A recent study has shown that a pathogenic bacteria called Sarcina may be associated with gastric ulcers in the glandular region of horse's stomachs. Sarcinca can slow the emptying of the stomach, possibly irritating its lining and causing ulcers.
Thoroughbred racehorses used in a study had up to 450 times more Sarcinca in their glandular ulcer microbiota than in their healthy glandular tissue. This strongly links Sarcinca and equine gastric glandular disease, reports The Horse.
Dr. Sarah Voss, an equine internal medicine clinical teaching associate in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge, and colleagues performed gastroscopy to examine the differences in the stomachs of horses kept in the same environment which had glandular ulcers and those that did not.
The racehorses examined were all housed in the same training facility in Scotland; the study used five geldings and one mare between the ages of 2 and 7. All horses were examined twice and one additional horse was examined once.
All horses were fed free-choice haylage, concentrated feed, and chaff. None of the horses were performing as well as expected, so the trainer stopped training and asked for a veterinarian to scope for possible ulcers.
Ulcers were identified in the squamous and/or glandular region of every horse. The researchers brushed each lesion through the endoscope to obtain samples. They used additional brushes on healthy tissue near each lesion.
Ribosomal RNA sequencing was then run on all samples. The scientists found the dominant bacteria in healthy tissue was Proteobacteria. This bacterium was present 2.5 times more in healthy tissue than in glandular ulcers.
The second most-abundant bacteria in healthy tissue was Firmicutes. However, Firmicutes was found in glandular ulcer samples as well – at twice the rate of its prevalence in healthy tissues. Voss hypothesizes that this most likely coincides with the increase of Sarcina, which is a Firmicutes bacterium.
Present in only 0.2 percent of healthy tissues, Sarcina was found in 92.4 percent of glandular lesions. The rates were very high in two of the three horses with equine gastric glandular disease (EGGD).
Though Sarcina is most likely part of the normal gastric microbiota, horses are most likely picking up Sarcina from the environment, the researchers said. It is also likely that the bacteria is associated with EGGD. In humans, Sarcina is linked to poor gastric emptying; horses with glandular ulcers that contain Sarcina may also have the same issues.
Voss encouraged veterinarians to look at gastric emptying time in horses suffering from EGGD; she believes it will play a role in better understanding EGGD.
Read more at The Horse.
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