Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: Background: The Caspian horse, a rare ancient breed from northern Iran, is threatened due to low numbers. Health monitoring via acute phase proteins (APPs) helps detect inflammation and subclinical stress. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the changes in serum levels of total protein (TP), serum amyloid A (SAA), haptoglobin (Hp), and albumin (Alb) following experimentally induced inflammation in Caspian horses. Study design: A randomized controlled trial was conducted on healthy, purebred Caspian horses. Methods: Thirty 10-year-old seronegative male Caspian horses were randomly assigned to treatment (turpentine injection, n=15) and control (saline injection, n=15) groups. Inflammation was induced subcutaneously using 5 ml of turpentine. Blood samples were collected at baseline and at multiple time points up to 144 minutes post-injection. Serum TP and Alb were measured via spectrophotometry, and SAA and Hp via ELISA. Statistical analysis was performed using t-tests with significance at P < .05. Results: TP concentrations were significantly lower in the treatment group compared to the control group at 48 and 72 minutes ( P < 0.05). Alb concentrations were significantly lower in the treatment group compared to the control group from 4 to 72 minutes ( P < 0.05). Hp concentrations were significantly higher in the treatment group compared to the control group at 72 and 144 minutes ( P < 0.05). SAA concentrations were significantly higher in the treatment group compared to the control group from 16 to 144 minutes ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: SAA showed the most rapid and significant response to inflammation, making it a reliable marker for early detection of acute phase reactions in Caspian horses. Haptoglobin also proved valuable but with a delayed increase. TP and albumin demonstrated statistically significant changes but remained within normal ranges and thus may have limited standalone diagnostic utility.
Language: English
Topic: Animal health and immunology
Subfield: Small Animals
Field: Veterinary
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413622322