• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.22-25
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• 2018

A 7-year-old, 453 kg, thoroughbred-cross mare showed depression, severe nasal bleeding, diffuse swelling, and distortion of the facial contour. Physical and radiographic examinations revealed an open nasal bone fracture. Surgery was conducted under sedation with the horse in a standing position. Two holes were drilled directly above and below the fracture line. The nasal bone was raised to the normal position by inserting a periosteal elevator through the holes. Orthopedic wire was used to secure the fractured nasal bones through the holes. The horse recovered from sedation without complication. Sutures were removed three weeks after surgery. The nasal bone fracture appeared well-recovered morphologically and the recovery was confirmed by radiography. A wire fixation method is recommended to treat nasal bone fracture in a horse.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2016

Septic tenosynovitis of the digital flexor tendon sheath (DFTS) is a potentially career-ending and life-threatening problem in horses. This study aimed to describe the outcomes of tenoscopy for the treatment of acute septic digital flexor tenosynovitis in horses. Tenoscopy was performed on 13 Thoroughbred horses with acute septic tenosynovitis of the DFTS. Surgical time was 56-148 min (mean 85.6 min, median 84.0 min). In the synovial fluid analysis, mean white blood cell count, mean neutrophil proportion, and mean total protein were $42.9{\times}10^3cells/{\mu}l$ (range, $7.2-109.5cells/{\mu}l$), 89.5% (range, 68-97%), and 4.0 g/dl (range, 2.5-5.2 g/dl), respectively. Microbial growth in the synovial fluid culture was detected in 2 of 11 horses. All horses survived and returned to their intended use without complications. The present study demonstrated that the tenoscopy is useful for treating acute septic tenosynovitis of the DFTS in horses.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1345-1354
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• 2014

Copy number variations (CNVs), important genetic factors for study of human diseases, may have as large of an effect on phenotype as do single nucleotide polymorphisms. Indeed, it is widely accepted that CNVs are associated with differential disease susceptibility. However, the relationships between CNVs and gene expression have not been characterized in the horse. In this study, we investigated the effects of copy number deletion in the blood and muscle transcriptomes of Thoroughbred racing horses. We identified a total of 1,246 CNVs of deletion polymorphisms using DNA re-sequencing data from 18 Thoroughbred racing horses. To discover the tendencies between CNV status and gene expression levels, we extracted CNVs of four Thoroughbred racing horses of which RNA sequencing was available. We found that 252 pairs of CNVs and genes were associated in the four horse samples. We did not observe a clear and consistent relationship between the deletion status of CNVs and gene expression levels before and after exercise in blood and muscle. However, we found some pairs of CNVs and associated genes that indicated relationships with gene expression levels: a positive relationship with genes responsible for membrane structure or cytoskeleton and a negative relationship with genes involved in disease. This study will lead to conceptual advances in understanding the relationship between CNVs and global gene expression in the horse.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1696-1702
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• 2008

In order to learn the origin of the Chinese Mongolian horse, we analyzed polymorphisms within the mtDNA D-loop variable region in 305 horses of 6 types of 3 different breeds, including one imported breed, one cultivated breed and 4 types of one local breed. We detected 13 different haplotypes, and subsequent sequence analysis showed that all 6 horse types were genetically diverse. By constructing a cladogram of mtDNA D-loop sequences from the 6 horse types along with homologous sequences from several other horse types obtained from GenBank, we showed that Chinese Mongolian horses have a close genetic relationship with other horse types from Mongolia. We also speculate that several Chinese Mongolian horses descended from Przewalskii horse. Additionally, the 13 haplotypes were dispersed throughout the cladogram, suggesting that Chinese Mongolian horses likely originated from multiple female ancestors. A phylogenetic map of the 6 horse types showed that the genetic relationship between the local Wuzhumuqin and Wushen types were the closest. The Xinihe and Baerhu were also closely related to each other, and slightly more distantly related to the cultivated Sanhe breed. All five of the local Chinese horse types had a much more distant relationship with the imported Thoroughbred breed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.1095-1103
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• 2019

Objective: Among stress responses, the unfolded protein response (UPR) is a well-known mechanism related to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. ER stress is induced by a variety of external and environmental factors such as starvation, ischemia, hypoxia, oxidative stress, and heat stress. Inositol requiring enzyme $1{\alpha}$ ($IRE1{\alpha}$)-X-box protein 1 (XBP1) is the most conserved pathway involved in the UPR and is the main component that mediates $IRE1{\alpha}$ signalling to downstream ER-associated degradation (ERAD)- or UPR-related genes. XBP1 is a transcription factor synthesised via a novel mechanism called 'frame switch splicing', and this process has not yet been studied in the horse XBP1 gene. Therefore, the aim of this study was to confirm the frame switch splicing of horse XBP1 and characterise its dynamics using Thoroughbred muscle cells exposed to heat stress. Methods: Primary horse muscle cells were used to investigate heat stress-induced frame switch splicing of horse XBP1. Frame switch splicing was confirmed by sequencing analysis. XBP1 amino acid sequences and promoter sequences of various species were aligned to confirm the sequence homology and to find conserved cis-acting elements, respectively. The expression of the potential XBP1 downstream genes were analysed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: We confirmed that splicing of horse XBP1 mRNA was affected by the duration of thermal stress. Twenty-six nucleotides in the mRNA of XBP1 were deleted after heat stress. The protein sequence and the cis-regulatory elements on the promoter of horse XBP1 are highly conserved among the mammals. Induction of putative downstream genes of horse XBP1 was dependent on the duration of heat stress. We confirmed that both the mechanisms of XBP1 frame switch splicing and various binding elements found in downstream gene promoters are highly evolutionarily conserved. Conclusion: The frame switch splicing of horse XBP1 and its dynamics were highly conserved among species. These results facilitate studies of ER-stress in horse.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.369-374
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• 2011

