Wimmer-Scherr Christina, Taminiau Bernard, Renaud Benoît, van Loon Gunther, Palmers Katrien, Votion Dominique, Amory Hélène, Daube Georges, Cesarini Carla
Equine Clinical Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Bât. B41, Sart Tilman, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
Fundamental and Applied Research for Animals & Health (FARAH), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sart Tilman, University of Liège, 4000 Liège, Belgium.
Animals (Basel). 2021 Feb 15;11(2):506. doi: 10.3390/ani11020506.
Equine atypical myopathy (AM) is caused by hypoglycin A (HGA) and methylenecyclopropylglycine (MCPG) intoxication resulting from the ingestion of seeds or seedlings of some tree species. Interestingly, not all horses pasturing in the same toxic environment develop signs of the disease. In other species, it has been shown that the intestinal microbiota has an impact on digestion, metabolism, immune stimulation and protection from disease. The objective of this study was to characterize and compare fecal microbiota of horses suffering from AM and healthy co-grazers. Furthermore, potential differences in fecal microbiota regarding the outcome of diseased animals were assessed. This prospective observational study included 59 horses with AM (29 survivors and 30 non-survivors) referred to three Belgian equine hospitals and 26 clinically healthy co-grazers simultaneously sharing contaminated pastures during spring and autumn outbreak periods. Fresh fecal samples (rectal or within 30 min of defecation) were obtained from all horses and bacterial taxonomy profiling obtained by 16S amplicon sequencing was used to identify differentially distributed bacterial taxa between AM-affected horses and healthy co-grazers. Fecal microbial diversity and evenness were significantly ( < 0.001) higher in AM-affected horses as compared with their non-affected co-grazers. The relative abundance of families Ruminococcaceae, Christensenellaceae and Akkermansiaceae were higher ( ≤ 0.001) whereas those of the Lachnospiraceae ( = 0.0053), Bacteroidales ( < 0.0001) and Clostridiales ( = 0.0402) were lower in horses with AM, especially in those with a poor prognosis. While significant shifts were observed, it is still unclear whether they result from the disease or might be involved in the onset of disease pathogenesis.
马属动物非典型肌病（AM）是由摄入某些树种的种子或幼苗导致的低血糖素A（HGA）和亚甲基环丙基甘氨酸（MCPG）中毒引起的。有趣的是，并非所有在同一有毒环境中放牧的马匹都会出现该病症状。在其他物种中，已表明肠道微生物群对消化、代谢、免疫刺激和疾病防护有影响。本研究的目的是对患有AM的马匹和健康的同群放牧马的粪便微生物群进行特征描述和比较。此外，还评估了患病动物预后方面粪便微生物群的潜在差异。这项前瞻性观察性研究纳入了转诊至比利时三家马医院的59匹患有AM的马（29例存活者和30例非存活者）以及26匹临床健康的同群放牧马，这些同群放牧马在春秋季发病期间同时共享受污染的牧场。从所有马匹获取新鲜粪便样本（直肠采集或排便后30分钟内采集），并使用通过16S扩增子测序获得的细菌分类学图谱来鉴定受AM影响的马匹和健康同群放牧马之间差异分布的细菌分类群。与未受影响的同群放牧马相比，受AM影响的马匹粪便微生物多样性和均匀度显著更高（<0.001）。瘤胃球菌科、克里斯滕森菌科和阿克曼氏菌科的相对丰度更高（≤0.001），而在患有AM的马匹中，特别是预后较差的马匹中，毛螺菌科、拟杆菌目和梭菌目的相对丰度较低（毛螺菌科=0.0053，拟杆菌目<0.0001，梭菌目=0.0402）。虽然观察到了显著变化，但尚不清楚这些变化是由疾病导致的，还是可能参与了疾病发病机制的起始。
