Dysbiosis not observed in Canadian horse with free fecal liquid (FFL)

Chronic diarrhea without other signs of disease was an occasional and often frustrating problem I encountered in practice. The condition has become known as Free Fecal Liquid (FFL) or Fecal Water Syndrome (FWS). Scientific investigations into the problem have not been able to find a cause. Here was another unsuccessful attempt at identifying possible problems either causing or caused by FWS. For more on this see the parent article (above) to this topic.
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Dysbiosis not observed in Canadian horse with free fecal liquid (FFL) using 16S rRNA sequencing
Sci Rep. 2024 Jun 5;14(1):12903. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-63868-1.
Authors
Robert J Wester 1 , Lyndsey L Baillie 1 , Garrett C McCarthy 1 , Carson C Keever 2 , Lauren E Jeffery 3 , Paul J Adams 4 5
Affiliations

1 Applied Genomics Centre, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada.
2 Faculty of Science, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada.
3 Agwest Veterinary Group Ltd., Abbotsford, BC, Canada.
4 Applied Genomics Centre, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada. paul.adams@kpu.ca.
5 Faculty of Science, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Surrey, BC, Canada. paul.adams@kpu.ca.

PMID: 38839848
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-63868-1

Abstract

Free Fecal Liquid (FFL), also termed Fecal Water Syndrome (FWS), is an ailment in horses characterized by variable solid and liquid (water) phases at defecation. The liquid phase can be excreted before, during, or after the solid defecation phase. While the underlying causes of FFL are unknown, hindgut dysbiosis is suggested to be associated with FFL. Three European studies investigated dysbiosis in horses with FFL using 16S rRNA sequencing and reported results that conflicted between each other. In the present study, we also used 16S rRNA sequencing to study the fecal microbial composition in 14 Canadian horses with FFL, and 11 healthy stable mate controls. We found no significant difference in fecal microbial composition between FFL and healthy horses, which further supports that dysbiosis is not associated with FFL.

© 2024. The Author(s).