The pony as a model for septic shock.

The research paper is about a study that explores the use of ponies as a model for understanding how septic shock occurs in humans.

Study Overview

• The study was carried out to determine the viability of using consciously alert ponies to study septic shock in humans. Septic shock is a severe occurrence that takes place due to a major infection that spreads in the body. Using a reliable animal model could aid researchers in understanding the condition better.

Methodology

• Ten ponies were involved in the study. All were given an intravenous infusion of 0.7-5 X 10(9) organisms of live E. coli per kilogram of body weight, over one hour.
• The dosage was high enough to initiate a severe response in the ponies.

Findings

• All of the ponies involved in the study exhibited symptoms of low cardiac output septic shock and eventually died.
• Significant drops were noticed in several health indicators which includes the cardiac index, white blood cell count, preterminal blood glucose, PaO2 levels, and pH levels.
• On the other hand, substantial increases were observed in systemic resistance, pulmonary resistance, pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary wedge pressure, intrapulmonary shunt, early blood glucose, and excess lactate concentration.
• These changes are similar to those documented in incidents of low-output septic shock in humans.

Conclusion

• From the data gathered, it appears that the pony’s reaction to sepsis shares similarities with low output septic shock as shown in humans. Therefore, it might be feasible to use ponies as a viable model for understanding septic shock in humans.