Evaluation of changes in gut microbiota and peritoneal translocation, by sequencing and bioinformatics platforms, of horses with late impaction of large colon.

• Grant number: 22/15824-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• End date: February 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Renata Gebara Sampaio Dória
• Grantee: Brenda Valéria dos Santos Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The gastrointestinal tract keep one of the most diverse and complex microbial populations on the planet, and plays a key role in health and in a wide range of diseases. Considering that horses have several disorders related to the gastrointestinal tract, which generate alterations in the intestinal microbiota, culminating in dysbiosis, understanding it during equine acute abdomen can generate innovative preventive and therapeutic measures. The large colonic impaction represents 13.4% of the equine rotine in veterinary hospitals, presenting a favorable prognosis when quickly and adequately treated. However, the delay in the desease resolution leads to severe intestinal distension, interfering in the blood irrigation of the intestinal mucosa, resulting in inflammation, ischemia, and tissue devitalization. The clinical treatment involves prolonged fasting, use of laxative medications and intense enteral fluid therapy, among others, in order to dissolve the impacted mass, which possibly interferes directly with the intestinal microbiota. Furthermore, it is believed that intestinal distension and inflammation, added to dysbiosis, allow bacterial translocation from the intestine to the peritoneal fluid, a fact with important systemic implications for the treatment of horses with acute abdomen. Currently, numerous studies are dedicated to the determination of the fecal microbiota of healthy horses and under treatment with antimicrobials, by means of new generation genome sequencing and bioinformatics platforms. However, studies that evaluate the impact on the intestinal microbiota of the non surgical treatment of horses with colic due to late impaction of the large colon are scarce. The aim is to obtain information that will help in the development of preventive and therapeutic therapies, contributing to the prognosis, for horses with acute abdomen due to late impaction of the large colon.