HPHHIGH PERFORMANCE HORSES

SCIENTIFIC NEWSsponsored by

TWYDIL®

HPH Schweiz /Suisse /Switzerland, 2004/2005

THIS STUDY OPENS THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE USE OF AN

ADAPTED FOOD SUPPLEMENT IN THE

MANAGEMENT OF STOMACH ULCERS IN

HORSES, BOTH FOR PREVENTING THEIR

OCCURRENCE AS WELL AS FOR AVOIDING

THEIR RECURRENCE.Dr Emmanuelle van Erck

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1

HPH 04/05

HPHHIGH PERFORMANCE HORSES

SCIENTIFIC NEWSsponsored by

TWYDIL®

Editor: Pavesco AG – TWYDIL®

Elisabethenstrasse 54CH-4010 Basel

Editorial Dr. P. Bommer (CH)Board: Dr. med. vet. B. Debarsy (EC)

Dr. Ph. Delahaut (EC)Dr. J. Neuray (EC)M.E. Putnam, B.Sc., M.R.S.C. (EC)Dr. J. Warnhoff (USA)

Co-Workers: L. BrassinneDr. G.E. BruwierE. MagainP. MeoS. Schubiger-StoferC. Zellweger

Photographers: T. Jones, Worlington, EnglandBildagentur Valeria Streun, Oberhasli,SwitzerlandAgence Dollar, Le Faulq, FranceJ.Ch. Briens, Lamballe, FranceBelpress, Belgium

Print: Offsetdruck Grauwiller Partner AGCH-4410 Liestal

Copyright: Reprints as well as partial reprints of textallowed with indication of reference only:“TWYDIL® HPH 04/05”Copy requested.Copyrights of pictures belong to thephotographers.

HPH 04/05

2

Contents Page

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT 3

WHAT’S NEW IN THE PREVENTION OF GASTRIC ULCERS ? 4

AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITY 10

NEW RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR 14

NEW RANGE OF HIGH QUALITY DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS 17

TWYDIL® ANTI-DOPING PRECAUTIONS FURTHER REINFORCED 22

OXIDATIVE STRESS AND ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE FLUIDITY IN EVENTING HORSES 24

DO THE LABELS COMPLY WITH WHAT IS REALLY IN A PRODUCT ? 30

OPTIMISATION OF HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN HEALTHY SPORT HORSES 34

QUESTIONS TO PROFESSOR PIERRE LEKEUX 37

SAUDI ARABIA: REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME 38

VITAMINS AND THEIR BIOAVAILABILITY ORALLY AND BY INJECTION 42

MICROARRAY (BIO-CHIP) : A FUTURE TOOL IN COMPETITION HORSES MONITORING ? 46

TWYDIL® PRODUCTS 50

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HPH 04/05

Four new products scientifically introduced.

Existing formulations continually improved.

Each product now submitted to three tests to ensure negative doping effect before release onto the market.

Important investments in applied research.

Joint venture with a top class laboratory. Personnel increased by extremely well-qualified staff.

Interest expressed in future scientific developments such as the genome.

TWYDIL® reinforces its position as incontestable market leader.

Happy reading!

Valère HenryPresident

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT

HPH 04/05

4

WHAT’S NEW IN THE PREVENTION OFGASTRIC ULCERS ?

Dr Emmanuelle van Erck-Westergren, DMV, PhD

Can horses suffer from gastriculcers ?

With the development of gastricendoscopy in the equine species, vet-erinarians have discovered that manyhorses suffered from gastric ulcers.In some cases, the presence of ulcerscould not have been initially sus-pected, as some horses hardly ex-pressed signs of discomfort or pain.The nature of clinical symptoms in ahorse suffering from ulcers can bevery variable and sometimes subtle,ranging from yawning during mealsto clear colic in the most sensitivehorse. Horses with ulcers can alsogrind their teeth or crib bite, otherswill frequently interrupt eating, leavegrain in their manger or drink morethan they used to.

Obviously gastric ulcers can havea detrimental impact on the perfor-mances of sport horses, mainly be-cause of the pain they are likely totrigger during work but also duringmeals. The horses suffering fromulcers can loose state, they can showdull hair, weight loss, and lack in

muscular development although theirwork load is sustained. They can alsocome short of energy during work oreven intolerant to exercise. Somehorses have been known to stop in

the middle of a competition when thepain became too acute.

Are ulcers a frequent problem inhorses ?

Several studies carried out in dif-ferent populations of horses agreed indemonstrating that the presence ofulcers in horses is far more frequentthan one could imagine and that it isintimately linked to their way of livingand their level of work. Horses thatlive out in pasture are at the lower endof the ulcer scale: less than 5% ofgrazing horses do suffer from ulcers.However the more intense their workbecomes, the higher their chances areof having gastric ulcers (Figure 1). Inendurance horses, for which feedingmanagement is a key to ensuring com-petitiveness, the proportion of horsessuffering from ulcers exceeds 65%. Astudy carried out in a population ofyoung thoroughbreds in training re-vealed that the incidence of gastric ul-cers could reach as high as 99% whenthey entered racing competition!

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HPH 04/05

Why do horses develop gastriculcers ?

Despite their size, horses have aproportionally small stomach. Intheir natural environment, horsesspend their time eating grass, whichtransits rapidly through the stomach.Unlike other species whose stomachproduces acid only during mealtimes, the equine stomach producesacid continuously. If a horse is fedonly twice a day, and moreover ifits diet is mainly composed of con-centrates, food will be quickly di-gested and the horse will go on anempty, acid-producing stomach.Without food to digest, the acid can

irritate or even attack the walls of thestomach, eventually resulting in theoccurrence of ulcers. Providing suffi-cient fibre source is an essentialelement in a horse’s diet, the more soif the animal is kept in a box on anon-edible bedding (wood shavingsor cardboard for instance). As fibresare digested more slowly, the stom-ach stays fuller for a longer period oftime.

Several studies have shown thatthe incidence of ulcers is propor-tional to the level of work. Stressclearly can be a major promotingfactor as it interferes with physiolog-ical mechanisms of mucosal protec-

tion and acid regulation. But stress isnot the only likely cause. Physicalactivity brings the most acid-sensi-tive portion of the stomach’s mucosainto prolonged contact with thegastric acid content. In a scientificstudy, horses were intubated with acatheter placed inside the stomachwhile exercising on a treadmill. Thestudy showed that the acidity (deter-mined by the measurement of intra-gastric pH) in the most sensitive por-tion of the stomach increased withincreasing pace.

In humans, gastric ulcers aremainly caused by an infection with abacteria named “Helicobacter py-lori”. Thus patients can be efficientlytreated simply by taking antibiotics.These particular bacteria have rarelybeen isolated in horses, at least not intheir active, pathogenic form.

What are the solutions? Gastric ulcers seldom heal sponta-

neously in horses. To initiate a heal-ing process, the horse’s living andworking conditions have to be com-pletely reassessed. The most efficientmeasures are also the most radical: aprolonged stay out at pasture canallow an ulcer-affected horse to fullyrecover, as well as reducing signifi-cantly its workload, the frequency ofcompetitions and transportations.Other simple measures can also con-tribute to relieve the horse and avoida worsening of the ulcers like, for in-stance, dividing the horse’s daily ra-tion into smaller but more frequentmeals and to ensure a permanentavailability of forages. But how canowners or trainers apply such mea-sures to their sport horses when thecompetition season is in full course?

There are some efficient medicalsolutions represented by anti-acidsubstances. These substances blocktotally or partially the acid produc-tion inside the stomach. Amongstthese are found the H2-receptor in-hibitors, like ranitidine or cimetidine,or the proton pump inhibitors likeomeprazole. Omeprazole has becomea standard treatment of gastric ulcersin foals and in horses suffering fromextensive and/or deep mucosalulcerations. The price of these sub-stances can be a limiting factor intheir use, as well as the fact that theycannot avoid the recurrence of ulcers,which are unfortunately quite fre-

Figure 1: Prevalence of gastric ulcers in horses

Pasture Light exercise Endurance Treadmill Trotters Thoroughbreds

HPH 04/05

6

quent. The use of these substances isalso under strict regulation for mostcompetitions.

TWYDIL® has recently developedand tested two products to providerelief against low grade to moderategastric ulcers in horses. The origi-nality of these products is to providea feed supplement to help solve theproblem of ulcers in horses, therebyallowing them to continue competi-tion. To validate the efficiency of theseproducts, the study was undertaken ina population of horses at a high risk –working sport horses. Supplementa-

tion 1 contained fatty acids specifi-cally formulated and supplementation2* long chain fatty acids coupled withphospholipids on a soluble fibre basetype chitosan glucosamine.