Coital exanthema of Thoroughbred horses had occurred firstly in Republic of Korea. This study was performed to evaluate clinical features of coital exanthema, and provide veterinary knowledge to equine practitioner as well as horse farms. The method was clinical, clinical pathology and sexual hormone, electron microscope and libido examination. Five stallions of 27, 45 broodmares of 416 showed clinical symptoms but 124 foals and a teaser did not show any abnormal appearance. Five stallion had papule, pustule, crust around a glans, body of penis, prepuce and remain decolorized spot after treatment. One laceration of glans and 3 gait disorder had been observed but it did not affect libido. Forty-five broodmares localized had papule, pustule, crust, and ulceration around perineal region, vulva, mucocutaneous junction remain decolorized spot after treatment.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.571-573
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• 2011

The primary means of heat dissipation in horse results from the evaporation of sweat. Anhidrosis refers to a decreased ability or loss of ability to sweat in response to appropriate stimuli. This disease is fatal and causes poor performance, increased body temperature, collapse, convulsion and even death. There are some reports about this disease abroad but not in Korea. We performed intradermal epinephrine test to investigate the prevalence of anhidrosis in Thoroughbred racehorses (n=50). The prevalence was 22% and it was similar to that of other countries. There does not appear to be sex, foaling country, coat color, age or pedigree of dam predispositions. In this study, we found the presence of anhidrosis in Korea. Anhidrosis should be prevented for economical purposes and general animal welfare.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.459-466
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• 2010

In this study, we suggest an objective standard in selection of candidate horse mates. Korea Racing Authority provided racing records and pedigree information of 44 sires and 954 dams. The datasets were used to predict Racing Indices represented by the averages of earnings earned by offspring for each dam and sire that indicate the racing performance of its domestic progeny. Proportion of wins and second places to the number of taken races and the mean of distances for the won races of a sire were significant factors in linear model with minimum prediction errors. For dam, those factors were the average of earned money per race, number of outstanding broodmares in pedigree, and the comparable index which indicates the relative affinity with its mate. We can use the resultant model for a horse mate by choosing one of the candidates with the largest predicted value for hypothetical offspring.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1304-1310
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• 2015

The period circadian clock gene 3 (PER3) plays a role in the mammalian circadian clocksystem. A regular exercise regime may affect the PER3 transcription in skeletal muscle. Although the effects of day length on circadian and circannual processes are well established in humans and mice, the influence of exercise on these processes in the horse has not been investigated. The present study investigated the expression of the PER3 gene following exercise in a thoroughbred breed of Korean horse. In addition, a comprehensive in silico nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (nsSNP) analysis of the horse PER3 gene and predicted effects of nsSNPs on proteins were examined. The expression of PER3 in skeletal muscle was significantly upregulated after exercise. Four nsSNPs were functionally annotated and analyzed by computational prediction. The total free energy and RMSD values of PER3 gene showed causative mutations. The results showed that nsSNP s395916798 (G72R) was associated with residues that have stabilizing effects on structure and function of PER3 gene. This study documented role of PER3 gene in phenotypic adaptation related to exercise in skeletal muscle. Further, the SNPs in PER3 could serve as useful biomarkers of early recovery after exercise in racehorses.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.262-270
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• 2017

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are single-stranded, small RNAs (21-23 nucleotides) that function in gene silencing and translational inhibition via the RNA interference mechanism. Most miRNAs originate from host genomic regions, such as intergenic regions, introns, exons, and transposable elements (TEs). Here, we focused on the palindromic structure of medium reiteration frequencies (MERs), which are similar to precursor miRNAs. Five MER consensus sequences (MER5A1, MER53, MER81, MER91C, and MER117) were matched with paralogous transcripts predicted to be precursor miRNAs in the horse genome (equCab2) and located in either intergenic regions or introns. The MER5A1, MER53, and MER91C sequences obtained from RepeatMasker were matched with the eca-miR-544b, eca-miR-1302, and eca-miR-652 precursor sequences derived from Ensembl transcript database, respectively. Each precursor form was anticipated to yield two mature forms, and we confirmed miRNA expression in six different tissues (cerebrum, cerebellum, lung, spleen, adrenal gland, and duodenum) of one thoroughbred horse. MER5A1-derived miRNAs generally showed significantly higher expression in the lung than in other tissues. MER91C-derived miRNA-5p also showed significantly higher expression in the duodenum than in other tissues (cerebellum, lung, spleen, and adrenal gland). The MER117-overlapped expressed sequence tag generated polycistronic miRNAs, which showed higher expression in the duodenum than other tissues. These data indicate that horse MER transposons encode miRNAs that are expressed in several tissues and are thought to have biological functions.