Cannabidiol (CBD) has been touted to help just about everything from pain and anxiety to inflammation. But what does the drug offer older equines? No one is quite sure.
Low doses of CBD don't seem to affect lameness, body condition, or weight in senior horses – but there don't seem to be any negative effects of its use, either, reports The Horse. So while it doesn't do a lot, it also doesn't hurt.
Hemp-based CBD, which has no psychoactive effects, has gained popularity among animal owners seeking to provide their pets relief, though no studies have confirmed benefits from its use. Horse owners in particular have been using CBD in an attempt to offer their horses relief from the low-grade inflammation associated with aging, sometimes called “inflamm-aging.”
It isn't clear if inflamm-aging contributes to age-related diseases like osteoarthritis, but it may. If horse owners can regulate the inflammation by using CBD, it may help the horse.
CBD has been shown to relieve inflamm-aging in humans by reducing the pro-inflammatory cytokine production and balancing oxidative stress. Dr. Amanda Adams and Shelley Turner, with the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, sought to determine whether CBD affects the immune function of senior horses.
The duo created a study to see if CBD would affect inflammatory cytokine production and antibody response after a flu vaccine, possibly negatively impacting the horse's immune response to the vaccine.
Adams and a group of other scientists created a three-month-long study using 27 healthy senior horses that lived on pasture, dividing them into two groups. Half of the horses got a dose of CBD made from hemp extract at 2 mg/kg orally. The CBD was dissolved in about 15 milliliters of soy oil. The other group received just the soy oil.
Blood samples were taken just before giving the horses their CBD and oil or oil alone on days 0, 30, 60, 90, 104 and 111. On day 90, the scientists also took blood samples 4 hours after treatment, right before all the horses were vaccinated for equine influenza.
The only thing that changed significantly in the blood panel was an increase of albumin in horses that received CBD supplementation. Albumin plays a role in circulation. The control horses also showed an albumin increase at day 90, suggesting that an external factor is affecting albumin levels of all study horses.
CBD supplementation at this dose and over the time period did not appear to affect the liver, Adams said. Additionally, the research team found similar metabolic and inflammatory responses in both groups, indicating that CBD does not have a direct effect on lymphocyte production.
CBD did not affect the horse's antibody responses after the flu vaccine, which is good news, Adam said, as older horses often have a lower immune response to vaccinations than younger horses.
Though the CBD was detectable in the study horse's plasma, the lack of impact on treated horses may be related to the amount or timing of the dose administered in the study. Adams recommends additional research be completed to determine the best dose, time of administration, and formulation to make CBD more bioavailable to the horse.
At this point in time, it is still unclear whether CBD is helpful or harmful to horses, she concluded.
Read more at The Horse.
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