Use of serum amyloid A and other acute phase reactants to monitor the inflammatory response after castration in horses: a field study

Abstract

Measurements of SAA and iron may improve post operative monitoring. As sustained inflammation may indicate that the surgical wound has become infected, SAA and iron measurements may facilitate early recognition and hence early treatment of infection.

Factors Influencing Serum Amyloid Type A (Saa) Concentrations in Horses

“…The postsurgical inflammatory and infectious complications are also accompanied by significantly higher values of SAA [31], that correlate with the severity of symptoms. Thus, monitoring the SAA allows making quick decisions about the treatment to apply, and thus decrease the discomfort and postoperative complications [22,29].…”

“…Some studies have suggested that SAA is even more sensitive than classical markers of inflammation, such as white blood cell count and Fb [30,31], as stated previously. Various factors such as fear, excitement and infections, among others, mainly induce increased cortisol and neutrophilic leukocytosis type levels.…”

“…Generically, surgery induces a marked APR, characterized by a biphasic pattern of SAA [23,31,33]. In particular, after castration, SAA levels have been identified above 7 mg/L, with a peak at 2 -3 days followed by a second rise 4 or 5 days after surgery [23].…”

“…The Fb is present in high amounts in healthy horses, and decrease in situations of increased vascular permeability or excessive consumption and coagulation disorders which may mask the inflammatory or infectious process [13,31,32]. Finally, the standard method of measurement of Fb is insensitive to small changes, so it only detects changes above 100 mg/dL [33].…”

“…For this reason, to monitor certainly inflammatory or infectious process, the serum profiles of SAA reflect better the course of the inflammation, since they are correlated by the severity of the process. In contrast, fever and changes in the number of leukocytes, are generally considered as markers of inflammation and infection, and are not useful parameters for monitoring post-operatively, due to its non-specificity [29,31].…”