Frontiers in Veterinary Science最新文献

{"title":"Cloning, bioinformatics analysis and expression of the cysteine dioxygenase type 1 (CDO1) gene in domestic yak.","authors":"Yuxin Fu, Jiuru Yan, Lan Lan, Huizhu Zhang, Peng Wang, Yaying Wang, Xianrong Xiong, Jian Li, Honghong He","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1488782","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1488782","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The CDO1 gene is an important gene in the taurine synthesis pathway and has been observed to have high expression in ovaries of female mammals. This study aims to explore the conservation of CDO1 gene in domestic yaks, as well as to examine the fundamental characteristics of CDO1 gene and its expression in female yaks.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Ovarian samples were collected from yaks in the follicular phase, luteal phase and gestation period in this experiment, and their total RNA and protein were extracted. Then Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and bioinformatics online software were used to clone and analyze the CDO1 gene. The relative expression of CDO1 in yak ovaries was detected by Quantitative Real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) and Western blotting. The distribution and localization of CDO1 protein in ovary were detected by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We have successfully cloned the coding region of CDO1 gene in yak. The results showed that the CDS region of CDO1 gene was 603 bp, encoding 200 amino acids, and was a relatively stable hydrophilic protein. CDO1 is relatively conservative in species evolution. The protein encoded by CDO1 gene does not have a signaling peptide or a transmembrane structure. It is a protein that is not involved in transmembrane transport and is mainly located in the cytoplasm. The secondary structure of the protein is dominated by the random coil. CDO1 is estimated to interact with 10 proteins. The results of RT-qPCR and Western blotting showed that the CDO1 gene exhibited the highest expression in the ovary during the luteal phase and the lowest expression in the ovary during the follicular phase (<i>P</i> < 0.01). The results of immunohistochemistry showed that CDO1 was mainly expressed in granular cells, theca cells and lutein cells of ovarian tissue.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These results suggest that the CDO1 gene has undergone minimal evolutionary changes during the course of animal evolution. The results provide a reference for further investigation of the function of CDO1 gene in reproduction and production in yaks.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11527789/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142567697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"<i>In situ</i> assessment of neuroinflammatory cytokines in different stages of ovine natural prion disease.","authors":"Isabel M Guijarro, Moisés Garcés, Juan J Badiola, Marta Monzón","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1404770","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2024.1404770","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>According to the neuroinflammatory hypothesis, a cytokine-mediated host innate immune response may be involved in the mechanisms that contribute to the process of neurodegeneration. Specifically, regarding prion diseases, some experimental murine models have evidenced an altered profile of inflammatory intermediaries. However, the local inflammatory response has rarely been assessed, and never in tissues from different natural models throughout the progression of neurodegeneration.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The aim of this study was to use immunohistochemistry (IHC) to <i>in situ</i> assess the temporal protein expression of several cytokines in the cerebellum of sheep suffering from various clinical stages of scrapie.</p><p><strong>Results and discussion: </strong>Clear changes in the expression of most of the assessed markers were observed in the affected sheep compared to the healthy control sheep, and from different stages. In summary, this preliminary IHC study focusing in the Purkinje cell layer changes demonstrate that all cytokines or respective receptors studied (IL-1, IL-1R, IL-2R, IL-6, IL-10R, and TNFαR) except for IFNγR are disease-associated signaling proteins showing an increase or decrease in relation to the progression of clinical disease. In the future, this study will be extended to other inflammatory mediators and brain regions, focusing in particular on the release of these inflammatory mediators by astroglial and microglial populations.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11528339/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142567493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Editorial: Advances in tick-borne pathogens and their interactions with hosts.","authors":"Yali Sun, Zedong Wang, Charles Byaruhanga, Yanan Wang, Mingming Liu","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1505133","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1505133","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11524992/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142557776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anatomical variations of the external jugular veins and collaterals incidentally diagnosed with computed tomography in Shih Tzu dogs.","authors":"Seoyoung Cho, Jupill Chang, Woosuk Kim, Kidong Eom, Jaehwan Kim","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1464750","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1464750","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The external jugular vein (EJV) is a superficial vein of the neck in dogs; its significance is evident in veterinary clinical practice, encompassing surgeries and interventional procedures. However, there have been no reports on EJV variations in canines, despite extensive studies on variations in the jugular veins in humans. This study aimed to use CT imaging to evaluate the prevalence of anatomic vascular variations of the EJVs in Shih Tzu dogs and to describe the clinical and CT characteristics of these vascular variants.