Marilda Onghero Taffarel

Refinement and partial validation of the UNESP-Botucatu multidimensional composite pain scale for assessing postoperative pain in horses

BackgroundQuantification of pain plays a vital role in the diagnosis and management of pain in animals. In order to refine and validate an acute pain scale for horses a prospective, randomized, blinded study was conducted. Twenty-four client owned adult horses were recruited and allocated to one of four following groups: anaesthesia only (GA); pre-emptive analgesia and anaesthesia (GAA,); anaesthesia, castration and postoperative analgesia (GC); or pre-emptive analgesia, anaesthesia and castration (GCA). One investigator, unaware of the treatment group, assessed all horses at time-points before and after intervention and completed the pain scale. Videos were also obtained at these time-points and were evaluated by a further four blinded evaluators who also completed the scale. The data were used to investigate the relevance, specificity, criterion validity and inter- and intra-observer reliability of each item on the pain scale, and to evaluate construct validity and responsiveness of the scale.ResultsConstruct validity was demonstrated by the observed differences in scores between the groups, four hours after anaesthetic recovery and before administration of systemic analgesia in the GC group. Inter- and intra-observer reliability for the items was only satisfactory. Subsequently the pain scale was refined, based on results for relevance, specificity and total item correlation.ConclusionsScale refinement and exclusion of items that did not meet predefined requirements generated a selection of relevant pain behaviours in horses. After further validation for reliability, these may be used to evaluate pain under clinical and experimental conditions.

Feasibility and safety of intrathecal transplantation of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in horses.

BackgroundRecent studies have demonstrated numerous biological properties of mesenchymal stem cells and their potential application in treating complex diseases or injuries to tissues that have difficulty regenerating, such as those affecting the central and peripheral nervous system. Thus, therapies that use mesenchymal stem cells are promising because of their high capacity for self-regeneration, their low immunogenicity, and their paracrine, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective effects. In this context, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of intrathecal transplantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells in horses, for future application in the treatment of neurological diseases.ResultsDuring the neurological evaluations, no clinical signs were observed that were related to brain and/or spinal cord injury of the animals from the control group or the treated group. The hematological and cerebrospinal fluid results from day 1 and day 6 showed no significant differences (P > 0.05) between the treated group and the control group. Additionally, analysis of the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) -2 and −9 in the cerebrospinal fluid revealed only the presence of pro-MMP-2 (latent), with no significant difference (P > 0.05) between the studied groups.ConclusionsThe results of the present study support the hypothesis of the feasibility and safety of intrathecal transplantation of autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells, indicating that it is a promising pathway for cell delivery for the treatment of neurological disorders in horses.

FENTANIL INTRANASAL – REVISÃO DE LITERATURA.

O fentanil e um agonista opioide µ completo, com curta duracao, as vantagens do seu uso incluem o rapido inicio de acao, alem da inexistencia de metabolitos ativos, o que provem menores efeitos adversos. A alta solubilidade lipidica e o baixo potencial de irritacao local desse farmaco permitiram novas formulacoes com meios de administracao transmucosa, dentre eles sprays nasais. Essa alternativa possui excelente absorcao atraves da mucosa nasal, devido as caracteristicas fisiologicas da mesma, como pouca camada celular e alta irrigacao sanguinea. O objetivo dessa revisao e relatar os usos da administracao intranasal desse farmaco, visando sua efetividade de conduta, efeitos esperados e a possivel aplicabilidade na rotina veterinaria. Tal pratica tem se mostrado, em humanos, tao efetiva quanto o uso de outros farmacos ja sabidamente eficazes, como e o caso da morfina intravenosa. Alem de possuir baixo potencial de efeitos adversos em humanos, o que tambem ja e relatado em cao, fato que se da gracas a provavel absorcao direta para o sistema nervoso central. Ademais e importante ressaltar que muitas vezes os animais se apresentam assustados e relutantes a cateterismo venoso, seja por dor ou medo, nesses casos a conduta de aplicacao intranasal deve ser levada em conta como opcao de escolha.

