Changes in Biomarkers in Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome and Intestinal Colic

Your horse is having repeated bouts of low-level colic: is it gastric ulcers or intestinal disease? This study suggests that there are tests that can be done on saliva that can help differentiate these two problems. Currently, I don’t think these tests are commercially available but with further supportive research they should be.
DrO

Changes in Oxidative Status Biomarkers in Saliva and Serum in the Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome and Colic of Intestinal Aetiology: A Pilot Study
Animals (Basel). 2022 Mar 7;12(5):667. doi: 10.3390/ani12050667.

Authors
María Dolores Contreras-Aguilar 1 , Camila Peres Rubio 1 2 , Luis Guillermo González-Arostegui 1 , María Martín-Cuervo 3 , Jose J Cerón 1 , Ignacio Ayala 4 , Ida-Marie Holm Henriksen 5 , Stine Jacobsen 5 , Sanni Hansen 5
Affiliations

1 Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Clinical Analysis of the University of Murcia (Interlab-UMU), Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, Veterinary School, Regional Campus of International Excellence Mare Nostrum, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
2 Department of Animal and Food Science, School of Veterinary Science, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
3 Medicine Animal, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Cáceres, University of Extremadura, Avenida de la Universidad S-N, 10002 Cáceres, Spain.
4 Department of Animal Medicine & Surgery, Veterinary School, Regional Campus of International Excellence Mare Nostrum, University of Murcia, Campus de Espinardo, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
5 Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Section Medicine and Surgery, University of Copenhagen, Agrovej 8, DK-2630 Taastrup, Denmark.

PMID: 35268236
DOI: 10.3390/ani12050667

Abstract

Changes in the oxidative status of the blood of horses suffering from gastric ulcers and colic of intestinal aetiology (CIE) have been reported. However, saliva can also be a source of biomarkers of oxidative status. Therefore, this study aims to validate automated assays for the measurement of oxidative status biomarkers (ferric reducing ability of saliva/serum-FRAS/FRAP, cupric reducing antioxidant capacity-CUPRAC, the Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity-TEAC, uric acid, and advanced oxidation protein products-AOPP) in the saliva and serum of horses, to assess their changes in the different ulcer gastric diseases (squamous-ESGD and glandular-EGGD) and CIE, and to evaluate their relationship with serum amyloid A (SAA), adenosine deaminase (ADA), and the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) status. The assays showed a low imprecision and good linearity with enough sensitivity in both fluids. In EGGD, higher levels of FRAS, uric acid, and AOPP in saliva were observed compared to the healthy group, correlating with the salivary ADA levels. Horses with CIE showed increases in uric acid concentrations in serum associated with their SIRS status and outcome of the disease. In conclusion, analytes related to the oxidative status can be measured in the saliva and serum from horses by automated assays, and some of them can potentially be assessed as biomarkers in horses with gastric ulcers and CIE.

Keywords: EGUS; colic; horse; redox profile; saliva.