Changes in Serum Concentrations of Acute Phase Proteins in Horses Subjected to Short Duration and High Intensity Exercise

• Grant number: 25/03277-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: July 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Clinics and Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Juliana Regina Peiró
• Grantee: Wilker Stoianov Martins
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Physical exercise is one of the most requested physiological stimuli for an animal, causing a series of metabolic reactions that seek to adapt the organism. One of these responses is linked to the acute phase responses at different moments of the physical activity performed by the animal, which can change depending on its intensity and time. The aim of this study is to quantify the serum concentrations of different acute phase proteins in Quarter Horses after an acute session of high-intensity, short-duration exercise (Three Barrel race) at two moments (before training and after 5 months of training). Serum samples frozen at -20ºC will be used from 4 animals from the Three Barrel race modality that performed an Effort Test (ET), similar to the competition, and blood samples were collected before (-1h) and after 30, 120 and 240 minutes after the end of the exercise. The animals underwent specific training for their modality for five months and underwent a new ET to evaluate adaptations to training. After thawing, the serum samples will be tested in an electrophoretic run on SDS-PAGE polyacrylamide gel. The data obtained for each parameter studied, in different experimental groups, will be subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), followed by comparison between the means using the Tukey test. Data will be presented as mean ± standard deviation. Data will be considered significant with a P value ¿ 0.05 for the different moments. (AU)