Preemptive Analgesia, Including Morphine, Does Not Affect Recovery Quality and Times in Either Pain-Free Horses or Horses Undergoing Orchiectomy

&NA; Recovery quality and times from general anesthesia in horses may be influenced by surgery, analgesia with morphine or combinations of both. Twenty‐three adult healthy horses were enrolled in this prospective experimental trial in a clinical setting and were randomly allocated to one of the following groups: anesthesia only (GA; n = 6), preemptive analgesia and anesthesia (GAA; n = 5), anesthesia and castration (GC; n = 6), or preemptive analgesia, anesthesia, castration, and intraoperative local analgesia (GCA; n = 6). All horses were sedated with intramuscular (IM) xylazine (0.5 mg/kg). Anesthesia was induced with intravenous (IV) guaifenesin (100 mg/kg) and thiopental (5 mg/kg) and maintained with isoflurane in oxygen. Animals in groups with preemptive analgesia received IM morphine (0.2 mg/kg) and dipyrone (10 mg/kg) and IV flunixin meglumine (1.0 mg/kg) immediately before sedation. Recoveries from general anesthesia were rope‐assisted. Recovery scores (from 8 [excellent recovery] to 70 [worst recovery]) and times were compared between groups, using a one‐way analysis of variance followed by a Tukeys test (P < .05). Mean ± standard deviation (SD) and range recovery scores were 22 ± 14 (8–45), 9 ± 2 (8–12), 14 ± 5 (8–22), and 12 ± 1 (10–13) in groups GA, GAA, GC, and GCA, respectively. Mean ± SD times to stand in minutes were 21 ± 10, 18 ± 7, 33 ± 12, and 35 ± 21 in groups GA, GAA, GC and GCA, respectively. No statistically significant differences were found for any of the variables. Neither preoperative administration of analgesics, including morphine, nor castration interfered with the recovery qualities and times in horses undergoing general anesthesia. Preemptive morphine did not worsen anesthetic recovery quality in horses. HighlightsPreemptive analgesia did not affect the quality and times of anesthetic recovery in horses undergoing castration.The use of morphine did not worsen anesthetic recovery qualities in horses.

Ultrastructural analysis of canine embryos

The aim of this study was to analyze the follicle and oocytes morphometry from different follicular classes. The ovaries of 17 queens in anestrus were classified into three groups: Young (0–1 year), Adults (1–6 years) and Older (>6 years). The ovaries were fixed in paraformaldehyde 5%, embedding in paraffin and staining with haematoxylin-eosin. For morphological analysis the tissue sections were photographed by microscope (Olympus BX61) and classified as primordial, unilaminar primary, multilaminar primary, secondary and pre-ovulatory follicles. A total of 1039 follicles were measured and the parameters utilized were: diameter (lm), area (lm2) and perimeter (lm). The statistical used were ANOVA and the means were compared by Tukey test and medians using the Kruskal-Wallis test followed by Dunn’s multiple comparisons (p < 0.05). In young queens primordial follicles there were increased in the mean diameter, area and perimeter of follicle (45.16 lm, 1941 lm and 157.24 lm) and oocytes (40.55 lm, 1320.4 lm and 129.90 lm) when compared to adults (Follicles: 41.51 lm, 1652.4 lm e 145.56 lm and in oocytes: 37.57 lm, 1134.3 lm and 120.58 lm). A biphasic pattern of follicle and oocyte growth was observed through linear regression. Before antrum formation, follicle (x) and oocyte (y) size were positively and linearly correlated (y = 0.304x + 25.01, r = 0.72), although after antrum formation a negative correlation were found (y = 0.007x + 98.00, r = 0.00). The queen offers many benefits as a model of ovarian folliculogenesis, and may be useful in preserving of endangered animals. Acknowledgements: FAPESP for financial support.