Quantitative ultrasonographic evaluation of equine flexor tendons submitted to lactate-guided training.

• Grant number: 23/05507-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: June 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: José Corrêa de Lacerda Neto
• Grantee: Maria Clara Lupi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Exercise, especially that performed during training periods, is responsible for the developmentof injuries and tendon ruptures resulting from physical exercise. The detection of early patternsof changes in tendon fibers is of crucial importance as it enables early diagnosis and can preventthe occurrence of catastrophes in tendon structures that are responsible for long periods ofabsence from work and high financial losses. The aim of the study is to quantitatively analyzepending bidimensional mode (B mode) images of equine digital flexor tendons manifested aftersix weeks of training on a treadmill guided by lactate concentration, comparing them before andafter training. In this study, by means of this new tendon analysis technique, we intend todetermine changes caused that provoked early and correlate them with the development ofpossible injuries. The images were transferred from Purebred Arabian horses, two males and 10females, aged three years, which had never undergone physical training, coming from privatefarms, after carrying out clinical examinations and blood counts, to assess health. During a datacollection phase, the horses went through different steps such as adaptation to the treadmill,Progressive Effort Test (PET) with measurement of lactate concentration to guide the trainingspeed and 15 bi-weekly training sessions on treadmill, after which, another PET was performedto assess the improvement in physical conditioning and the effect of training. Before and aftertraining, B-mode ultrasound examinations (MyLab Alpha, Esaote, Genova, Italy) wereperformed on the ventral surface of the metacarpal region, focusing on the superficial and deepdigital flexor tendons. Ultrasound examinations were performed on the medial portion of themetacarpal, as this is the region of greatest stress. In the present study, the images obtained inthe longitudinal position will be post-processed using Image PRO Plus and analyzed using eightparameters derived from two-dimensional Fourier Analysis, which will allow to discriminateindividuals with and without tendinopathy (Bashford et al, 2008). It is expected that analyzesusing gray scale will allow tracing differences between healthy and injured tendons. The resultsobtained will be presented as mean ± mean standard error (MSE) and submitted to the Shapiro -Wilk and Levene tests to evaluate the normality of the residuals and homogeneity of variances,respectively. Parametric data will be analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoccomparisons using Tukey's t test. For non-parametric data, the Kruskal-Wallis test will beapplied and post hoc comparisons will be performed using the Nemenyi test. Additionally,correlation tests will be applied. All statistical analyzes will be performed using RStudiosoftware (RStudio version 2023.03.0 "Cherry Blossom" for Windows) at 5% significance.