Thirty horses were selected forthis study; these horses were eithersport horses in training referred be-cause they manifested one or severalclinical signs suggestive of gastriculcers, or race horses undergoingroutine endoscopic examination(with or without clinical signs sug-gestive of gastric ulcers). In allhorses, the diagnosis of ulcers was

confirmed by a thorough endoscopicexploration of the entire stomach (i.e.gastroscopy), from its entrance repre-sented by the cardia, to the pylorus,which is the stomach’s exit. A scorewas attributed to the severity of thelesions, according to a standardisedinternational scoring system, with ascale ranging from 1 to 4. TheTWYDIL® STOMACARE was onlytested in horses suffering from ulcerswith scores of 1 to 3. Score 4 ulcersbeing the most severe, a medicaltreatment was a prerequisite.

Horses underwent a first endo-scopic examination and were then re-examined after 15 days and 1 monthof supplementation. The horses weredivided into 2 groups in a double-blind study : group A received 15days of supplementation 1 then 15days of supplementation 2*; group Breceived 15 days of supplementation2* then 15 days of supplementation1. The gastroscopy videos were sub-sequently and independently exam-ined by two veterinarians unaware ofeither horses or supplementation.

Out of the 30 horses examined,74% presented ulcerative lesions inthe stomach; amongst those 57% hadclinical signs suggestive of gastric ul-cers (erratic appetite, lack of energyduring work, dull coat, teeth grind-ing, etc…). On the other hand, 43%of these horses did not manifest anyevident clinical signs, even thoughsome had relatively high ulcerscores.

The stomach is composed of twoparts: a non-glandular part thatserves as a stocking area, and a glan-dular part that produces acid. Inagreement with previous publica-tions, it was noted that the most vul-nerable area of the stomach was thenon-glandular mucosa lining theglandular region. This danger zone,called the stomach’s margin (margoplicatus), is the area the most likelyto be exposed to the acid content ofthe stomach. All the horses examinedin this study had lesions in thatborder area, sometimes associatedwith lesions in other portions of thestomach.

After 15 days of supplementation,a significant reduction of the severityof the lesions was observed. Adecrease of 54 and 76% in ulcerscores was noted depending on thesupplementation used (Figure 2).

Photo 1 : Gastroscopic image at the level ofthe stomach margin (margo plicatus) in ahealthy horse. The non glandular mucosa islocated in the upper part of the picture (lightpink), and the glandular portion in the lowerpart (dark red).

Photo 2 : Grade 2 ulcers (on a scale of 4) atthe level of the stomach margin in a horse.

TABLE 1. STUDY LAYOUT

Day 0 (J)Clinical exam

Initial gastroscopy

Group A Group B

Supplementation 1 Supplementation 2*

Day J+ 15

days (J15)2

ndGastroscopy

Supplementation 2* Supplementation 1

Day J + 30

days (J30)

3rd

Gastroscopy

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HPH 04/05

After a month of supplementation,improvement was confirmed in allhorses without exception, with acomplete healing of the ulcers in43% of the cases. Both supplementa-tions showed a statistically signifi-cant efficiency in improving moder-ate ulcerative lesions of the equine

stomach, with a more manifest effectwith the supplementation 2* in com-parison to supplementation 1 (Figure3). In two horses suffering from ul-cers in the glandular portion of thestomach, a complete recovery wasobtained as well.

When performing the gastroscopic

recordings, a complete and homoge-neous regeneration of the non-glandular mucosa was observed,promoting ulcer healing (Photos 3and 4). The renewal of the non-glandular mucosa helped to improvethe lesions of the stomach margin,that area of the stomach most exposedto the occurrence of ulcers. Thisregeneration phenomenon could bedue to the high content in fatty acidsof both supplementations tested. Fattyacids are constituents of the cellularmembranes as well as of factors thatare involved in mucosal protectionand regulation of gastric acidity, suchas several prostaglandins.

A high degree of satisfaction wasalso obtained from questioning theowners after one month of supple-mentation: 80% declared themselvessatisfied with the supplementationsundertaken. In 50% of the cases, theynoted a marked improvement of spe-

Figure 3 : Evolution of ulceration scores in groups A and B at each endoscopic examina-tion. Group A received 15 days of supplementation 1 then 15 days of supplementation 2* ;Group B had 15 days of supplementation 2* then 15 days of supplementation 1. Data isexpressed as means and standard deviations. * signs indicate a statistical differencecompared to pre-supplementation scores (p

HPH 04/05

8

cific clinical complaints (disappear-ance of colic signs during meals,increase in appetite, weight gain,etc…).

CONCLUSIONSThis study allowed to demonstrate

the efficiency of supplementations 1and 2* in the improvement, and insome cases the complete healing, ofmoderate gastric ulcer lesions insport horses – a population particu-

larly at risk. The results obtainedwith supplementation 2* weresuperior to those obtained withtreatment supplementation 1.

This study opens the perspectiveof the use of an adapted* foodsupplement in the management ofstomach ulcers in horses, both forpreventing their occurrence as wellas for avoiding their recurrence.

Due to their controlled composi-tion, these supplements can be givenwithout risk up to the day of the com-petition.

BIBLIOGRAPHYNieto JE, Snyder JR, Beldomenico P, Aleman M, Kerr

JW, Spier SJ. Prevalence of gastric ulcers in endu-rance horses--a preliminary report. Vet J. 2004Jan;167(1):33-7.

Cargile JL, Burrow JA, Kim I, Cohen ND, Merritt AM.Ef-fect of dietary corn oil supplementation on equinegastric fluid acid, sodium, and prostaglandin E2content before and during pentagastrin infusion. J VetIntern Med. 2004 Jul-Aug;18(4):545-9.

Begg LM, O'Sullivan CB. The prevalence and distribu-tion of gastric ulceration in 345 racehorses. Aust VetJ. 2003 Apr;81(4):199-201.

Orsini JA, Haddock M, Stine L, Sullivan EK, Rabuffo TS,Smith G. Odds of moderate or severe gastric ulcera-tion in racehorses receiving antiulcer medications. JAm Vet Med Assoc. 2003 Aug 1;223(3):336-9.

Ferrucci F, Zucca E, Di Fabio V, Croci C, Tradati F. Gas-troscopic findings in 63 Standardbred racehorses intraining. Vet Res Commun. 2003 Sep;27 Suppl 1:759-62.

Dionne RM, Vrins A, Doucet MY, Pare J. Gastric ulcersin standardbred racehorses: prevalence, lesion des-cription, and risk factors. J Vet Intern Med. 2003 Mar-Apr;17(2):218-22

Lorenzo-Figueras M, Merritt AM. Effects of exercise ongastric volume and pH in the proximal portion of thestomach of horses.

Am J Vet Res. 2002 Nov;63(11):1481-7.Rabuffo TS, Orsini JA, Sullivan E, Engiles J, Norman T,

Boston R. Associations between age or sex and pre-valence of gastric ulceration in Standardbred race-horses in training.

J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2002 Oct 15;221(8):1156-9.

Dr Emmanuelle van Erck – Westergren, DVM, PhD

Dr Emmanuelle van Erck is a senior consulting veterinarian at the Equine SportsMedicine Centre (CEMESPO) at the University of Liège in Belgium. Her area of spe-cialisation is athletic evaluation and investigation of poor performance in sporthorses. Dr van Erck is also responsible of the consultations held at the Walloon race-track (Ghlin) where the CEMESPO has recently opened an outpatient clinic. Thestudy has been lead in collaboration with Dr Brieuc de Moffarts, DVM, Ph. D.

* Supplementation 2 = TWYDIL® STOMACARE

HPH 04/05

10

When asked to write this articleabout Horse Racing in Australia Ifelt privileged and a little inade-quate to do it justice.

I have never held any position ofauthority within the industry and,for that matter up until now, everbeen employed in the industry. Myassociation has been predominatelyas a spectator and member of a localrace club.

I am however a father, and havetwo children employed within theracing world.

My daughter married a youngjockey from Kangaroo Island,Dwayne Dunn.

Dwayne, is a respected SouthAustralian jockey who has not onlyridden in the very biggest races Aus-tralia has to offer, but the youngman has also been fortunate enoughto ride in many parts of the world.

My eldest son, Brenton, became afulltime trainer in recent times but,although he is yet to make his mark,I have every confidence that he will,given his enthusiasm, dedicationand ability.

Australia prides itself on reward-ing those with ambition, and if thetruth be known anyone with a bit ofguts and determination can achievesuccess in almost any field withinAustralia.

Right throughout our racing in-dustry you will find stories of the

Aussie Battler making good from asmall start. It may be a person whopicked up a bargain from a horsesale and went on to win a fortunefrom racing.

In fact our most recent two timeswinner of the country’s prestigiousMelbourne Cup was a horse thatwas unsold at an auction.

The owner decided to race thehorse instead, Tony Santic namedher "Makybe Diva” and she hasgone on to win in excess of ten mil-lion dollars.

There is the story of a youngfemale New Zealand trainer SheilaLaxton who brought her horse"Ethereal” across the Tasman andwon both the Caulfield Cup and theMelbourne Cups, before eventuallycalling Australia home, and whocould forget the efforts of the greatIrish Trainer Dermot Weld, a hugesupporter of Australian racing whowas rewarded with Melbourne Cupsuccess by the efforts of "VintageCrop” in 1993.

Australia is a very big countrywhich many overseas visitors havedifficulty comprehending.

