This study focuses on horses with a diagnosis of mild asthma, or Inflammatory Airway Disease. This condition typically responds well to medications, but the authors were seeking non-pharmaceutical methods to control the disease. They hypothesized that horses with mild asthma transitioning from a high-dust, low omega-3 (Ω-3) diet to a low-dust, high Ω-3 environment would have more rapid improvement in lower airway inflammation than the horses transitioning to a low-dust, low Ω-3 diet. They also wanted to confirm the high Ω-3 diet resulted in higher plasma proresolving lipid mediators (PRLMs). These mediators are thought to be responsible for resolving inflammation through increased apoptosis (accelerated programmed cell death) and clearance of neutrophils by efferocytosis (removing apoptotic cells by phagocytic cells). The study was funded through a research award offered by Boehringer Ingelheim and through state research account generated through wagering tax.
Effects of forages, dust exposure and proresolving lipids on airway inflammation in horses. Carla Olave et al from Purdue University in Indiana, USA. Published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research 2021 Dec 1; 1-9 doi.org/10.2460/ajvr.21.08.0126