Acupuncture's effect in preventing exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in Thoroughbred race horses

Author(s)

Pablo Costa Magalhães

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Botucatu. 2016-08-09.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia. Botucatu
• Defense date: 2016-05-23
• Advisor: Stelio Pacca Loureiro Luna; Marcos Jun Watanabe

Abstract

The exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) decreases athletic performance of animals and causes loss to owners. As its etiology has not yet been elucidated, the palliative treatment is the administration of furosemide, a diuretic that reduces plasma volume, blood pressure, alveolar rupture and hemorrhage. Whereas acupuncture acts on various body systems and taking into account the adverse effects of furosemide, pharmacopuncture could promote diuresis and minimize these adverse effects. We aimed to evaluate the possible effect of this technique in horses in a pilot project. For this purpose we used six animals that underwent four treatments with an interval of at least one day: furosemide, pharmacopuncture associated with acupuncture, false pharmacopuncture and control when animals didn't receive any treatment. We evaluated the urination start time after treatment, urine output, the density and frequency of urination. The time to onset of urination was similar between the groups furosemide and pharmacopuncture and was given at the first 20 minutes of collection, being higher in other groups. Urine output was lower in the control group than the one treated with furosemide. There was no difference in the density and urination was more frequent after furosemide administration compared to the control and false pharmacopuncture. It was concluded that the pharmacopuncture did not influence the urinary output of animals and, therefore, it was decided in the main study to evaluate only the effect of acupuncture with dry needles in preventing EIPH. For this, 18 Thoroughbred horses were used. Each animal was its own control, being subjected to intense exercise three times with an interval of 15 days, the first without treatment (C) and the other two, one after receiving 250 mg of furosemide IV (F) and the other after an acupuncture session (A) both four hours before exercise. The animals were evaluated 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after exercise. It was performed clinical assessment of vital signs and respiratory system, endoscopic examination of the respiratory tract and blood collection for packed cell volume (PCV) measurement and total plasmatic protein (TP). The degree of bleeding had a median of 3 in control, with no statistical difference (P> 0.05) for the acupuncture treatment that had a median of 2.5. The treatment with furosemide differed from the others (P <0.001) presenting median 0.5 for this variable. For the clinical examination of the vital signs and respiratory system, most of the variables presented statistical difference between pre and post moments, regardless of treatment assessed without differences between treatments at the same moment evaluated. The average PCV was higher for treatment with furosemide compared to other pre and post exercise times. The values obtained from TP differ between pre and post, however without significant differences among the treatments. We concluded that only one acupuncture session applied four hours prior to exercise in racing Thoroughbred horses are not able to reduce the degree of bleeding resulting from EIPH. New assessments with continuous and prolonged treatment should be made to better infer about the effectiveness of the technique. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/14976-2 - Effect of pharmacopuncture in the prevention of exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage in Thoroughbred horses
• Grantee: Pablo Costa Magalhães
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master