If you started driving in Sydneyand followed the coast until you ar-rived back in the home of the 2000Olympics you will have travelled inexcess of 12900 kilometers.

You may not see a lot of peopleexcept around the major towns, but

you will see the odd kangaroo and alot more horses grazing in pad-docks.

We have a population of a littleover 20 million and nearly 10% ofthem love their racing and wouldvisit a race track at least once a year.

Each of our states have publicholidays for major race days, andthere is none larger than the Mel-bourne Cup.

Telecast around the World, it isbilled as the race that stops the Na-tion!

In Australia we have 454 raceclubs and each one of them holds an

AUSTRALIA, THE LAND OF OPPORTUNITYClive Harris

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annual Cup Day where the localsflock in the thousands. We evenhave a race meeting held in a tinytown in the outback of Australiacalled Birdsville. What is uniqueabout this event is that the majorityof the spectators arrive by small air-craft.

Another "unique” race meeting isthe Oakbank Easter Carnival, whenover 100,000 people converge on asleepy Hills town for a two-dayevent that promotes itself as the"biggest” picnic race meeting in theworld.

These 454 race clubs hold over22000 races per year. That is 60races per day every day. The indus-try directly and indirectly employs240,000 people serving 5 millioncustomers excluding the peopleemployed in the betting companies.There are currently 3 public compa-nies running betting agencies inshops pubs and clubs. No one is toofar from a Tote to put on a bet and ifby chance you were too far youcould always put your bet on bytelephone or in true Aussie stylehave a bet with your mate.

Here are some more statistics toconsider on racing in Australia. Theindustry is worth $7.74 billion dol-lars to the Australian economy and,for a small nation, that is significant.It is expected to have an impact of$41.1 billion dollars over 5 years.

In size, Australian Racing is thirdin the world behind USA and Japan.

Per capita, Australians are theworld leading country in ownershipof thoroughbred racehorses.

There are approximately 32000registered racehorses and 34000registered broodmares. These fig-ures do not take into account all thepleasure horses. It is not difficult fora child in Australia to have a pony ifthey have a parent willing to oblige.

It is also very easy for a personwho has a love of racing to becomeinvolved either as an outright owneror as part of a syndicate.

Just ask one of the 5500 trainersand they will make it happen.

There are many opportunitieswith a racehorse to participate withso many races being run all overAustralia on everyday of the week.

Even if your horse is not a cham-pion, but has some ability, thenthere will be a suitable race some-where that it will have a chance ofwinning.

If you own a champion horse thenis easy to transport the horse to aState where the bigger races are onoffer as there are no quarantine re-strictions or travel problems be-tween States of Australia.

Each State tries to coordinatetheir race carnivals so that they donot clash with each other.

In South Australia (www.racingsa.com.au), we have justfinished our Adelaide Cup Carnivalwhich was last held in the first halfof May.

Adelaide is one of the smallercapital cities with a population of

approximately 1 million people, soour carnival is not anywhere near asbig as Melbourne or Sydney, but wewere delighted to have attractedwell in excess of 30,000 racing fans.

That figure is expected to growwhen from 2006, The Adelaide Cupis run in March and followed justdays later by the Magic Millionsrace day.

There were 124 trainers including65 from interstate and New Zealand.A total of 331 horses ran in the 25races of the carnival including 142from interstate and New Zealand. 52jockeys rode over the three days in-cluding 30 from interstate. You cansee from this example how a trainerwith a good horse can seek out asuitable race if the trainer is pre-pared to travel and they do travel allover the country.

In some cases the trainer also hasthe regular jockey fly in for the raceas well.

Races are broadcast each day onSky TV and shown either on homepay TV or you can go to the nearestHotel or Club and watch the eventor listen to the radio broadcasts.

34000 broodmares are spread outall over the country. We have thelarge Studs but there is an opportu-nity for anybody to own a brood-mare and we have many smallbreeders all enjoying the participa-tion in racing and the excitement itbrings.

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12

Australian Racing also has an in-ternational participation with train-ers of some of the best racehorses inthe world being invited to take partin some of our better feature races.Many trainers also have overseasclients who own and race horseshere in Australia and do so very suc-cessfully.

Australian racing has been able tomake its mark on the world stage.Over a decade ago "Better LoosenUp” tasted success in the JapanCup, more recently however it was"Choisir” that took the U.K bystorm, and "Elvstroem” that did thesame in Dubai.

Horse Racing and ThoroughbredSales go hand in hand.

A company called Magic Mil-lions conducts sales each year cor-responding with some of these largecarnivals. You can visit their websiteat www.magicmillions.com.au andfind out dates of the next sales andorganize catalogues to be sent orview details on the website. What agreat holiday it would make to cometo Australia to a sale where some ofthe best bloodstock in the world ison offer and participate in all the funand excitement of one of our manycarnivals. You could go home a win-ner and an owner of an Australianyearling with a huge future.

Australia is also a land of oppor-tunity for international people wish-ing to come to Australia and be in-volved in the industry.

There is a shortage of many occu-pations within the industry such asjockeys, jumps jockeys, track riders,stable hands and suitable people forstud management work.

Those who have worked or holi-dayed in Australia know what agreat lifestyle we have, if you want

a part of it, the welcome mat is al-ways out!

Clive Harris of CYBERBOX PTY Ltd, exclusivedistributor of TWYDIL® in Australia, together with Valère Henry.

IN AUSTRALIA, TWYDIL® IS EXCLUSIVELY DISTRIBUTEDTHROUGH:

CYBERBOX PTY Ltd30 Belair Rd, Hawthorn SA 5063TEL: 08 855 26418EMAIL: charris@visp.com.au

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HPH 04/05

Céline BOURZAC, winner ofTWYDIL® quiz during the AVEF-Congress 2004, has sent us this pic-ture of her stay of 4 days in the beau-tiful ski resort of Arosa where shestayed in the 5 stars hotel Kulm.

Céline BOURZAC is a student inthe last year at the veterinary schoolof Lyon (F).

Vincent Druet, another student in

WINNER OF TWYDIL® QUIZ AT FRENCHNATIONAL EQUINE CONGRESS 2004

the last year at veterinary school,also answered all the questions cor-rectly.

The skiing holiday sponsored byTWYDIL® was allocated through alucky draw of all who answered thequiz correctly, undertaken by DrRichard Corde, President of theFrench Association of Equine Veteri-narians.

Céline Bourzac,winner of TWYDIL®

quiz AVEF 2004.

Hotel Kulm, Arosa

HPH 04/05

14

NEW RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Dr Brieuc de Moffarts will haveauthority over TWYDIL®’s depart-ment of science, research and devel-opment as from 1 October 2005. Dr de Moffarts will be in charge of:– control of the range of products

and their development programmeof research and the appropriateassignment of funds

– relation with different researchcentres

– contact with our partners PRO-BIOX SA

– global scientific contacts – transmission of scientific informa-

tion

Academic historyAfter graduating in veterinary

medicine at the University of Liège(B) in 2001, Dr de Moffarts went onto obtain his DEA in 2002 and hisPhD in 2005.

Dr de Moffarts has rapidly becomeaccepted as a specialist in the studyof oxidant stress in performancehorses in the department of physiol-ogy of Professor Lekeux at the Uni-versity of Liège (B).

In this position, he has attendednumerous international congresses(United States, Great Britain, France,Germany, Canada etc.) and haswritten or co-authored severalarticles published in prestigiousinternational journals such as theVeterinary Journal and the EquineVeterinary Journal.

Competent RiderA passionate horse lover, Dr de

Moffarts is also a competent rider.He has been "Maître d'équitation"

and instructor at the sports centre ofthe Belgian army for several years.He has also trained with Filipe deFigueiredo (Dr Graciosa), [Directorof the Portuguese School].

He was a student of Frederic

Demoulin, a former rider of the Bel-gian Horsemanship Academy and hasridden with several famous riders inBelgium and Portugal such as NunoPalm, Luis Valencia, PatrickLeroland, Alex Wims, CatherineHenriquet and Sue Oliveira.

Dr de Moffartsreceiving inpresence of PrincePhilippe of Belgiumthe prize of theThomas Lermu-siaux Foundationin June 2003awarded for hisdiploma thesis inthe third stage ofDEA, entitled:"Effect of exerciseon markers ofoxidant stress introtting horses"(Effet de l'exercicesur des marqueursdu stress oxydantchez le cheval trot-teur).

Age 28 yearsCivil Status marriedNationality BelgianResidence Chaudfontaine (Belgium)Diplomas Veterinary surgeon, DEA (2002) and PhD (2005)Languages French, English, Dutch, Portuguese, SpanishPassions Horses, wine, good foodEarly education Primary school at the French Lycée in Baghdad (Iraq)

15

HPH 04/05

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., SMITH N.,MARLIN D., ROBERTS C., LEKEUX P.: Correlationbetween exercise parameters and oxidant markers inhorses. Pflügers Arch. Eur. J. Physiol., 2002, 443, R9.

