructural properties of the proximal sesamoid bones of thoroughbred racehorses in training.. Equine Vet J 2021;53(6):1169-1177.
  28. Ebacher V, Wang R. Circumferential arc-shaped microcracks in Haversian bone: Lead-uranyl acetate staining for micro-CT imaging.. Materials Research Society Symposium Proceedings Vol 1187; 2009:7-12.
  29. Hart NH, Nimphius S, Rantalainen T, Ireland A, Siafarikas A, Newton RU. Mechanical basis of bone strength: influence of bone material, bone structure and muscle action.. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact 2017;17(3):114-139.
  30. Thompson KN, Cheung TK. A finite element model of the proximal sesamoid bones of the horse under different loading conditions.. Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 1994;07(01):35-39.
  31. Cook RB, Zioupos P. The fracture toughness of cancellous bone.. J Biomech 2009;42(13):2054-2060.
  32. Rubin CT, Seeherman H, Qin YX, Gross TS. The mechanical consequences of load bearing in the equine third metacarpal across speed and gait: the nonuniform distributions of normal strain, shear strain, and strain energy density.. FASEB J 2013;27:1887-1894.
  33. Parkin TDH, Clegg PD, French NP. Horse-level risk factors for fatal distal limb fracture in racing thoroughbreds in the UK.. Equine Vet J 2004;36(6):513-519.
  34. Anthenill LA, Stover SM, Gardner IA, Hill AE. Risk factors for proximal sesamoid bone fractures associated with exercise history and horseshoe characteristics in thoroughbred racehorses.. Am J Vet Res 2007;68(7):760-771.
  35. Holmes JM, Mirams M, Mackie EJ, Whitton RC. Thoroughbred horses in race training have lower levels of subchondral bone remodeling in highly loaded regions of the distal metacarpus compared to horses resting from training.. Vet J 2014;202(3):443-447.
  36. Boyde A, Firth EC. Musculoskeletal responses of 2-year-old thoroughbred horses to early training. 8. Quantitative back-scattered electron scanning electron microscopy and confocal fluorescence microscopy of the epiphysis of the third metacarpal bone.. N Z Vet J 2005;53(2):123-132.

Citations

This article has been cited 4 times.
  1. Noordwijk KJ, Chen L, Ruspi BD, Schurer S, Papa B, Fasanello DC, McDonough SP, Palmer SE, Porter IR, Basran PS, Donnelly E, Reesink HL. Metacarpophalangeal Joint Pathology and Bone Mineral Density Increase with Exercise but Not with Incidence of Proximal Sesamoid Bone Fracture in Thoroughbred Racehorses. Animals (Basel) 2023 Feb 24;13(5).
    doi: 10.3390/ani13050827pubmed: 36899684google scholar: lookup
  2. Shaffer SK, Stover SM, Fyhrie DP. Training drives turnover rates in racehorse proximal sesamoid bones. Sci Rep 2023 Jan 27;13(1):205.
    doi: 10.1038/s41598-022-26027-ypubmed: 36707527google scholar: lookup
  3. Malekipour F, Whitton RC, Lee PV. Advancements in Subchondral Bone Biomechanics: Insights from Computed Tomography and Micro-Computed Tomography Imaging in Equine Models. Curr Osteoporos Rep 2024 Dec;22(6):544-552.
    doi: 10.1007/s11914-024-00886-ypubmed: 39276168google scholar: lookup
  4. Ayodele BA, Malekipour F, Pagel CN, Mackie EJ, Whitton RC. Assessment of subchondral bone microdamage quantification using contrast-enhanced imaging techniques. J Anat 2024 Jul;245(1):58-69.
    doi: 10.1111/joa.14035pubmed: 38481117google scholar: lookup
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 100,113 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.