ABSTRACT. Prevalence of equine gastric ulcer syndrome in 85 young Thoroughbreds was investigated. The presence of gastric ulcers was confirmed in 27.1% (23/85) of the horses by endoscopic examination. Sixty-two horses without gastric ulcers were allocated randomly to either the treated group (31 horses) or sham-dosed control group (31 horses) in order to investigate the efficacy of omeprazole oral paste in the prevention of gastric ulcers. At the second endoscopic examination conducted after 28 days of administration, only 1 horse in the treated group developed gastric ulcers, while 12 horses developed gastric ulcers in the control group. Based on these data, the efficacy of omeprazole in prevention of equine gastric ulcers in young Thoroughbreds during the training period was confirmed.
The present study evaluated
the effects of single-dose marbofloxacin in protecting horses against fever associated
with transportation using 48 healthy Thoroughbreds. All horses were premedicated with
interferon-α (0.5 U/kg, sublingually, every 24 hr) for 2 days before transportation and on
the day of transportation. Horses were randomly assigned to receive marbofloxacin (2
mg/kg, IV, once; MRFX group), enrofloxacin (5 mg/kg, IV, once; ERFX group) or saline (0.9%
NaCl) solution (10 ml, IV, once; control group) ≤1 hr before being
transportation. Each group contained 16 horses (8 males, 8 females). Horses were
transported 1,210 km using commercial vans over the course of approximately 26 hr.
Clinical examinations and hematologic analyses were performed on all horses both before
and after transportation. Post-transportation neutrophil to lymphocyte ratios were
significantly lower in horses in the MRFX group compared with the control horses. The
serum amyloid A levels were significantly lower in horses in the MRFX group and ERFX group
compared with the control horses. Regarding the post-transportation rectal temperatures,
fever was detected in 0 horses and 1 horse in the MRFX and ERFX groups, respectively,
whereas fevers exceeding 39.1°C were detected in 2 horses in the control group.
Additionally, the number of essential post-transportation treatments provided by
veterinarians was reduced 3-fold in the MRFX and ERFX groups compared with the saline
group. MRFX provided ERFX-like protection against fever associated with long-distance
transportation, yielding significantly better protection than saline. Administration of
MRFX just before transportation deserves a further study for efficacy in preventing horse
fever associated with transportation.
Synovium-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (SM-MSCs) from seven Thoroughbreds with
naturally occurring intra-articular fracture proliferated to over ten million cells by the
second passage. Using three experimental Thoroughbreds, columnar osteochondral defects
were made arthroscopically at the bilateral distal radius. Five million allogenic SM-MSCs
were implanted into the right defect, and another five million were injected into the
right radio-carpal joint (implantation site). No SM-MSCs were implanted into the left
defect or the same joint (control site). At 3 and 6 weeks after surgery, ten million
autologous SM-MSCs were injected into the right joints. Radiolucent volumes of defects
calculated by analysis of postmortem CT images 9 weeks after surgery were decreased in
implanted sites compared with control sites in all horses. The average scores for ICRS
gross and histopathological grading scales in implanted sites were equal to or higher than
those of the controls. These results suggest that allogenic implantation and subsequent
autologous injection of SM-MSCs might not obstruct subchondral bone formation in
defects.
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