Obesity and insulin dysregulation (ID) are increasingly prevalent conditions in equid populations worldwide. Immune impairment is well described in humans with metabolic dysfunction and is reported but still incompletely understood in horses. This study evaluated the effect of acute induced transient hyperglycemia on apoptosis, phagocytosis and oxidative burst activity of peripheral blood polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) of lean and obese adult horses with or without insulin dysregulation. Seventeen adult horses were allocated into three groups based on their body condition score (BCS) and metabolic status: lean-insulin sensitive (lean-IS), obese-insulin sensitive (obese-IS) and obese-insulin dysregulated (obese-ID). ID was determined by insulin tolerance testing (ITT). Blood glucose elevation was induced through an infeed-oral glucose test (in-feed OGT), and all assessments of PMN functions (apoptosis, phagocytosis and oxidative burst) were done in vitro after isolation from peripheral blood before and 120 min after carbohydrate overload. Results were analyzed using a repeated measures linear mixed model with significance defined at P < 0.05. No differences in apoptosis were observed between experimental groups at any time point. Phagocytic capacity was significantly lower at baseline in the obese-ID group but increased in response to glucose administration when compared to the other two groups. Basal reactive oxygen species production in the obese-IS group differed significantly from the lean-IS and obese-ID groups and decreased significantly in response to glucose administration. Results from this study showed that both metabolic status itself, and oral glucose administration, seem to be factors that alter PMN functionality in horses, specifically phagocytosis and oxidative burst.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Horse; Obesity; Oxidative burst; Phagocytosis; Polymorphonuclear.
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