Gastric ulcers are widespread in horses – studies have found ulcers in around 60% of sport 
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horses, and in up to 90% of Thoroughbred racehorses in training.
Many non-specific signs have been attributed to gastric ulcers. Weight loss, reduced appetite, poor physical condition, dullness, colic, diarrhoea, poor performance and altered behaviour have all been blamed on gastric ulceration. Even so, adult horses with gastric ulcers often show no signs.
Full assessment and a definitive diagnosis rely on the use of a gastroscope, which although relatively straightforward, is expensive.
In horses showing signs that might be due to gastric ulceration, a simple method of differentiating those with or without ulcers would be very useful.
Analysing saliva has proved useful – for example in behavioural studies where cortisol is measured as an indication of stress, and in assessment of tapeworm infection.
Could analysis of saliva provide a way of differentiating horses with gastric ulcers from normal horses??
In research conducted at the Large Animal Teaching Hospital at the University of Copenhagen the potential use of a panel of salivary biomarkers to detect Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) was evaluated.
Alberto Muñoz-Prieto and colleagues enrolled 147 horses in the study. They measured 23 salivary biomarkers and compared the values found in horses with EGUS, with those from healthy animals and from horses showing signs like EGUS but with no ulcers seen on gastroscopic examination.
The research team found that 17 biomarkers were increased in saliva from horses with EGUS compared to healthy animals. Three of those biomarkers, uric acid (UA), triglycerides (Trig), and calcium (Ca), showed a modest but statistically significant difference between horses with EGUS and horses showing signs suggestive of EGUS but with no ulceration on endoscopy.
A full report of the work is published in Animals.
The authors suggest that “These analytes could have potential use as biomarkers in horses with EGUS. For example, an ADA value within the range of healthy horses in our study could indicate that the horse is not likely to have EGUS at gastroscopy.” (ADA - adenosine deaminase – has been found to be higher in saliva of horses with gastric ulceration)
“In addition, higher values of UA, Trig, and Ca in a horse with clinical signs of EGUS would indicate a high probability of having EGUS at gastroscopy” they add.
“These assays have the advantages of being non-invasive and also easy to measure because most of them are commercially available and are often included in the routine biochemistry profiles in clinical pathology laboratories.”
“Further research using a larger population of horses will be needed to confirm these findings and the potential practical application of these salivary analytes in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of EGUS.”
For more details, see:
Evaluation of a Comprehensive Profile of Salivary Analytes for the Diagnosis of the Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome.
A Muñoz-Prieto; JJ Cerón; CP Rubio; MD Contreras-Aguilar; L Pardo-Marín; I Ayala-de la Peña; M Martín-Cuervo; I-M Holm Henriksen; JJ Arense-Gonzalo; F Tecles; S Hansen.
Animals 2022, 12, 3261.
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