Equine Medicine and Surgery Research Line (LIMCE), CENTAURO Research Group, School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Universidad de Antioquia, Medellin 050010, Colombia.
Institute of Biology, University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia.
J Equine Vet Sci. 2024 Nov;142:105198. doi: 10.1016/j.jevs.2024.105198. Epub 2024 Sep 20.
Crib-biting is a stereotyped oral behavior with poorly understood etiology and pathophysiology. The relationship between the gut microbiome and brain function has been described in behavioral disorders such as schizophrenia, depression and anxiety in humans. In horses, studies of behavioral problems and the microbiome are very limited. This study aimed to characterize the fecal microbiome and the predicted functional profile of horses with and without aerophagia. Fecal samples were collected from 12 Colombian Creole Horses of both sexes, divided into two groups: group 1, composed of six horses with crib-biting (3 females and 3 males), average body weight of 330 ± 10 kg, age of 7.0 ± 1.2 years and body condition score (BCS) of 5/9 ± 1 and group 2, consisting of six horses without crib-biting (3 females and 3 males), average body weight of 335 ± 5 kg, age 6.5 ± 1 years and BCS of 6/9 ± 1. From each horse in both groups fecal total DNA was obtained and 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicons were sequenced to characterize the bacterial community structure. Community structure and differential abundance analyses revealed significant differences between the two conditions (p < 0.05). Specifically, the fecal microbiota at the family level in crib-biting horses, showing a decrease in Bacteroidales and an increase in Bacillota and Clostridia, differed from that of healthy horses without crib-biting, consistent with findings from previous studies. Furthermore, metagenome prediction suggests metabolic profile changes in bacterial communities between both conditions in horses. Further studies are required to validate the role of the microbiota-gut-brain axis in the etiology of crib-biting and other abnormal and stereotyped behaviors.
啃咬笼头是一种刻板的口腔行为，其病因和病理生理学尚未得到充分理解。肠道微生物群与大脑功能之间的关系在人类的精神分裂症、抑郁症和焦虑症等行为障碍中已有描述。在马中，关于行为问题和微生物组的研究非常有限。本研究旨在描述有和没有 aerophagia 的马的粪便微生物群和预测功能特征。从 12 匹哥伦比亚克里奥尔马（雌雄各半）中采集粪便样本，分为两组：组 1 由 6 匹有啃咬笼头行为的马（3 匹母马和 3 匹公马）组成，平均体重 330±10kg，年龄 7.0±1.2 岁，体况评分（BCS）为 5/9±1；组 2 由 6 匹没有啃咬笼头行为的马（3 匹母马和 3 匹公马）组成，平均体重 335±5kg，年龄 6.5±1 岁，BCS 为 6/9±1。从两组中每匹马的粪便中提取总 DNA，并对 16S 核糖体 RNA 基因扩增子进行测序，以描述细菌群落结构。群落结构和差异丰度分析显示，两种情况下存在显著差异（p<0.05）。具体而言，在啃咬笼头的马中，粪便微生物群在科水平上，拟杆菌门减少，厚壁菌门和梭菌门增加，与没有啃咬笼头的健康马不同，这与之前的研究结果一致。此外，元基因组预测表明，两种情况下马的细菌群落的代谢谱发生变化。需要进一步的研究来验证微生物-肠道-大脑轴在啃咬笼头和其他异常刻板行为病因中的作用。
