Diet Influences the Equine Metabolome
Open Access
- Author:
- Kraus, Amy E
- Area of Honors:
- Animal Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Andrew David Patterson, Faculty Reader
William Burton Staniar, Thesis Honors Advisor
William Burton Staniar, Thesis Supervisor - Keywords:
- metabolomics
horse
gastrointestinal damage
high starch
nutrition - Abstract:
- Increased gastrointestinal permeability is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of equine diseases with largely undetermined etiologies including laminitis, colitis, and ulceration. With indistinct boundaries between subclinical and clinical forms of these diseases, there is widespread interest in developing noninvasive biomarker tests to identify the onset of nutritional health issues before performance is hindered. Metabolomics is gaining prominence as a powerful tool to discover disease biomarkers, develop pharmaceuticals, and further elucidate mechanisms of disease. In humans and rodents, metabolomics is being used to explore the influence of nutrition on the complex interactions between the mammalian host and gut microbiota and how this relationship plays a role in health/disease status. However, little attention is paid to livestock species with fermentative digestive systems. Considering the success of this approach in other species, metabolomics promises to offer new insight into the relationship between gastrointestinal health and common equine nutritional disorders. In the present study, our objective was to identify dietary perturbations to the equine metabolome using mass spectrometry-based metabolomics. It was hypothesized that urine metabolite profiles could be used to distinguish between horses fed two different diets and identify biomarkers of gastrointestinal injury. Nine Quarter Horse yearlings received either a high concentrate low forage (HCLF) diet, 50 concentrate: 50 forage, or a low concentrate high forage (LCHF) diet, 20:80. Diets were alternated after every 14 d interval which concluded with a 24-hour total urine collection. Metabolomic analysis using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry revealed significant changes in eight identified metabolites including asymmetric dimethylarginine, kynurenic acid, xanthurenic acid, arachidonic acid, a prostaglandin metabolite, a hydroxyindole metabolite, geranylgeraniol, and matairesinol in horse urine. These results yielded potential biomarker candidates of gastrointestinal injury that may improve our understanding of the influence of high concentrate diets on subclinical disease in the horse.