Study: Salix Administration Can Lead to Calcium Imbalance

Horses receiving Salix had difficulty replenishing their calcium levels 72 hours after drug administration.
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Study: Salix Administration Can Lead to Calcium Imbalance
Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse
Researchers recently completed examined how furosemide (commonly known as Salix or Lasix) administration affects active Thoroughbreds’ mineral balances, finding that these animals had difficulty replenishing their calcium levels about 72 hours after drug administration.

In the two-part study, Joe Pagan, PhD, of Kentucky Equine Research in Versailles, Ky., also determined furosemide could enhance performance by reducing the rate of lactate buildup in the blood, an effect he attributes to the weight horses lose after receiving the diuretic. Pagan noted that this performance-enhancing effect had been revealed in previous studies.

He presented the findings this week at the Equine Science Society meeting, in Mescalero, N.M. Pagan said that because most previous studies have focused on furosemide’s efficacy at preventing or reducing exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage, pulmonary physiologists typically have completed the work. Pagan wanted to assess how the drug affects horse nutritional balance.

In this study, researchers administered furosemide in the horses and then sent them through a controlled treadmill exercise test that started with a five-minute walk, then working at various speeds at two-minute intervals, and ended with four different gallop speeds at one-minute each

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Frank Angst is a staff writer for The Blood-Horse magazine. An American Horse Publications three-time winner in best news story category, Angst has covered horse racing for more than a decade. Angst spent ten years at Thoroughbred Times, where he earned awards as that magazine’s senior writer and helped launch Thoroughbred Times TODAY. Besides covering horse racing, Angst enjoys handicapping. Angst has written about sports for more than 20 years, including several seasons covering a nationally ranked Marshall Thundering Herd football team.

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