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This is a retrospective, multi-center study. The medical imaging records of Shih Tzu dogs that underwent pre- and post-contrast CT examinations of the head, neck, and thorax at the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital, Konkuk University, and 10 referral hospitals between 2015 and 2023 were reviewed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We defined five types of EJV vascular variants: normal (type I), unilateral hypoplasia (type II), unilateral aplasia (type III), bilateral hypoplasia (type IV), and bilateral aplasia (type V), based on the morphological and diameter differences observed in the transverse images of Shih Tzu dogs. CT images from 547 Shih Tzu dogs revealed 119 cases (21.7%) of EJV variants. Type I was observed in 428 dogs (78.2%), type II in 46 dogs (8.4%), type III in 41 dogs (7.5%), type IV in 14 dogs (2.6%), and type V in 18 dogs (3.3%). In types II-V, compensatory drainage through the internal jugular vein (IJV) was observed, often involving the medial passage of the maxillary or linguofacial veins. A moderate negative correlation (<i>R</i> = -0.5) was recorded between the hypoplastic EJV and the affected-side IJV (<i>p</i> < 0.01). Some cases exhibited other supplementary drainage routes, such as the hyoid venous arch or median thyroid vein. Additionally, 63 persistent left cranial vena cava (PLCVC) cases (11.9%) were identified among 529 Shih Tzu dogs, showing a significant association with EJV abnormalities (<i>p</i> < 0.05).</p><p><strong>Discussion: </strong>Overall, this study identified anatomical variants of the EJV in Shih Tzu dogs and introduced a new classification system. These findings revealed that EJV variants and compensatory tributary enlargement were more prevalent than previously recognized, emphasizing the need to consider these nuances in veterinary procedures and imaging.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11526282/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142557774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Interobserver variability of assessing body condition scores and muscle condition scores in a population of 43 active working explosive detection dogs.","authors":"Kimberly M Christie, Jennifer A Barnhard, Cynthia M Otto, Amritha Mallikarjun, Clara Wilson, David Levine, Ashley A Tringali, Chelsea E Payne, Anke Langenbach, Matthew W Brunke","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1431855","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1431855","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the agreement between explosive detection dog (EDD) handlers and a team of veterinarians in assessing body condition score (BCS) and muscle condition score (MCS), hypothesizing significant BCS differences between handlers and veterinarians, and no significant MCS differences in healthy active duty EDDs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This prospective study analyzed variance and inter-rater intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of agreement within BCS and MCS assessments collected from the 43 EDDs by four blinded graders; the EDDs' respective handler and three veterinarians with varying levels of veterinary expertise.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results of the study showed that 74.4% of the EDD population was graded as ideal BCS (4 or 5 out of 9) by the handlers compared to 67.44% by the members of the veterinary team; however, the graders scored different subsets of individual EDDs as ideal. Normal MCS (3 out of 3) was assessed in 86.05% (<i>n</i> = 37) of EDDs by the handlers versus in 70.54% by the veterinary team.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study highlights the importance of standardized training and guidelines for BCS and MCS assessments in working dogs to improve agreement between all members of the healthcare team.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11525006/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142557778","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Colchicine can keep the viability of bacteria in mastitic milk by preventing leukocyte phagocytosis in dairy cow and goat.","authors":"Keiichi Hisaeda, Masato Hirano, Naoki Suzuki, Naoki Isobe","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1469586","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1469586","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Despite the occurrence of mastitis, no bacteria were detected in any of the milk samples after culture. This is partially because the neutrophils present in milk phagocytose bacteria during milk preservation. In this study, we investigated whether colchicine inhibited the decrease in viable bacteria in milk by suppressing phagocytosis during preservation. The number of viable bacteria decreased when cow milk was preserved for 5 h. However, the addition of 0.1 and 1% colchicine significantly increased the number of viable bacteria (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The percentage of culture-negative cow's milk increased more than two-fold after 5 h compared to that at 0 h of preservation, however this percentage was significantly reduced by the addition of colchicine (<i>p</i> < 0.05). When goat milk with mastitis was incubated with bacteria (<i>Escherichia coli</i>, <i>Klebsiella pneumoniae</i>, and <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>), the percentage of phagocytosed neutrophils decreased significantly with the addition of colchicine (<i>p</i> < 0.05). These results indicate that colchicine suppressed the decrease in the number of viable bacteria by preventing neutrophil phagocytosis during milk preservation. These findings may help in the identification of mastitis-causing bacteria and the selection of antibiotics for the treatment of mastitis.