Changes in Serum Amyloid A (SAA) Concentration in Arabian Endurance Horses During First Training Season

Abstract

Sport training leads to adaptation to physical effort that is reflected by the changes in blood parameters. In equine endurance athletes, blood testing is accepted as a support in training, however, only the changes before versus after exercise in creatine phosphokinase activity (CPK) and basic blood parameters are usually measured. This study is the first longitudinal investigation of the changes in routinely measured blood parameters and, additionally, serum amyloid A (SAA), during seven months, in Arabian horses introduced to endurance training and competing in events for young horses. It has been determined that CPK, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), packed cell volume (PCV), hemoglobin concentration, red blood cell count (RBC), and concentration of total serum protein (TSP) slightly increased after training sessions and competitions in similar manner. The increase in white blood cell (WBC) count was higher after competitions and SAA increased only after competitions. Total protein concentration was the only parameter that increased with training during a 7-month program. SAA indicated only in the case of heavy effort, and, it thus may be helpful in the monitoring of training in young horses. In an optimal program, its concentration should not increase after a training session but only after heavy effort, which should not be repeated too often.

Metabolic and Biomolecular Changes Induced by Incremental Long-Term Training in Young Thoroughbred Racehorses during First Workout Season

“…In horses, an anti-inflammatory state has been reported both in race [11] and endurance training [37]. In humans and horses, IL-6, in its role as a myokine, has been related to an anti-inflammatory function by inhibiting the expression of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β [8,10,26], which, indeed, was not modulated in our study.…”

Variations in haematological and biochemical parameters in healthy ponies

“…CPK activities up to 10 000U/l are considered small, nonspeci c elevations [37], which may be associated with transport or exercise [36]. However, in performance horses much lower muscle enzyme activity occur after exercise [38,39]. Ponies in our study were not transported and did not exercise.…”

The Physical Activity-Dependent Hematological and Biochemical Changes in School Horses in Comparison to Blood Profiles in Endurance and Race Horses

“…However, considering equine athletes, significant limitations resulting from invasiveness or requirement of equipment that cannot be transported to the stable restricted the performance of advanced exercise tests on a large population of horses [ 2 ]. Therefore, in the case of equine athletes, regular blood sampling was confirmed as useful for detecting equine exercise capacity to improve performance, facilitate recovery, and monitor training [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. In veterinary medicine, it is especially important because the fast detection of the low performance is altered by the inability to perform the anamnesis with the patient, as it is in human medicine.…”

“…In veterinary medicine, it is especially important because the fast detection of the low performance is altered by the inability to perform the anamnesis with the patient, as it is in human medicine. The attention is paid mostly to obtain the values of blood parameters such as red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), white blood cell count (WBC), lactate concentration (LAC), total serum protein (TSP) concentration, creatine phosphokinase (CPK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activity to monitor the health status and training progress of the sport horse depending on the discipline [ 2 , 3 , 4 ].…”

“…While, physical activity requiring sustained high-intensity performance influences an increased anaerobic energy consumption [ 2 , 8 ]. The example of a low-intensity long-distance physical activity in horses is endurance [ 3 , 7 ]. Endurance effort is an exercise of aerobic nature because 95% of total energy costs are contributed by oxidative phosphorylation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) [ 6 ].…”