Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the metabolic response of five healthy non-pregnant Arabian mares to intravenous glucose or fructose infusions with commercial energy-boosting electrolyte supplements. The animals were kept on a dry lot and had free access to Tifton 85 hay, mineral salt and water. A full factorial experiment was carried out with five horses and five treatments, as follows: corn (control), fructose 25 g (Fru-25); fructose 50 g (Fru-50); glucose 25g (Glu-25); and glucose 50 g (Glu-50). The fructose and glucose solutions were infused into the jugular vein within 10 minutes, regardless of their volume, in doses ranging from 0.13 g/Kg (Fru-50 and Glu-50) to 0.07g/Kg (Fru-25 and Glu-25). Blood samples were drawn from the jugular vein at seven moments: 0 or pre-test (fasting), and 30, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 minutes after beginning the intravenous supplementation or food ingestion (corn). The following blood biomarkers were analyzed: glucose, insulin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), phosphorus, total plasma protein (TPP) and insulin levels. The results were subjected to ANOVA and to Tukey’s test, with a p-value of 0.05, using SigmaPlot 13.0 software. The results indicated that glucose, insulin, ALT and AST levels differed significantly between treatments and blood sampling times. Only glucose showed high interaction between treatments and periods (p 0.05). In conclusion, this research demonstrated that glucose or fructose infused into the bloodstream of healthy mares produced different glycemic and insulin curves when equivalent doses of commercial energy-boosting supplements were used.
Highlights
Intravenous treatments for horses and other equines to maintain or replace calories with different types of carbohydrates is a common practice, albeit poorly understood, because it is forbidden in some equestrian sports
All the fructose and glucose solutions were infused into the jugular vein within 10 minutes, regardless of their volume, in doses varying from 0.13 g/Kg (Fru-50 and Glu50) to 0.07 g/Kg (Fru-25 and glucose 25g (Glu-25))
An analysis of the concentration of various biomarkers in the different treatments indicated that the Glu-50 treatment produced the highest glucose and insulin levels (p < 0.05), while the corn treatment showed the lowest glucose level (p < 0.05) and the Glu-25 treatment the lowest insulin level (p < 0.05) (Table 2)
Summary
Intravenous treatments for horses and other equines to maintain or replace calories with different types of carbohydrates is a common practice, albeit poorly understood, because it is forbidden in some equestrian sports. It should be noted that only chronically high levels of fructose ingestion are associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome in humans (Elliott et al, 2002), and that rapid infusions of large doses of fructose may increase blood lactate levels and cause changes in blood pH (Kaye et al, 1958; Pribylová et al, 1973; Steinmann et al, 2016) These characteristics of the fructose metabolism, especially rapid metabolization in the liver, justify the use of fructose in equine medicine, to restore caloric status without significantly increasing insulin secretion and to improve energy stores in horses suffering from different diseases, such as laminitis and metabolic syndrome
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