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Abstract
Abnormalities of gastrointestinal motility are often a challenge in horses; however, the use of prokinetic drugs in such conditions must be firmly established yet. For this reason we carried out a preliminary study on the effects of prucalopride on intestinal motor activity of horses with gut hypomotility. The effect of prucalopride per os by oral dose syringe (2 mg/100 kg body weight) was assessed by abdominal ultrasound (evaluating duodenal, cecal, and colonic motor activity) in six horses with gut hypomotility. After administration of prucalopride, a significant increase of contractile activity was found in the duodenum at 30 minutes (p = 0.0005), 60 minutes (p = 0.01) and 90 minutes (p = 0.01), whereas in the cecum and in the left colon the increase was only present at 60 minutes (p = 0.03, and p = 0.02, respectively). No changes from baseline heart and respiratory rate or behavior side effects were observed after administration of the drug and throughout the observation period. Prucalopride may be a useful adjunct to the therapeutic armamentary for treating hypomotile upper gut conditions of horses. Dosing information is however needed to establish its actual clinical efficacy and its proper effects on the large bowel in these animals.
Highlights
Gastro-intestinal motility abnormalities in horses can be due to several conditions including equine grass sickness, gastroduodenal ulceration, intraluminal obstruction or impaction, excessive wall distention, strangulating obstruction, peritonitis, duodenitis, proximal jejunitis, colitis, and postoperative ileus (POI)[1]
All horses were affected by primary equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD) graded by gastroscopy as grade III or IV, according to the criteria proposed by Sykes and colleagues[15]
Stimulatory effects of 5-HT that were reduced by 5-HT3 and 5-HT4 receptor antagonists have been reported on circular and longitudinal muscle of equine ileum and pelvic flexure[12], and a widespread 5-HT-4 receptor immunoreactivity has been observed in all intestinal smooth muscle layers of duodenum, ileum and pelvic flexure sampled from healthy horses[14]
Summary
Gastro-intestinal motility abnormalities in horses can be due to several conditions including equine grass sickness, gastroduodenal ulceration, intraluminal obstruction or impaction, excessive wall distention, strangulating obstruction, peritonitis, duodenitis, proximal jejunitis, colitis, and postoperative ileus (POI)[1]. The latter is responsible for up to 86% equine deaths following abdominal surgery[2]. To the best of our knowledge, no report on prucalopride administration in horses is available in literature, and in the present paper, the prokinetic effect of was tested in vivo for the first time in horses with intestinal hypomotility
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