Bruna da Rosa Curcio

Em 2024, as enchentes que afetaram o município de Pelotas (RS) geraram uma demanda urgente para o acolhimento e cuidados com equinos impactados pelas inundações. Nesse contexto, o Grupo de Ensino, Pesquisa e Extensão em Clínica Médica de Equinos da Universidade Federal de Pelotas (ClinEq-UFPel), em parceria com a Prefeitura Municipal de Pelotas, desempenhou papel crucial no resgate, manejo e atendimento clínico dos animais durante um período de 51 dias. A equipe multidisciplinar, composta por profissionais formados, pós-graduandos e estudantes de graduação, atuou na triagem, vacinação, avaliação clínica e manejo nutricional dos equinos, assegurando seu bem-estar e recuperando sua saúde. A experiência prática proporcionada pelas ações também evidenciou a escassez de capacitação específica para o atendimento em situações de desastre dentro do currículo de Medicina Veterinária. Dessa forma, destacou-se a importância de integrar teoria e prática na graduação, com treinamentos específicos, para formar profissionais mais preparados para emergências, ao mesmo tempo em que a experiência prática contribuiu para a recuperação e o bem-estar dos animais atendidos.

Uveitis is the most common ocular alteration in septic foals. Despite its importance, its detection still is a challenge for equine clinicians, and survived foals can maintain ophthalmic sequelae if not briefly treated. This report aims to describe ophthalmic findings and the outcome in nine septic foals at Pelotas University Veterinary Hospital (HCV-UFPel). All patients were diagnosed with sepsis according to clinic and laboratorial parameters. The main uveitis findings were conjunctival hyperemia, fibrin and flare in anterior chamber, iris change of color, low intraocular pressure. Topically, the election treatment for all foals was two eye drops of Prednisolone 1%, with varied frequency, until recovery of ophthalmic parameters. There was 66% of favorable recuperation in total foals and 100% of visual recovery in survived foals, with complete ocular pathway transparency. This report shows that in the foals where systemic disease recovery occurred, a proper and early topical treatment of uveitis could lead to good visual prognosis.

Mares have a variable gestation length, and labor induction is reserved for high-risk pregnancies due to the unpredictability of fetal maturity. This case reports an induced parturition in a Thoroughbred mare with acute laminitis at 327 days of gestation. Labor was achieved with intravenous oxytocin, resulting in eutocic delivery. However, the foal presented with signs of severe immaturity-absent suckling reflex, inability to rise, flexor tendon laxity-and metabolic alterations such as hypoglycemia, neutropenia, and elevated lactate. Despite intensive care including plasma transfusions, nutritional support, and fluid therapy, the foal deteriorated and died at 72 hours. Biochemical analyses of peripheral markers confirmed metabolic and immune immaturity. This case highlights the clinical and prognostic challenges of induced parturition in mares, especially in the absence of objective markers of fetal maturity. Improved diagnostic methods are urgently needed to assess fetal readiness for birth and reduce neonatal morbidity and mortality in equine high-risk pregnancies.

Stallion sexual behavior is modulated by factors such as the seasonality, handling, age, and sexual experience, and the behavioral patterns observed during semen collection differ from those during natural mating. This study characterized the sexual behavior of Criollo stallions during semen collection and compared the precopulatory and copulatory behavior responses between inexperienced and experienced. Fifty-five stallions were evaluated including reaction time, mount time, mount to ejaculation time, mounts without erection or ejaculation, Flehmen’s response, sniffing, biting, kicking, and vocalizations. The animals were classified as inexperienced (≤ 4 years, n=14) or experienced (5-16 years, n=41). Subsequently, experienced were also subdivided by age (5-8, 9-12, and 13-16 years). Statistical analyses included the Wilcoxon test, Kruskal-Wallis, analysis of variance, and Tukey’s test (P < 0.05). Inexperienced stallions exhibited significantly longer reaction (47.5 ± 31.9 s) and mount times (85.8 ± 56.3 s) than experienced (21 ± 8.1 s and 34.3 ± 11.6 s, respectively), whereas mount to ejaculation duration (~35 s) did not differ between groups. Subdivision of experienced showed that reaction and mount time significantly decreased with age, whereas mount to ejaculation interval were similar across three age groups. The most consistent precopulatory behaviors were vocalization and sniffing, regardless of sexual experience. Inexperienced stallions tended to require multiple mounts more often to achieve ejaculation. In conclusion, breeding experience influenced the behavioral patterns of Criollo stallions during semen collection with an estrous mare, resulting in shorter collection times in experienced stallions. Criollo stallions exhibited typical precopulatory and copulatory behaviors.

Graphical Understanding how to effectively isolate a large number of healthy follicles is essential for increasing success rates in ARTs, such as in vitro culture and cryopreservation. Late secondary (preantral) and early tertiary (antral) follicles isolated from the intermediary portion of equine ovarian tissue sliced at two different thicknesses (0.25 vs 0.50 mm) were characterized according to regional distribution (dorsal, medial, and ventral), morphofunctional features, and epigenetic profiles. After isolation via microdissection, follicles were evaluated for membrane integrity (trypan blue), viability (propidium iodide and Hoechst 33342), mitochondrial membrane potential (JC-1), reactive oxygen species (ROS; H2DCFDA), and histone trimethylation patterns (H3K4me3 and H3K9me3). Regardless of the ovarian tissue slice thickness or region, all isolated follicles had intact membranes, confirming the effectiveness of mechanical microdissection. The key findings from this study reveal that i) recovery of preantral and antral follicles within different ovarian regions is influenced by tissue slicing thickness; ii) the abundance of recoverable follicles varies among the ovarian regions; iii) preantral and antral follicle viability and ROS levels remain consistent between developmental stages, irrespective of tissue slicing thickness, although mitochondrial membrane potential is influenced by slicing thickness; iv) in antral follicles, viability and ROS levels vary depending on location within the ovarian regions; and v) epigenetic markers (H3K4me3 and H3K9me3) exhibit different patterns, depending upon follicular developmental stage. Altogether, these results demonstrate that optimal follicle isolation depends on tissue thickness and ovarian region and that viable, good-quality preantral and antral follicles can be successfully isolated from equine ovarian tissue. Lay summary: Follicles are the functional units of the ovary that contain and support the egg. Depending on the presence of a fluid-filled cavity called an antrum, follicles are developmentally classified as preantral (no antrum) or antral (antrum present). In this study, small preantral and antral horse follicles were removed with needles from ovarian tissue sliced at different thicknesses and classified by their location and other characteristics. The health of the harvested follicles was then examined in several ways (cell survival, toxic by-product levels, and certain types of gene control) to evaluate how slice thickness during follicle removal affects these structures. This study reports, for the first time, that tissue slice thickness influences the removal of late preantral and early antral follicles in horses and that the location of these follicles depends on their developmental stage and quality, with these follicles showing distinct levels of gene control.