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11526113/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142557775","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of a novel synbiotics-enzyme complex as a replacement for antibiotics on growth performance, slaughter and meat characteristics, immune organ index, and intestinal morphology of broilers.","authors":"Zihao Zhao, Simushi Liswaniso, Ning Qin, Shengxiao Cao, Xin Wu, Chang Ma, Chunchi Yan, Rifu Xu, Xue Sun","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1468847","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1468847","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>Antibiotic use in broilers is being discouraged globally due to the challenges it poses. This study was conducted to assess the effects of supplementing broilers with a Symbiotic-Enzyme complex (SEC) containing prebiotics (<i>mannose oligosaccharides</i>), probiotics (<i>Clostridium butyricum</i> and <i>Bacillus subtilis</i>), and enzymes (<i>glucose oxidase</i>, and α<i>-galactosidase</i>) as an alternative to antibiotics on growth performance, carcass and meat quality traits, mortality, linear body measurements, intestinal morphology and immune organ indexes.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>A total of 864 mixed-sex 1-day-old arbor acres (AA+) broilers were allocated to 8 experimental groups replicated 9 times with 12 chickens per replicate. These included 6 treatment groups with SEC inclusion levels of 0.025, 0.04, 0.05, 0.06, 0.08, and 0.10%, respectively, and two control groups: a negative control group containing a basal diet only and the positive control group (Antibiotics group) containing a basal diet and antibiotic oxytetracycline added at 0.2%. Growth performance was measured on day 21 and 42, and the mortality, carcass, meat quality traits, linear body measurements, intestinal morphology, and organ size indexes were measured on day 42.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The results indicated that supplementing broilers with 0.1% SEC resulted in insignificant (<i>P</i> > 0.05) increases in average daily feed intake (ADFI), significant (<i>P</i> < 0.05) increases in the average daily gains (ADG), and significant (<i>P</i> < 0.05) reduction in a feed-to-gain ratio (F/G) in all the phases compared to the control and antibiotics groups. Supplementation of broilers with 0.1% SEC inclusion levels also significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) increased the body slope length, chest width, chest depth, keel length, and shank circumference. Furthermore, broilers on diets containing 0.1% SEC inclusion level also had significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) higher dressed, semi-evisceration, evisceration, and breast muscle percentages. Including SEC at 0.1% also significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) increased villus height and villus-to-crypt ratio (V/C) but reduced crypt depth in the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum compared to the control groups. SEC inclusion at 0.1% significantly (<i>P</i> < 0.05) increased the spleen, bursal, and thymus indexes, respectively.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Supplementation of broilers with 0.1% SEC can be used as an antibiotic alternative because it increases the F/G, improves the carcass and meat quality, increases the body conformation, improves the small intestines' functions, and immune organ size.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11524961/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142557777","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Progression of cyclosporine A-blood levels in experimental cats receiving a high-dose treatment protocol.","authors":"Sarah Rösch, Anna Frommeyer, Jenny Schulte Bocholt, Denis Grote-Koska, Korbinian Brand, Reinhard Mischke","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1444586","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1444586","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Cyclosporine A (CsA) is used as a steroid-sparing or alternative immunosuppressing agent in cats with various immune-mediated diseases such as immune-mediated hemolytic anemia. Daily treatment dosages of 5-20 mg/kg have been described. Interindividual variations in CsA blood levels are known to occur. To determine when steady-state conditions are reached and thus the earliest advisable time for monitoring CsA blood levels during the course of treatment, a prospective experimental study was conducted in six healthy adult Domestic Shorthair cats.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>Cats were treated with an oral dosage of 7 mg/kg CsA q 12 h for 10 days. On days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10 after the start of CsA administration (i.e., after 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, and 19 CsA administrations), EDTA blood was collected to measure the CsA level 12 h after the CsA administration (trough values) using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Statistical analysis revealed a significant increase in mean CsA blood levels up to day 5 (2,050 ± 964.2 ng/mL [mean ± SD], 832-3,203 ng/mL [minimum-maximum]; repeated-measures ANOVA: <i>p</i> = 0.0021), while values on days 5 and 7 did not differ significantly from CsA concentrations on day 10. CsA concentrations showed markedly interindividual variability.