Elsevier

The Veterinary Journal

Volume 190, Issue 2, November 2011, Pages e154-e156
The Veterinary Journal

Short Communication
Activin A as a novel biomarker of equine inflammatory abdominal disease: Preliminary findings

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2011.01.006Get rights and content

Abstract

This study evaluated the inflammatory mediator activin A in horses with acute abdominal disease and compared this putative novel biomarker with serum amyloid A (SAA). Thirty-three adult horses referred for evaluation of acute abdominal disease were grouped into three lesion categories, non-strangulating, strangulating or inflammatory. Eleven healthy adult horses served as controls.

Serum activin-A was significantly increased in animals with inflammatory or strangulating lesions compared with controls. Horses with non-strangulating, strangulating or inflammatory lesions had significantly elevated SAA concentrations. Activin A, along with other biomarkers, may be useful in monitoring inflammation in cases of acute abdominal disease in horses. Further validation is warranted to determine the utility of this biomarker in evaluating the effectiveness of novel anti-inflammatory treatments for equine colic and endotoxaemia.

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Conflict of interest statement

E. Sorich was previously employed by ARL Pathology Pty Ltd., which supplied the ELISA kits used to detect SAA. None of the other authors of this paper has any financial or personal relationship with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence or bias the content of the paper.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to ARL Pathology Pty Ltd. for providing the SAA ELISA kits. They also thank Mr. Garry Anderson for his advice on the statistical analysis.

References (11)

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    This small difference in activin A concentration between groups might be related to the treatment effect or clinical status of the mares. Moreover, an increase in activin A indicates inflammation in not only uterus-placental tissue, but also in other parts of the body [8], and an acute increase in activin A concentrations has been reported in various clinical conditions, including septicemia [25]. The peak of activin A has been reported to appear on the day of parturition in Thoroughbred mares [21], consistent with a study in human pregnancy that showed a large amount of activin A secretion from the placenta into the maternal circulation during active labor [28].

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    Lifestyle appears to influence plasma activin levels, as activin mRNA expression and the plasma activin concentration are enhanced in physically active humans and rats [5,6]. Up to now, studies of activin A in horses have shown that it is a specific marker of inflammation and acute abdominal and lung diseases [7–9]. On the other hand, glucocorticoids, which can be secreted in response to inflammation or exercise-induced stress, strongly reduce activin A production [10,11] and vice versa, activin A inhibits cortisol secretion from the adrenal cortex [12].

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    In the literature, there is no data regarding the assessment of the ACT concentration in horses. Activin A, a member of the transforming growth factor-β subfamily, is increased in the case of inflammatory or strangulating lesions in the abdominal cavity and in cases of equine grass sickness [60,61]. Procalcitonin is increased in the cerebral spinal fluid in humans with neurodegenerative diseases, whereas its increase in peripheral blood is correlated with bacterial infections of the central nervous system [62].

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    These data suggest that these moderately sensitive acute-phase proteins may not be suitable markers of low-grade inflammation in horses with EMS. Activin A has been recently used in horses as a marker of inflammatory or strangulating lesions in the abdominal cavity and in equine grass sickness [64,65]. In response to LPS in sheep, there is a more rapid increase in the concentration of activin A than in classic proinflammatory cytokines, specifically IL-6 and TNF-α [66].

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