A quick response is crucial when a horse suffers a bout of colic, and a prompt diagnosis increases a horse’s chance for survival. A team of German researchers recently determined that the blood level of a specific enzyme could indicate a strangulated intestine at presentation, allowing quicker initiation of potentially life-saving treatment without having to wait for exploratory surgery to take place.

"Colic due to acute intestinal obstruction can be a life-threatening situation and is the most common reason that horses are referred to an animal hospital," explained Gerald Fritz Schusser, DrVetMed, Dipl. ECEIM, a veterinarian in the Department of Large Animal Medicine at the University of Leipzig, Germany. "Unfortunately, determining the exact cause of the obstruction and (prognosis for) survival in these horses remains difficult without taking the horse to surgery."

Researchers believe the cause of death for most horses with strangulating obstructions (commonly twisted intestines) stems from the body’s absorption of bacterial toxins released from dying or dead intestines (which occur when the blood supply to a region of the twisted intestine is cut off). Once these toxins are absorbed into the bloodstream, they "activate" specific cells in the immune system that injure the liver and threaten the horse’s life.

"The enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) is produced in specific regions of the liver and plays a key role in detoxification," noted Schusser. "Studies in rats recently showed that ADH could be used as a marker for intestinal ischemia (death)