AMORY H., BRIHOUM M., DEBRUE M., DELGUSTE C.,SANDERSEN C., ART T., DE MOFFARTS B.: Exercisestress echocardiography in healthy horses. In Procee-dings: 41th Annual Meeting of the BEVA, Glasgow,UK, September 2002, p 211.

DELGUSTE C., DE MOFFARTS B., SANDERSEN C., DE-BRUE M., GUYOT H., AMORY H.: Serum vitamin Econcentrations in a group of horses, with a high inci-dence of Equine Motor Neuron Disease. Pflüger Ar-chiv. Eur. J. Physiol., 2002, R3.

KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., SMITH N.,MARLIN D., ROBERTS C., LEKEUX P.: Relationshipbetween markers of blood oxidant status and physio-logical variables in healthy and heaves-affectedhorses after exercise. Equine Vet. J., 2002, Suppl. 34,159-164.

ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., VAN ERCK E., BECKER M.,LEKEUX P.: Effets fonctionnels respiratoires induitspar l’inhalation du glycopyrrolate chez le cheval pous-sif en crise. In Proceedings: Congrès de l'AssociationVétérinaire Equine Française (AVEF), Montpellier,France, 2003, pp 521.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P.: Effet d’un complément antioxydant surles marqueurs sanguins du stress oxydant chez desgalopeurs entraînés. In Proceedings: Congrès de l'As-sociation Vétérinaire Equine Française (AVEF), Mont-pellier, France, 2003, pp 538-539.

ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., VAN ERCK E., BECKER M.,LEKEUX P.: Effets fonctionnels respiratoires induitspar l’inhalation de glycopyrrolate chez le cheval pous-sif en crise. Ann. Méd. Vét., 2003, 147, 175-180.

ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., VAN ERCK E., BECKER M.,LEKEUX P.: Effets fonctionnels respiratoires du glyco-pyrrolate chez le cheval poussif en crise. Prat. Vét.Equine, 2003, 35 (139), 23-29.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P.: Déficience du système glutathion chezle cheval de course. In Proceedings: 30ème Journée dela Recherche Equine, Les Haras Nationaux, Paris,France, 2004, pp 77-83.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P.: Effect of exercise on blood glutathionein healthy race horses. Pflügers Arch. Eur. J. Physiol.,2004, 447, R8.

ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., VAN ERCK E., BECKER M.,LEKEUX P.: Effects of glycopyrrolate inhalation onpulmonary function in heaves-affected horses in cri-sis. Pflügers Arch. Eur. J. Physiol., 2004, 447, R10.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., MICHAUX C., CAYEUX K., DEFRAIGNE J.O., LE-KEUX P.: Impact of training and exercise intensity onblood antioxidant markers in healthy Standardbredhorses. ECEP, 2004, 1, 211-220.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P.: Glutathione system deficiency in race-horses. In Proceedings: 43rd Congress of the BritishEquine Veterinary Association, Birmingham, GreatBritain, 2004, p 203.

ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., SANDERSEN C., TUAL C.,BECKER M., LEKEUX P., AMORY H.: Training-inducedchanges in aerobic capacity assessed by VO2max andechocardiography in standardbred horses. In Procee-dings: 43rd Congress of the British Equine VeterinaryAssociation, Birmingham, Great Britain, 2004, p 203.

AMORY H., DE MOFFARTS B., ART T., DETILLEUX J.,TUAL C., LEKEUX P., SANDERSEN C.: Doppler echo-cardiographic repercussions of a 12 week treadmilltraining period in standardbreds. In Proceedings: 43rd

Congress of the British Equine Veterinary Association,Birmingham, Great Britain, 2004, p 204.

ART T., DESMET C., LEKEUX P., DE MOFFARTS B.,COUËTIL L., BECKER M., FRANCK T., KOHNEN S.,DEBY-DUPONT G., SERTEYN D.: Myeloperoxydase

concentration in bronchoalveolar lavage from healthyand heavy horses. In Proceedings: 22nd Symposiumof the Veterinary and Comparative Respiratory Socie-ty, Montreal, Canada, October 2004, pp 74-75.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., MICHAUX C., CAYEUX C., DEFRAIGNE J.O., LE-KEUX P.: Effet de l’entraînement et de l’intensité del’exercice sur les marqueurs sanguins du stress oxy-dant chez le trotteur. In Proceedings: Congrès de l'As-sociation Vétérinaire Equine Française (AVEF), Pau,France, Octobre 2004, pp 544-546.

DE MOFFARTS B., PORTIER K., KIRSCHVINK N., PIN-CEMAIL J., LEKEUX P.: Effect of exercise and oral an-tioxidant supplementation on blood oxidant markersand erythrocyte membrane fluidity in horses. FreeRad. Biol. Med., 2004, 37 (Suppl. 1), S33.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., LEKEUX P.: Evalua-tion et correction du stress oxydant. In Proceedings:XXIème Journée d’Etude de la Belgian Equine Practi-tioners Society (BEPS), Bruxelles, Novembre 2004, pp6-14.

LÓPEZ D., DE MOFFARTS B., DELGUSTE C., SANDER-SEN C., PINCEMAIL J., DEFRAIGNE J.-O., AMORYH.: Cerebrospinal fluid level of protein S100beta inhealthy horses: a preliminary study. In Proceedings:First Scientific Meeting of the European College ofEquine Internal Medicine (ECEIM), 3. LeipzigerTierärztekongress, Leipzig, Germany, January 2005.Tierärztl. Prax., 2004, 32, 95.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P.: Effect of oral antioxidant supplementa-tion on blood antioxidant status in trained thorough-bred horses. Vet. J., 2005, 169, 65-74.

The TWYDIL® management wasdeeply saddened by the sudden deathon 28 January 2005 of Hans Bontwho, for many years, acted as outsidecontroller of our book-keeping.

This remarkable, widely respectedprofessional was also our friend. Hewas a man of great fairness and com-passion for others.

We are all very sad.

OBITUARIES

TWYDIL® Organisation chart

President Valère HenryFinance Barbara BorerProduction Peter BommerScience, research and development Brieuc de MoffartsMarketing Philippe HenryLegislation Michael PutnamAdministration Sandra Schubiger

16

NEW PRESENTATIONThe TWYDIL® range has now extended its assortment of pack sizes:

TWYDIL® HIPPACAN+C(10 sachets)

TWYDIL® HEMATINIC(10 mouth syringes)

TWYDIL® TWYBLID(10 sachets)

TWYDIL® CALMIN(21 sachets)

TWYDIL® PROTECT PLUS(10 sachets)

TWYDIL® ELECTROLYTES(10 mouth syringes)

These various products are now available in packs of 10 or 21 units correspondingto an application for one horse.

Of course, the larger packs of 50, respectively, 100 units, remain available.

NEW RANGE OF HIGH QUALITY DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS

22

FEI CENTRAL LABORATORY

ANALYSIS REPORT : RAPPORT D’ANALYSE :

The following product, Le produit suivant,

PRODUCT / PRODUIT BATCH NUMBER / N°DE LOT

TWYDIL® HIPPACAN+C 050563 has successfully passed the three following controls, under the operating process in duty at the laboratory, a passé avec succès les trois contrôles suivants, selon les modes opératoires référencés au laboratoire :

WHAT HAS BEEN CONTROLLED

OBJET DU CONTROLE

SUBSTANCES SEARCHED

SUBSTANCES

RECHERCHEES

DATE

DATE

FINAL PRODUCT

PRODUIT FINI

Listed Natural contaminants*.

Contaminants naturels*

13.07.2005

URINE of a horse having absorbed an overdose of the

product.

URINE d’un cheval ayant absorbé un surdosage du

produit.

Toutes molécules prohibées**

All prohibited substances**

03.08.2005

BLOOD of a horse having absorbed an overdose of the

product.

SANG d’un cheval ayant absorbé un surdosage du

produit.

Toutes molécules prohibées**

All prohibited substances**

03.08.2005

* Caffeine, theobromine, theophylline, atropine, scopolamine, morphine, methylbufotenine, dimethyltryptamine, bufotenine. Caféine, théobromine, théophylline, atropine, scopolamine, morphine, méthylbufoténine, diméthyltryptamine, bufoténine.

** under the operating process in duty at the laboratory, at the mentioned date. selon le mode opératoire référencé au laboratoire en date des analyses.

Dr Yves Bonnaire , Director of LCH

TWYDIL® ANTI-DOPING PRECAUTIONSFURTHER REINFORCED

In addition to the controlsundertaken over many years on thefinal product and on the urine of ahorse having received an overageof the TWYDIL® product, we havenow asked LCH also to analyse thehorse’s blood.

Each production batch of allTWYDIL® feed supplements ischecked in three different ways byLCH before being released.

This triple certificate establishedby LCH is available at www.twydil.com - just type the name ofthe product and its batch number.

HPH : Why is this supplementaryanalysis of the blood of a horse re-ceiving an overage of the feed sup-plement advantageous?