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Cyclosporine A blood levels reached a steady state on day 5 of high dosages of CsA q 12 h (i.e., after nine CsA administrations), indicating that this time point is suitable for monitoring blood levels in clinical patients. Results confirmed the well-known remarkable interindividual variability of CsA, indicating the need for treatment monitoring. The assessed treatment regime resulted in significantly higher mean CsA trough levels than the target range for immunosuppressive therapy (200-600 ng/mL).</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11521867/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142545102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spray-dried plasma protects against rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis via regulating macrophage and T cells divergence in weanling pigs.","authors":"Hui Yan, Biqiong Dong, Xipeng Li, Jun He, Bing Yu, Xiangbing Mao, Jie Yu, Yuheng Luo, Junqiu Luo, Aimin Wu, Junning Pu, Quyuan Wang, Huifen Wang, Joe Crenshaw, Yanbin Shen, Daiwen Chen","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1467108","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1467108","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Infectious gastroenteritis is the major cause for diarrhea in piglets. The protection of spray-dried plasma (SDP) on viral gastroenteritis during the progression of rotavirus (RV) infection remain unclear. In this study, 64 weanling piglets were randomly assigned to control diets (<i>n</i> = 40) and SDP diets (<i>n</i> = 24) for 14 days, and then pigs were challenged with RV on day 15. Pigs were sacrificed on day 14 (normal condition), day 18 (manifestation stage), and day 21 (convalescent stage) of the trial. Prior to RV infection, SDP increased ADG, M1 macrophages and CD4⁺ T cells in different organs without increasing proinflammatory cytokines, indicating a more robust immunity with less inflammation. During the manifestation of infection, SDP enhanced mucosal immunity by increasing M1 macrophages, M1/M2 ratio and cytokines in mucosa and increasing intraepithelial CD8⁺ T cells for RV clearance. During the convalescence, SDP promoted M2 macrophage polarization and reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines to facilitate intestinal repair and prevent prolonged inflammation. Collectively, SDP enhanced mucosal immunity to promote viral clearance and maintained immune homeostasis to prevent long-lasting inflammation as a therapeutically approach for infectious gastroenteritis.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11523297/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142550065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Inertial measurement unit technology for gait detection: a comprehensive evaluation of gait traits in two Italian horse breeds.","authors":"Vittoria Asti, Michela Ablondi, Arnaud Molle, Andrea Zanotti, Matteo Vasini, Alberto Sabbioni","doi":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1459553","DOIUrl":"10.3389/fvets.2024.1459553","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Introduction: </strong>The shift of the horse breeding sector from agricultural to leisure and sports purposes led to a decrease in local breeds' population size due to the loss of their original breeding purposes. Most of the Italian breeds must adapt to modern market demands, and gait traits are suitable phenotypes to help this process. Inertial measurement unit (IMU) technology can be used to objectively assess them. This work aims to investigate on IMU recorded data (i) the influence of environmental factors and biometric measurements, (ii) their repeatability, (iii) the correlation with judge evaluations, and (iv) their predictive value.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>The Equisense Motion S^® was used to collect phenotypes on 135 horses, Bardigiano (101) and Murgese (34) and the data analysis was conducted using R (v.4.1.2). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to assess the effects of biometric measurements and environmental and animal factors on the traits.</p><p><strong>Results and discussion: </strong>Variations in several traits depending on the breed were identified, highlighting different abilities among Bardigiano and Murgese horses. Repeatability of horse performance was assessed on a subset of horses, with regularity and elevation at walk being the traits with the highest repeatability (0.63 and 0.72). The positive correlation between judge evaluations and sensor data indicates judges' ability to evaluate overall gait quality. Three different algorithms were employed to predict the judges score from the IMU measurements: Support Vector Machine (SVM), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), and K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN). A high variability was observed in the accuracy of the SVM model, ranging from 55 to 100% while the other two models showed higher consistency, with accuracy ranging from 74 to 100% for the GBM and from 64 to 88% for the KNN. Overall, the GBM model exhibits the highest accuracy and the lowest error. In conclusion, integrating IMU technology into horse performance evaluation offers valuable insights, with implications for breeding and training.</p>","PeriodicalId":12772,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Veterinary Science","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11521968/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142545098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}