EVALUATION OF CHANGES IN BLOOD AND FECAL CALPROTECTIN OF EQUINES WITH ACUTE ABDOMEN

• Grant number: 23/18109-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Renata Gebara Sampaio Dória
• Grantee: Julia Maria Barreira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Colic syndrome is the most common emergency in routine equine care in hospitals and in the field, which can result in death if not treated quickly and appropriately. Despite advances in equine medicine, colic is still a major concern in the lives of these animals and in the lives of their owners, due to the high cost of treatment and the high mortality rate. Inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract is present in the pathophysiology of equine acute abdomen, regardless of the cause or type of treatment (clinical or surgical). Injuries to the intestinal mucosa allow the bilateral translocation of cells and inflammatory mediators, bacteria and toxins between the intestinal lumen and blood circulation. Furthermore, inflammatory cells, especially neutrophils, will migrate from the blood circulation to the site of the injury, increasing the local inflammatory response. The association of intestinal injury, local inflammation and translocation of bacteria and toxins will result in systemic inflammatory response syndrome. Calprotectin is a protein present abundantly in the cytoplasm of neutrophils and its dosage, as an inflammatory biomarker, is very common in the medical routine of humans with inflammatory intestinal diseases. It is hypothesized that the dosage of fecal and blood calprotectin can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic aid in acute equine abdomen. The objective of the present study is to identify and quantify, in fecal and blood samples from horses with acute abdomen, calprotectin, in order to determine the intensity of intestinal and/or systemic inflammation over time, and predict prognosis. Thus, calprotectin will be used as a potential prognostic biomarker in equine acute abdomen.