Yves Bonnaire : The analysis ofthe blood is indeed a complement tothe analysis of the urine. Without go-ing into complex technical details, a

brief review of drug metabolism re-veals that urine is, above all, a way ofdetoxifying molecules received bythe body. Consequently many mole-cules are eliminated as metabolites inthe urine while unchanged moleculesmay still be present in the blood for afurther period (depending on thehalf-life of these molecules). Further,some molecules such as peptides (forexample EPO or growth hormones)can more easily be found in the bloodas their large size only allows slowrenal excretion. These considerationslead us to conclude that blood testingis essential for complete anti-dopingcontrol and it has to be done on bothbiological fluids at the same time.

HPH : Does this mean that analy-sis only of the final product wouldnot detect all prohibited substances?

Yves Bonnaire : The analysis ofthe final product is not inherently asufficient guarantee inasmuch as theproduct can contain biological pre-cursors, i.e. molecules susceptible totransformation into prohibited sub-stances through different metabolicpathways which take place after in-gestion of the product by the animal.Under these conditions, analysis ofthe biological fluids after an overagepresents an additional security.

HPH : Can a feed supplementsupplier give the maximum guaran-tee of security to the user only bymeans of these three different con-trols (on the final product, on the

LCH is the official Frenchlaboratory for the animalanti-doping controls.

LCH is the only authorisedlaboratory in France to con-trol the races of thorough-breds, trotters and the jump-ing competitions.

LCH is also the FEI CentralLaboratory supervising thefour major control laborato-ries in Hong Kong, Sydney,Newmarket and New York.

LCH also controls horse com-petitions in many other coun-tries.

Dr Yves Bonnaire, Director LCH

urine and the blood of a horse receiv-ing an overage of the product)?

Yves Bonnaire : In summary, theanalysis of natural contaminantsundertaken on the final product givesa statistical control of the productionprocesses and therefore allows anoverall control of the risks of conta-mination of the raw materials and ofthe final product during production,conditioning and transportation withregard to known contaminants. Thecontrol of urine and blood provides amuch more complete answer regard-ing the total content of prohibitedsubstances including the active prin-ciples normally present in the givenproducts.

A HORSE FED WITH AN OVERAGE OF THE FINAL PRODUCT The Laboratory of Hormonology in Marloie, Belgium, directed by Dr

Philippe Delahaut, follows a strict and precise protocol quality control experi-ment (specific for each product).

Under this protocol, the Laboratory gives a horse 3 times the normal dosageof the product for a minimum of 3 days. Samples of urine and blood are takenand sent to LCH.

23

* There is one exception to the above TWYDIL® LIQUID BLISTER for which we recom-mend 5 whole days between the last treatment and the day of competition!

TWYDIL® PRODUCTS* CAN BE USEDWITHOUT RISK UP TO THE DAY OF

COMPETITIONWHAT IS DONE FOR EACH BATCH OF PRODUCTION

REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE During the manufacturing process samples are taken during the different

stages of production and mixed, following a precise method, to obtain a finalsample as representative as possible of the whole batch.

LCH SEARCHES FOR CONTAMINANTS IN THE FINAL PRODUCT LCH checks that, even at the limits of detection, the final product is free of

all the 9 natural contaminants (morphine, atropine, butofenine, caffeine, theo-phylline, theobromine, scopolamine, methylbufotenine, dimethyltriptamine)for which vigilance must be maximum because of their possible presence infeed ingredients.

LCH ANALYSES THE URINE OF THE HORSE LCH submits the urine to a complete screening for all the prohibited

substances (stimulants, analgesics, narcotics, anabolic steroids, beta-blockers,diuretics and not just the likely contaminants).

LCH ANALYSES THE BLOOD OF THE HORSE LCH submits the blood to a complete screening for all the prohibited

substances (stimulants, analgesics, narcotics, anabolic steroids, beta-blockers,diuretics and not just the likely contaminants).

LCH ESTABLISHES A TRIPLE ANTI-DOPING CONTROL CERTIFICATE

Certificate available on: www.twydil.com

SAMPLES SEALEDA sealed urine sample is kept refrigerated by the Laboratory of Marloie for

one year beyond the expiry date of the product and TWYDIL® keeps inSwitzerland a sealed sample of the final product for the same period.

HPH 04/05

24

2004 AVEF RESEARCH AWARD

OXIDATIVE STRESS AND ERYTHROCYTEMEMBRANE FLUIDITY IN EVENTING

HORSESDr Karine Portier, DMV, DEA

This article is based on Dr.Karine Portier’s masters degreethesis at the Lyon National Veteri-nary School: "Oxidative stress anderythrocyte membrane fluidity insport horses: effects of exercise andof antioxidant supplementation”, forwhich she received the AVEFResearch Award at the 2004 Con-gress of the French Equine Veteri-nary Practitioners Association. Thiswork was partially sponsored byTWYDIL®, and was carried out withthe collaboration of Professor PierreLekeux’s team, from the Universityof Liège.

The aim of the study, was to eval-uate the effects of exercise and an-tioxidant supplementation enrichedwith omega-3 fatty acids in 12 event-ing horses.

The assessment of these high levelathletes showed that:1) Horses suffer oxidative stress and

a decrease of erythrocyte mem-brane fluidity due to exercise.

2) These effects can be reduced bysupplementing the diet with an-tioxidants and omega-3 fattyacids.

During effort, the ability of the horseto carry oxygen rapidly from itslungs to its muscles is essential. Thecells involved in this transport are theerythrocytes. To manage their mis-sion, these specialized cells con-stantly distort, in order to pass easilythrough the finest blood vessels.(photo 1).

Recent studies have shown that theerythrocyte’s ability to distort can beaffected by oxidative stress (Baskurt,1999). This link is now established inman as well as in horses.

Oxidative stress (cf. HPH 02/03) isdefined as the loss of balance be-tween the attacks coming from pro-oxidant products (like free radicals)and the antioxidant defences of the

Dr Karine Portier, 2004 AVEF research award winner and Valère Henry, President of TWYDIL®.

Photo 1

Capillarylungvessel

(5µm)

Adapted from: Handbook of physiology, section3, the respiratorysystem, Fischman, Fisher, American physiological society, 1985

Erythrocytered (5µm)

25

HPH 04/05

organism, for instance during respi-ration. The potential consequence ofthis oxidative stress is an increase incellular and tissue lesions. Duringexercise, oxygen consumption in-creases, leading to the production offree radicals, which can cause a lossof balance between anti- and pro-ox-idative molecules in sport horses (deMoffarts et al., 2004 ; Mills et al.,1997 ; Kirschvink et al., 2002a ).

In man and laboratory animals,exercise or illness seem to induce adecrease of erythrocyte membranefluidity, as well as a drop in theirability to distort (Senturk et al. 2005 ;Cazzola et al. 2003 ; Yalcin et al.2000 ; Keddad et al., 1996)

In the same way as it has beenshown that antioxidant supplementa-tion can help the body defend itselfduring exercise and limit the deleteri-ous effects of oxidative stress in sporthorses (de Moffarts et al. 2005 ;Deaton et al., 2002, Kirschvink et al.,2002b), different studies have shownthat antioxidant or omega-3 fattyacids supplementation influenceerythrocytes’ ability to distort (Jeuk-endrup and Aldred, 2004).

The following study aimed at eval-uating the oxidative status of a group

of national and international event-ing horses, at rest and working, withand without antioxidant supplemen-

tation enriched with omega-3 fattyacids, by measuring their erythrocytemembrane fluidity as well as byanalysing indirect markers.

PRESENTATION OF THESTUDY:

All horses were kept in a racingstable in Belgium. The TWYDIL®

supplementation programme hadnever been used in this stable. Thetrainer selected 12 trained andhealthy horses from amongst thestable population. They were ran-domly divided into two groups. Thefirst group of 6 horses received theantioxidant and omega-3 fatty acidstreatment; whereas the second group,also of 6 horses, was given a placebo.The supplementation period lastedfor three weeks. At the end of thesethree weeks, the horses were given aneffort test, equivalent to the work putin during competition. Four "oxida-tive stress” checkups were made, inorder to study the effect of exer-cise and of supplementation. Thefirst check-up, called (T0), was un-dertaken before the start of the sup-plementation period, the secondcheck-up (T1) was made after thisperiod; the third (T2) and fourth (T3)

HPH 04/05

26

respectively fifteen minutes and 24hours after exercise.

RESULTS OF THE STUDY

1. EXISTENCE OF ANEXERCISE-INDUCEDOXIDATIVE STRESS

The study confirmed that horses suf-fer not only changes in their pro- vs.anti-oxidative balance, but also mod-ifications to their erythrocyte mem-

brane fluidity during exercise. Thesechanges were determined by measur-ing the levels of the antioxidant de-fences and of derivate products offree radical attack, as well as byobserving the behaviour of theerythrocyte cell membranes bymembrane fluidity studies.

Firstly, the antioxidant supplies inthe horse decreased during the restperiod. Reductions of glutathione(GSH) and vitamin E (vit. E) levelswere also observed.

Next an oxidative process ap-peared during the study. This wasmainly indicated by an increase ofthe level of oxidized proteins (pro-tox) (figure 1).

Eventually, the erythrocyte mem-brane fluidity decreased (figure 2).

