Serial measurements of Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1) activity in horses with experimentally induced endotoxemia.
Authors: Scavone Donatella, Sgorbini Micaela, Borges Alexandre S, Oliveira-Filho José P, Vitale Valentina, Paltrinieri Saverio
Journal: BMC veterinary research
Summary
# Editorial Summary: PON-1 Activity During Experimental Endotoxemia in Horses Paraoxonase-1 (PON-1), an antioxidant enzyme with negative acute phase protein characteristics, shows promise as a diagnostic marker for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) in horses, yet its temporal behaviour during septic inflammation remains poorly characterised in equine medicine. Researchers administered intravenous lipopolysaccharide (E. coli O55:B5) to six healthy mares and tracked PON-1 activity across 66 plasma samples collected from baseline through to 240 hours post-infusion, establishing a detailed kinetic profile of enzymatic response during experimentally induced endotoxemia. The study demonstrated that PON-1 activity declined significantly during the acute inflammatory phase, confirming its role as a negative acute phase reactant in horses comparable to other species. Given that PON-1 measurement can now be contextualised within a documented timeline of endotoxaemic response, equine practitioners may exploit serial PON-1 measurements as an objective biomarker for assessing disease trajectory and inflammatory burden in septic or endotoxaemic patients, potentially improving prognostic accuracy and informing treatment decisions in acute colitis, pleuropneumonia, and other conditions characterised by bacterial lipopolysaccharide translocation.
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Practical Takeaways
- •PON-1 activity may serve as a useful diagnostic marker to identify horses with systemic inflammatory conditions and help predict clinical outcomes
- •Serial measurements of PON-1 over time appear more informative than single measurements for tracking progression of endotoxemia
- •This biomarker could complement existing diagnostic approaches for septic or inflammatory conditions in equine practice
Key Findings
- •PON-1 activity decreased significantly during acute phase response following experimental LPS-induced endotoxemia in horses
- •PON-1 behaves as a negative acute phase protein in equine endotoxemia, with activity measured across multiple time points from 12 to 240 hours post-LPS infusion
- •Serial PON-1 measurements show potential utility as a biomarker for diagnosing SIRS and predicting outcomes in diseased horses