Veterinary acupuncture charts were developed based on the concept of transpositional points whereby human acupuncture maps were adapted to animal anatomy. Transpositional acupuncture points have traditionally been placed in specific locations around the horse's coronet and distal limb believed to be the closest approximation to the human distal limb points. Because the horse has a single digit ...

Equine sarcoid is the most common tumour of horses and accounts for over half of all equine skin tumours. Six types of sarcoid based on gross appearance and clinical behaviour have been described including occult, verrucous, nodular, fibroblastic, mixed and malevolent. Common locations for sarcoid development include the periocular region, ear pinnae, lips, neck, extremities and ventrum (includ...

Continued in vitro cultivation in a Maitland type medium resulted in a marked modification of the extraneural pathogenicity of the Venezuelan equine encephalomyelitis virus. The ability of the virus to induce lethal infections after peripheral inoculation was almost completely lost for mice 42 or more days of age, was somewhat reduced for mice 28 days of age, but was still retained for mice 21 ...

Meniscal pathologies are among the most common injuries of the femorotibial joint in both human and equine patients. Pathological forces and ensuing injuries of the cranial horn of the equine medial meniscus are considered analogous to those observed in the human posterior medial horn. Biomechanical properties of human menisci are site- and depth- specific. However, the influence of equine meni...

In human medicine, procalcitonin (PCT) is a very common and well-established biomarker for sepsis. Even though sepsis is also a leading cause of death in foals and adult horses, up to now, no data about the role of equine PCT in septic horses has been available. Based on monoclonal antibodies targeted against human PCT, we report here the development of a sandwich ELISA for the quantification o...

Horses have 11 immunoglobulin isotypes: IgM, IgD, IgA, IgE, and seven IgG subclasses designated as IgG1-IgG7, each of which are distinguished by separate genes encoding the constant heavy chain regions. Immunoglobulin (Ig) isotypes have different functions during the immune response and pathogen-specific isotypes can be used as indicators for immunity and protection from disease. In addition to...

Glucocorticoids are potent inhibitors of angiogenesis in the rodent in vivo and in vitro but the mechanism by which this occurs has not been determined. Administration of glucocorticoids is used to treat a number of conditions in horses but the angiogenic response of equine vessels to glucocorticoids and, therefore, the potential role of glucocorticoids in pathogenesis and treatment of equine d...

Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) has been the causative agent for sporadic epidemics and equine epizootics throughout the Americas since the 1930s. In 1969, an outbreak of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) spread rapidly from Guatemala and through the Gulf Coast region of Mexico, reaching Texas in 1971. Since this outbreak, there have been very few studies to determine the northwa...

Background and Aims: In this study we improved the purification of immunoglobulins from equine antiserum raised against the venom of 6 types of scorption species. Caprylic acid (octanoic acid), a fatty acid, was found to have no effect on the activity of the enzymes pepsin, which is used in antivenom purification to digest Fc fragment of immunoglobulins to obtain F(ab´)2. Materials and Methods...

Background: Equine follicle stimulating hormone (eFSH) is a pituitary heterodimeric glycoprotein consists of noncovalently linked of generic alpha subunit and a hormone specific beta subunit. The molecular weights of the subunits are similar and about 16 KD. In general, FSH plays a key role in controlling vertebrate gonadal functions. In female mammals, ovarian maturation and follicular growth ...