During exercise, the combinationof increased oxidative activity anddecrease of antioxidative capacityacted on the erythrocyte membranefluidity. This phenomenon, if notcompensated, could cause even moreserious oxidative stress and micro-circulation disorders during the nextexercise.

2. EFFECTS OFSUPPLEMENTATION

At rest, analysis results showed thatthe treated horses significantly main-tained their GPx (the regeneratingenzyme of the antioxidative glu-tathione) activity, as well as theircopper/zinc balance, which con-firmed the antioxidative effect of thesupplementation.

Also, the increase of plasma anderythrocyte omega-3 fatty acid leveland the improvement of the omega-3/omega-6 fatty acids balance (figure3) in both matrices were significantin the treated group.

The erythrocyte membrane fluid-ity (figure 2) significantly reduced atT2 and T3 in the control group,whereas it was not significant at T2in the treated horses. This indicatesthat the antioxidative omega-3 fattyacids supplementation replaced theexercise-induced loss of erythrocytemembrane fluidity.

Protox (10-2.nmol. g prot-1)

6

4

0

T1 T2 T3

*

% W3/W6

Delta T1 vs T0

PlasmaErythrocytemembrane:Treated

: Control

10

5

0

-5

-10

-15

Figure 1 Figure 3

HPH 04/05

28

Before drawing conclusions, itmust be stressed that an oral fattyacid supplement can only be benefi-cial if the products used are of per-fect quality and contain an adequateconcentration of antioxidants. It hasbeen clearly shown that this kind oforal supplementation can have theopposite effect when using productsof lower quality (Song J H et al.2000, Palozza et al.,1996).

GENERAL CONCLUSION

Exercise in horses induces oxida-tive stress, associated with erythro-cyte membrane fluidity modifica-tions.

These phenomena can be partiallycontrolled by using a sophisticatedmix of omega-3 fatty acids and an-tioxidants (editor’s note: TWYDIL®

OMEGADIL).

REFERENCESBASKURT O.K., MEISELMAN H.J. Susceptibility of

equine erythrocytes to oxidant-induced rheologic al-terations. Am J Vet Res. 1999, 60, 1301-6

CAZZOLA R., RUSSO-VOLPE S., CERVATO G., CES-TARO B. Biochemical assessments of oxidativestress, erythrocyte membrane fluidity and antioxidantstatus in professional soccer players and sedentarycontrols. Eur. J. Clin. Invest., 2003, 33, 924-930.

DEATON C.M., MARLIN D.J., ROBERTS C.A., SMITHN., HARRIS P.A., KELLY F.J., SCHROTER R.C. An-tioxidant supplementation and pulmonary function atrest and exercise. Equine Vet. J., 2002, Suppl 34, 58-65.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., MICHAUX C., CAYEUX K., DEFRAIGNE J-O.,LEKEUX P. : Impact of training and exercise intensityon blood antioxidant markers in healthy Standard-bred horses. Equine and Comparative Exercise Phys-iology 1 (2004) 211–220.

DE MOFFARTS B., KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., PINCEMAILJ., LEKEUX P. : Effect of oral antioxidant supplemen-tation on blood antioxidant status in trained thor-oughbred horses. The Veterinary Journal 169 (2005)65–74.

KEDDAD K, THEROND P, MOTTA C, BAUSSAN C,LEGRAND A. Alterations in erythrocyte membranefluidity and fatty acid composition in glycogen stor-age disease. Biochim Biophys Acta., 1996, 1315, 61-5.

KIRSCHVINK N., ART T., DE MOFFARTS B., SMITH N.,MARLIN D., ROBERTS C., LEKEUX P. Relationshipbetween markers of blood oxidant status and physi-ological variables in trained and heaves-affectedhorses after exercise. Equine Vet. J., 2002a, Suppl34, 159-164.

KIRSCHVINK N., FIEVEZ L., BOUGNET V., ART T., DE-GAND G., SMITH N., MARLIN D., ROBERTS C., HAR-RIS P., LEKEUX P. Effect of nutritional antioxidantsupplementation on systemic and pulmonary antiox-idant status, airway inflammation and lung function inheaves-affected horses. Equine Vet. J., 2002b, 34,705-712.

MILLS P.C., SMITH N.C., CASAS I., HARRIS P., HARRISR.C., MARLIN D.J. Effects of exercise intensity andenvironmental stress on indices of oxidative stressand iron homeostasis during exercise in the horse.Eur. J. Appl. Physiol. Occup. Physiol., 1996b, 74, 60-66.

PALOZZA P., SGARLATA E., LUBERTO C., PICCIONI E.,ANTI M., MARRA G., ARMELAO F., FRANCESCHEL-LI P., BARTOLI G.M. N-3 fatty acids induce oxidativemodifications in human erythrocytes depending ondose and duration of dietary supplementation. Am. J.Clin. Nutr., 1996, 64, 297-304.

SENTURK U.K., YALCIN O., GUNDUZ F., KURU O.,MEISELMAN H.J., BASKURT O.K. Effect of antioxi-dant vitamin treatment on the time course of hemato-logical and hemorheological alterations after an ex-hausting exercise episode in human subjects. J. Ap-pl. Physiol., 2005, 98, 1272-1279.

SONG J.H., FUJIMOTO K., MIYAZAWA T. Polyunsatu-rated omega 3 fatty acids susceptible to peroxidationare increased in plasma and tissue lipids of rats feddocosahexaenoic acid-containing oils. J. Nutr., 2000,130, 3028-3033.

UYESAKA N., HASEGAWA S., ISHIOKA N., ISHIOKA R.,SHIO H., SCHECHTER A.N. Effects of superoxide an-ions on red cell deformability and membrane pro-teins. Biorheology, 1992, 29, 217-229.

YALCIN O., ERMAN A., MURATLI S., BOR-KUCUKATAYM., BASKURT O.K. Time course of hemorheologicalalterations after heavy anaerobic exercise in un-trained human subjects. J. Appl. Physiol., 2003, 94,997-1002.

Erythrocyte membrane fluidity (ns-1)

0,35

0,25

0,15

0

T1 T2 T3

:Treated

: Control

Figure 2

29

HPH 04/05

Bénédicte Maemoto

Bénédicte Maemoto, who is a professional interpreter, is now thepermanent local anchor point of TWYDIL® in Japan and is theconnecting link between Switzerland and the five JapaneseTWYDIL® distributors. Bénédicte Maemoto regularly visits our nu-merous clients in Japan. She is married to a Japanese and has beenliving since 1984 in a suburb of Osaka; they have three children:Takefumi, Kensakou and Noémi.

Adrian Simmonds-MeadAdrian Simmonds-Mead has joined the PAVESCO UK team. Likehis colleagues, Adrian receives telephone enquiries and orders andhelps with the distribution of TWYDIL® products in the UK. For-merly an engineer with a prestige sports car manufacturer, Adrian isnow married and father of two children, Samuel (age 10) andFrances (age 7).Adrian is also currently restoring the 15th century family home andany spare time that is left, is spent either with a guitar in his handsor a surfboard at his feet.

MEMBERS OF THE TWYDIL®-TEAM

BENEDICTE MAEMOTO

ADRIAN SIMMONDS-MEAD

HPH 04/05

30

DO THE LABELS COMPLY WITH WHAT IS REALLY IN A PRODUCT ?

Declaration of content COMPETITIVE PRODUCT TWYDIL® RACING +of antioxidants per TWYDIL® PROTECT PLUS

daily dose :

Vitamin E 250 mg 7,000 mg

Vitamin C 1,150 mg 11,500 mg

Selenium 2 mg 7 mg

CONFORMITY OF LABEL TO WHAT THE PRODUCT REALLY CONTAINS :

QUANTITY FOUND BY AN INDEPENDENT LABORATORY IN

COMPETITIVE PRODUCT TWYDIL® RACING +TWYDIL® PROTECT PLUS

Between 15 and 74 % of declaration. Between 91 and 129 % of declaration.

INDEPENDENT TRIALSUNDERTAKEN DURING2003 ON 45 HORSES

OBJECTIVE : to compare bloodconcentrations of antioxidants ofhorses having received a placebowith horses having received eitherTWYDIL® products or competitiveproducts daily for 3 weeks.

ANALYSIS OF PRODUCTS :an independent laboratory analysedthe actual contents of all ingredients(both TWYDIL® and competitiveproducts). The results have shownsignificant differences between dec-larations on the label and the actualcontents of active substances.

Vitamin E

Antioxidants What are the differences in blood between a group of horses having received a placebo or a supple-mentation (TWYDIL® or competitive products) (blood taken the 1st day and after 3 weeks) :

COMPETITIVE PRODUCTS TWYDIL® RACING + TWYDIL® PROTECT PLUS

Vitamin E No difference between the control group and the treated group

Vitamin C No difference between the group control and the treated group

Selenium

31

COMPARISON OF BLOOD ANALYSIS OF HORSES HAVING RECEIVED EITHER A PLACEBO OR A COMPETITIVE PRODUCT ORTWYDIL® PRODUCTS DAILY FOR THREE WEEKS.

