Exercise, Nutritional Supplement’s Effects on Inflammation

Researchers are closer to helping owners and trainers identify if a horse is at risk for soft tissue injury.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

Researchers are a step closer to helping owners and trainers identify whether a horse is at risk for soft tissue injury. A simple blood test could reveal inflammatory mediators indicating the animal has sustained tissue damage and could be vulnerable to further harm.

David Horohov, PhD, William Robert Mills Chair at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, described the usefulness of detecting pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA at the 2012 American Association of Equine Practitioners convention, held Dec. 1-5 in Anaheim, Calif.

"The expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA post-exercise is an indicator of the body’s response to tissue damage that has occurred during the exercise," Horohov explained. "While we normally associate inflammation with a disease state, the fact is that some inflammation is necessary to begin the healing process.

"However, if pro-inflammatory cytokine mRNA expression continues to rise throughout the training period, the amount of damage that is occurring may be exceeding the capacity of the body to heal, and this could result in an injury," he continued. "By contrast, if the pro-inflammatory gene expression goes down over time the horse is adapting to the exercise, and this likely means the horse is at less risk for injury

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
313 votes · 313 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!