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BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram

HESTEFORSK In vitro elektrofysiologiske studier av hestens tarmkanal - H1147076

Awarded: NOK 1.6 mill.

Intestinal motility disorders represent a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the horse as well as having a substantial economic impact on the horse industry. In spite of these serious implications, only limited knowledge exists of the basic physiological processes that contribute to and orchestrate equine intestinal motility patterns. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate how these patterns are generated and maintained as well as how different factors may influence these. This may in turn help formulate future treatment strategies. The electrical activity of the normal equine small intestine was characterised using specialised intracellular recording techniques. By adding different membrane channel blockers the origin of this electrical activity was also determined. Following on from this, factors relevant to a clinical situation were assessed using similar laboratory techniques. More specifically, the effect of prostaglandin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, as well as temperature changes was evaluated by exposing the tissue samples to different drugs and a range of temperatures. This study established that the electrical activity of the equine small intestine is sensitive to all of these factors. This is of interest as the drugs evaluated are commonly used in the treatment of colic and if the effect observed in the laboratory also applies to the live horse, this may need to be taken into consideration when treating horses with intestinal motility disorders. In addition to the electrophysiological studies, a separate study also evaluated how inflammation can damage important cellular networks in the intestinal tract. In this study, sections from intestinal samples collected from horses with confirmed inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) were stained with a range of special markers identifying both nerves as well as intestinal pacemaker cells. This demonstrated that these cellular networks are indeed sensitive to such disease processes which may help explain why horses with IBD frequently have clinical symptoms indicating intestinal motility disorders. It is important to emphasise that no horses were euthanased in order to provide material for this project. All intestinal tissues samples were collected at post-mortem from horses that were put down for other reasons such as for example chronic lameness. Furthermore, all samples used in this project were collected with the owners' consent. This work has been a collaboration between the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, the University of Edinburgh and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Some results have already been presented both nationally as well as internationally at conferences as well as through publications. It is expected that further results arising from these studies will be submitted for publication during the course of the year. Furthermore, the project has helped establish future collaborations with both existing as well as new research groups. In summary, the project has been completed as planned and has provided information that will improve our understanding of how normal intestinal motility is generated and maintained in the horse. Furthermore, it has provided a basis for future studies investigating effective and targeted treatment strategies.

Dette prosjektet har som mål å karakterisere den elektriske aktiviteten i tynntarmen hos hest ved bruk av in vitro intracellulære målingsmetoder. Den første delen av studien vil undersøke og karakterisere aktiviteten i tynntarmen hos friske hester, samt h vilke komponenter som bidrar til dette. Denne studien vil danne grunnlaget for den påfølgende delen av dette prosjektet som vil sammenligne disse funnene med de fra hester med inflammatoriske forandringer i tarmveggen. Vi ønsker med dette å teste vår hypo tese at slike sykdomsprosesser vil forandre den elektriske aktiviteten i tarmen som dermed vil bidra til de kliniske symptomer. Denne studien ønsker med dette å fremme vår forståelse for hvordan normal bevegelse av tarmkanalen genereres og opprettholdes , så vel som hva som skjer i sykdomsaffisert tarm. Dette vil også være et viktig ledd i å kunne formulere fremtidige behandlingsstrategier. Studien er et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom Norges veterinærhøgskole (NVH), University of Edinburgh, Skottland og Sveri ges lantbruksuniversitet (SLU).

Funding scheme:

BIONÆR-Bionæringsprogram