CONCLUSIONS :

WITHOUT A VITAMIN GUARANTEE, WHAT IS WRITTEN ON THE LABEL IS NOT NECESSARILYCONTAINED IN THE FINALPRODUCT.

Certain vitamins are so unstablethat without taking due precaution,they can almost disappear during ma-nufacture and storage.

Thanks to know-how and expe-rience over more than 40 years, to thehighest production standards and tothe purchase of raw materials of bestquality as well as to a carefully

calculated overage, TWYDIL® isable to guarantee 100% content ofvitamins in its products up to the dateof expiration of shelf life.

TWYDIL® can also scientificallydemonstrate the absorption of mostof the active substances by thehorses.

* Means that the difference is significant.

Vit E (mg.g chol-1)

Vit C (µg.mL-1)

Se (µg.L-1)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Control Treated

0

2

4

6

8

10

Control Treated

Control Treated

0

40

80

120

160

*

Control Treated

*

0

40

80

120

160

Control Treated

0

2

4

6

8

10*

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Control Treated

*

Valère HENRY, President of TWYDIL® presenting the race trophy to Prince Khaled bin Abdallah in Riyadh.

Car of the local sales staff of ‘Champions Choice’ (TWYDIL® exclusive distributor in the United Arab Emirates).

e-mail: info@twydil.com

TWYDIL® around the world

Aidan O’Brien in discussion with Valère Henry, President of TWYDIL®.

Mr and Mrs Oluk, exclusive TWYDIL® distributors in Turkey, together with Philippe HENRY, Marketing Director of TWYDIL®, in front of their shop in Istanbul.

Visit of DSM (former Roche) together with one of the fi ve TWYDIL® distributors in Japan.

TWYDIL® PROBIOX® team taking blood samples in Chantilly.

HPH 04/05

34

The current study aimed to evalu-ate the effect of a dietary supply ofthe vitamins and trace mineralsinvolved in the functioning andregeneration of red blood cells andwas carried out under the auspices ofProfessor Pierre Lekeux.

In healthy sport horses, the trialshowed that:1) the supply of the trace elements

under test increased the bloodlevels indicating good bioavail-ability ;

2) the observed modification of thelevels of these elements and vita-mins appeared to favour red bloodcell regeneration, as haematologi-cal parameters also increased.

During effort, the horse’s ability totransport oxygen quickly from itslungs to its muscles is decisive. Thered blood cells are the main carriersof oxygen. Physical exercise inducesstress in sport horse’s red blood cells(Hanzawa, et al., 1999). Some of thered blood cell components are recy-cled. As red blood cell turn-over isespecially important when the bodyis subject to exercise stress, compo-nents can be under-supplied and opti-mal red blood cell production cannotbe maintained. Consequently, thehorse can suffer from anaemia, whichwill generally be indicated by lowhaematocrit and blood haemoglobinlevels (picture). Rose and Hodgson

(1997) suggest that a drop in haemat-ocrit level below the norm negativelyinfluences sport horses’ perfor-mances.

The current study evaluated the in-fluence of a dietary supply of the vit-amins and trace minerals involved inred blood cell functioning and regen-eration.

INTRODUCTION All horses were confined in a Bel-

gian eventing horses’ stable. Thecoach selected 12 healthy, trainedhorses from among the total group.These 12 animals were divided ran-domly into two groups. The first sixanimals received a dietary supply ofTWYDIL® HEMATINIC containingvitamins E, B1, B6, B12, folic acid,biotin and trace elements includingiron, copper, cobalt, manganese andzinc. The second group was a controlgroup that was only given a placebo.The supply period lasted for 10 days.Two blood tests were undertaken inorder to evaluate the bioavailabilityof the trace elements as well as thechange in the haematologic parame-ters of each horse. The first sample(T0) was taken before the start of thesupply period, and the second (T1)was taken at the tenth day of dietarysupply. Deltas (T1-T0) of treated andcontrol groups were compared.

RESULTS1. ABSORPTION AND

BIOAVAILABILITY OF THEDIETARY SUPPLYThe current study confirmed that

the administration of a dietary supplyof a vitamin and trace mineral sup-plement increased the levels of thegiven trace elements in all biologicalfluids. These increases were signifi-cant for vitamin E, folic acid, vitaminB6 and cobalt (figure 1 and figure 2).

OPTIMISATION OF HAEMATOLOGICAL PARAMETERS IN

HEALTHY SPORT HORSESDr Brieuc de Moffarts, DMV, DEA, PHD

HPH 04/05

36

0

0,4

0,8

1,2

Variation des concentrations

en cobalt ( g.L-1

)

: Traité: Traité: Traité: Traité

: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo

*

-2

0

2

4

6

8

Variation des concentrations

en Acide folique ( g.mL-1

)

: Traité: Traité: Traité: Traité

: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo

*

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Y = -,861 + ,862 * X; R^2 = ,835*

-,5

0

,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

3,5

4

-1,8 -1,6 -1,4 -1,2 -1 -,8 -,6 -,4 -,2 0 ,2 ,4

Y = 1,448 + ,089 * X; R^2 = ,002

0

0,4

0,8

1,2

1,6

Variation des concentrations

en hémoglobine (g.100ml-1

)

: Traité: Traité: Traité: Traité

: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo: Placebo

Figure 1 Figure 3

Figure 5

Figure 2

The results indicate that the chem-ical conformation and concentra-tions in the supplement are suitablefor intestinal absorption and result inblood level increases of those partic-ular components.

2. EFFECTS OF THE DIETARYSUPPLY ON THEHAEMATOLOGICALPARAMETERS

The association of vitamins and traceminerals appears to induce an in-crease of haematological parameterssuch as haematocrit, blood haemo-globin and corpuscle numbers (seegraph). Rises in haematocrit andhaemoglobin levels were positivelycorrelated to the folic acid concentra-tion (figure 3). However only 80% ofthe supplemented horses reactedcompletely to the treatment, whereas,to be significant, 95% of them shouldhave responded. We can thus only in-dicate a statistical tendency for thegeneral effect on haematological pa-rameters (figure 4 and figure 5).

The results of the study on healthysport horses suggest that the tested

Figure 4

Folid acid concentration variation (ηg.mL-1)

Cobalt concentration variation (µg.L-1)

Haematocrit variation in treated group (%) Haematocrit variation in control group (%)

Folic acid concentration variation in treated group (ηg.mL-1) Folic acid concentration variation in control group (ηg.mL-1)

dietary supply positively influencesred cell production.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONThe tested dietary supply (editors

note: TWYDIL® HEMATINIC) pro-vides certain red cell componentsand, in so doing, favours red cellregeneration.

REFERENCES:HANZAWA K, KAI M, HIRAGA A, WATANABE S.

Fragility of red cells during exercise is affectedby blood pH and temperature. Equine Vet JSuppl. 1999, 30, 610-1.

ROSE R.J., HODGSON D.R. Hematology and bio-chemistry. In : Hodgson D.R., Rose R.J. (Eds.),The athletic horse: principles and practice ofequine medicine. W.B. Saunders Company :Philadelphia, 1994, 63-78.

:Treated

: Control

:Treated

: Control

:Treated

: Control

Haemoglobin concentration variation (g.100ml-1)

37

HPH 04/05

HPH: Do you have new scientificproof that an oxidative imbalance(oxidative stress) can affect horse’sperformance?

PL: Formal proof does not yetexist for the horse. However studiesundertaken on the treadmill with ratshave shown that they have less resis-tance to tiredness when a deficiencyof anti-oxidant enzymes is present.Considered from the other direction,a recent study with horses in traininghas shown a positive correlationbetween the increase of an anti-oxidantenzyme and the increase of the maxi-mum consumption of oxygen - animportant parameter of performance.

HPH: Has it been scientificallyproved that very precise nutritionaladjustments may correct oxidativeimbalance?

PL: Different studies have shownthat an oxidative imbalance, appear-ing during intensive work or inflam-matory problems, may be reduced, ifnot corrected, by administering spe-cific nutritional supplements whichwould be beneficial to the well being,

health and performance of horses.

HPH: Does the study on preven-tion of ulcers show an alternative totreatment with efficient but expensiveomeprazol?

PL: Omeprazol is the usual treat-ment for gastric ulcers. However, itshigh cost limits its use to the shortterm treatment of most severe casesand does not prevent relapses in com-petition horses. The product tested inthe study presented in the HPH istherefore not a competitor but a com-plementary product to the adminis-tration of proton pump inhibitors.Compared to the omeprazol treat-ment, its potential utilisation is eitherupstream (to prevent appearance ofulcers) or downstream (to prevent re-lapses).

HPH: In your opinion, what arethe major conclusions of the study(HPH page 24 to 28) made on a com-bined supplement of anti-oxidantsand omega-3 fatty acids?

PL: This study shows that the oraladministration of a cocktail contain-ing anti-oxidants and high qualityomega-3 fatty acids significantly in-creases the ratio of omega-3/omega-6acids in the red blood cell mem-branes and improves their fluidity.

