Horse Talk

Keeping up with medical advances in the equine world is an important job. I hope this area will assit you in staying on top of medical bullentins, research, and health issues.

Treating Cushing's Disease

Cushing's disease is an endocrine disorder of humans, dogs and horses. Equine Cushing's disease is caused by hyperactivity of the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland produces and secretes multiple hormones.

In horses, the brain may produce less dopamine (a neurotransmitter that acts as a control mechanism for a part of the pituitary gland). When the pituitary gland grows out of control, it secretes excessive hormones (MSH, beta-endorphin and ACTH) that appear to dramatically affect the immune system.
For more information:
UC Davis Center for Equine Health

Diagnosing Uterine Inflammation in Anovulatory Mares:Don't Count on Ultrasound

Veterinarians have long considered uterine inflammation to be a major cause of subfertility in mares. Accurately diagnosing uterine inflammation, known as endometritis, has relied on uterine biopsies and cytology swabs.

In addition, many clinicians, NERL Director Gordon Woods among them, have suspected that endometritis is accompanied by fluid in the uterus, so they have used ultrasound to detect uterine fluid and support an endometritis diagnosis. New research, however, suggests that at least in anovulatory mares, uterine fluid is not diagnostic. For more information:
Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory-The Argentina Connection Research





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