Serum immunoreactive gastrin activity in horses: basal and postprandial values.

The research aimed to measure the normal and post-meal (postprandial) levels of gastrin, a hormone involved in digestion, in the blood of horses. It was found that horses’ base levels of gastrin were lower than those usually observed in other mammals, and this level increased significantly after feeding, but the methods used may not have been ideal for detecting gastrin in horse blood.

Methodology

• The study involved five healthy horses, which were first deprived of both food and water for a full day i.e. 24 hours.
• To establish baseline values for gastrin, blood samples were drawn every fifteen minutes for a two-hour period.
• After this, the horses were fed a pellet-based diet for a period of fifteen minutes.
• For the following two hours, blood samples were taken every fifteen minutes. Then, three more blood samples were taken at hourly intervals.
• This resulted in a total blood sampling duration of seven hours.

Findings

• The baseline gastrin activity detected in the horses’ serum was observed to be less than the gastrin activity previously noted in other mammals. This ranged from an average of 7.0 pg/ml to 13.8 pg/ml.
• 30, 60, and 75 minutes post-feeding, the gastrin immunoreactivity significantly increased, with values of 17.4, 19.8, and 18.2 pg/ml recorded at these intervals respectively.
• Another significant increase was noted five hours after feeding, with a gastrin level of 19.4 pg/ml.

Implications and Possible Limitations

• The researchers suggest that the lower gastrin activity might indicate that horses naturally have lower concentrations of this hormone in their blood compared to other mammals.
• However, they also acknowledge the possibility that the methods they used to detect gastrin might not have been sensitive enough to fully identify this hormone in horse serum.