Association between plasma vitamin E concentration and the risk of equine motor neuron diseases

Equine motor neuron disease (EMND) is a neurodegenerative disorder of the somatic lower motor neurons that results in a syndrome of diffuse neuromuscular disease in the adult horse. The aetiology of this disorder is unknown, although prior studies have suggested that a deficiency in the lipid antiox...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The veterinary journal (1997) 1997, Vol.154 (3), p.203-213
Main Authors: De la Rua-Domenech, R, Mohammed, H.O, Cummings, J.F, Divers, T.J, De Lahunta, A, Summers, B.A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
blood plasma
horses
neuromuscular diseases
neurons
risk factors
vitamin deficiencies
vitamin E
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Summary:Equine motor neuron disease (EMND) is a neurodegenerative disorder of the somatic lower motor neurons that results in a syndrome of diffuse neuromuscular disease in the adult horse. The aetiology of this disorder is unknown, although prior studies have suggested that a deficiency in the lipid antioxidant vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) contributes to the development of EMND. This paper describes a case-control study designed to investigate the association between plasma vitamin E levels and the risk of EMND for horses. Signalment, plasma vitamin E levels at the time of referral, and information relative to dietary and management practices were collected from 53 horses diagnosed with EMND and 69 controls. The mean plasma vitamin E concentration in EMND cases was significantly lower than that of control horses. After controlling for other risk factors of EMND, there was a statistically significant association between plasma vitamin E levels and EMND, with the likelihood of the disease increasing as the vitamin E concentration decreased. These findings support the reported role of vitamin E deficiency as one of the risk factors for EMND.
ISSN:1090-0233
1532-2971