HPH: In youropinion, knowing theeffects of a supple-ment enriched withomega-3 fatty acids,what is the potentialfor such a supple-ment?

PL: The potentialinterest in such asupplementation istwofold. Firstly, abetter fluidity of thered blood cells in thepulmonary capillar-ies could result in a

reduction of the incidence or theseverity of exercise-induced pul-monary haemorrhage. Secondly, theincrease of the omega-3/omega-6ratio in the cellular membranes couldresult in a reduction of the incidenceor the damage caused by chronicinflammatory conditions. These en-couraging perspectives have, how-ever, to be confirmed by further stud-ies.

HPH: Do you believe in the im-portance of genomic studies in thehorse and if yes, what in practice ex-actly will they comprise?

PL: In general genomic studiesand, in particular, micro-array tech-niques, open very promising perspec-tives for the veterinary follow-up ofcompetition horses. In preventativemedicine, the routine analysis of theexpression profile of horses’ geneswould reveal their weak points andany predisposition to pathologicalconditions. This could be used topropose individually-adapted pre-ventive strategies. On the curativeside, the identification of horses’genes that are over- or under-ex-pressed could result in early, targetedtreatment, which, potentially, shouldbe more efficient than blanket treat-ment.

QUESTIONS TO PROFESSOR PIERRE LEKEUX

Professor of Physiology and Dean of the Veterinary Faculty of Liègewhere TWYDIL®’s scientific trials are undertaken.

HPH 04/05

38

Saudi horsemanship has recentlybegun to emerge on the map of theadvanced world in this field aftershowing effective and tangible pres-ence in local and international horseracing events. During the last 40years Saudi horsemanship passedthrough important stages whichfurther accelerated the pace of itsachievements. The establishment ofthe Equestrian Club in Riyadh underthe chairmanship of King Abdullahbin Abdulaziz is considered as thelaunching step in Saudi equitationtrip towards better achievements. Thepast 40 years of the Equestrian Clubhistory have witnessed a lot of success stories in thoroughbred horses’races beginning with organizing therandom spontaneous horse raceswhich were common in the past, andrecording and documenting theseraces. With the passage of time theprizes set for these races improved,and so did the number of competi-tors. In the past, very low prizes wereoffered. The government supportgiven to this type of sport proved tobe the main incentive behind the pre-sent success stories in horse racing inthe Kingdom. Now the lowest prize

offered to participants in the horserace by this outstanding club is theequivalent of $10,000. Other prizesare higher in line with the level of therace and the type of participatinghorses. The prize may be as high as$150,000 for one race only. Manypeople believe that the prizes willcontinue to go up still further due tothe fact that more and more peopleare buying horses, and many busi-nessmen also began showing a greatdeal of interest in this type of sport,especially that the number of horserace events is rising continuously asshown by the fact that every weekthere are two racing events of 7 raceseach. The achievements of the Saudihorse racing are many and it is noteasy to sum them up in this briefaccount. It is true that Saudi horseracing achievements were notfocused on the first position, yet theywere really positive - taking intoaccount the short span of attainingthese achievements and the relativelyshort life of the local productionindustry in the Kingdom. The pro-duction of the breeding farms beganto improve only in the last 15 years.Among locally produced Saudi race

horses which have shown good re-sults in horse racing events held hereand abroad were Mirkhan, owned byPrince. Sultan bin Mohamed andNaim, owned by the sons of KingAbdullah bin Abdulaziz. It is worthmentioning that there have been a lot

SAUDIA ARABIA: REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENTS IN A

SHORT PERIOD OF TIMEDr. Mubarak Al-Hurasen

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz

39

HPH 04/05

of great achievements made by Saudihorses owners abroad, in Americaand Europe, like Prince KhaledAlabdullah and the two late Princes,Fahd and Ahmed bin Salman.

The second official agency whichpromotes horse racing sport is theSaudi Equestrian and Archery Fed-eration which was established in1985. This federation, which ischaired by H.R.H. Prince Nawafbin Faisal bin Fahd, pays special at-tention to horse racing events likeshow-jumping and endurance horseraces. The Federation achieved anumber of Arab and world titles andsuccessfully graduated many lead-ing and well-known horsemen likeKhaled Al Eid, the silver medalist ofSydney Olympiad, Ramzi Aldahami,the world amateurs' champion, andKamal Bahamdan in addition toAbdullah Sharbatly the promisingshining star who will represent theKingdom in the regular world show-jumping. Moreover, this Federationhas graduated many champions ofendurance horse races – most promi-nent among them was Tarik Taher,the world champion of 1998Olympiad in France, and many otherfuture champions.

The third agency which is paying agreat deal of attention to horseman-ship in the Kingdom is King Abdu-laziz Center for Original ArabianHorses. The center pays special at-tention to Arabian horses and orga-nizes horse races from time to time.The Saudi produced horses, haveshown great successes especially inraces organized abroad despite thefact that they were trained only forshort periods. Earlier, most of good

results were scored by horses fromthe Buwaibia Stable owned by PrinceSultan bin Abdulaziz and AlKhalidiya Stables owned by PrinceKhaled bin Sultan. The participationof horses from the two stables wasmostly confined to world events andas a result many of the titles they wonwere international titles. They wonfour championships in France alongwith camel races. Similarly, they won

Arabian horses’ races organized inMorocco, Europe and America.

Being able to join the world cham-pions of the International EquestrianFederation in such short time is agreat achievement of Saudi equi-tation. This achievement has been theresult of the well planned and contin-ued support of the patron of the horseand the horseman, King Abdullah binAbdulaziz.

Dr. Mubarak Al-Hurasen of AL FADER TRADING EST,exclusive distributor of TWYDIL® in Saudi Arabia.

IN SAUDI ARABIA, TWYDIL® IS EXCLUSIVELYDISTRIBUTED THROUGH:

AL-FADER TRADING EST.P.O.BOX 58317, Riyadh 11594TEL: (966) 1 480-2346EMAIL: mubarak@al-fader.com

Khaled Al Eid Valére Henry with Mr Saud bin-Saad Al-Qahtani

NEWNEW

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ydil.c

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AVAILABLE THROUGH YOUR VETERINARY SURGEON

TWYDIL® 4LEGSTWYDIL® 4LEGS is a sophisticated cream to be applied

daily to tired, strained legs. Its main ingredients are

arnica, calendula, kaolin, thymol, eucalyptus and Aesculus

hippocastanum and may also be used where there is

cutaneous erosion.

- Offi cially certifi ed: can be used without risk up to the day of competition.

TWYDIL® is used by most of the successful trainers in the world.

INDISPENSABLE FOR LEGSINDISPENSABLE FOR LEGS

e-mail: info@twydil.com

PAVESCO AGHead Offi ceCH-4010 Basel, SwitzerlandTel. (41) 61 272 23 72Fax (41) 61 272 23 88

PAVESCO U.K. LTD.116, High RoadNeedham, Harleston, Norfolk IP20 9LGTel. (01379) 85 28 85Fax (01379) 85 41 78

PAVESCO EQUINE HEALTH USA, LTD321 N, 22nd StreetSt.Louis, MO 63166, USATel. (314) 421 0300Fax (314) 421 3332

Twydil_4Legs_A4_en 1 14.10.2005 9:36:52 Uhr

TWYDIL® 4LEGSTWYDIL® 4LEGS OBJECTIVES:Soothing and relaxing cream to be

applied daily to the legs.

INDICATIONS:

Apply systematically after work.

Especially recommended where there is

articular swelling.

The presence of a cutaneous erosion is not

a counter-indication to the use of

TWYDIL® 4LEGS.

COMPOSITION:

Contains notably plant extracts, arnica,

calendula, kaolin, thymol, eucalyptus and

Aesculus hippocastanum.

HOW TO USE IT:

After work, wash and dry the legs, then

apply without rubbing about 5 mm of the

cream to each leg.

Do not cover with cotton or bandage.

If possible, leave until next day then

brush before work.

For heavy cases, put 1 cm of cream,

leave for 2 hours, wash, dry and then

renew the application before leaving

overnight.

PRESENTATION:

Pail of 2 kg.

• OFFICIALLY CERTIFIED: CAN BE USED WITHOUT RISK UP TO THE DAY OF THE COMPETITION.

Twydil_4Legs_A4_en 2 14.10.2005 9:36:54 Uhr

HPH 04/05

42

There are both advantages and dis-advantages to giving vitamins by in-jection.

Advantages of injectionThis method is normally reserved

for animals suffering veterinary-diagnosed severe hypovitaminosis orwhere there has been a toxic interac-tion that can be reversed by specificvitamins. Most vitamin injections areintended for intra-muscular use;rarely are they given intravenously.In Europe, only licensed productsmay be used and care should be takento use only sterile material.

The main advantages are that in-jected vitamins bypass the diges-tion/absorption route and are 100%effective. They produce a sudden,large surge of that specific micronu-trient in the blood that may havepharmaco-dynamic effects. Bypass-ing the alimentary canal is not par-ticularly important for water solublevitamins, which tend to be 100% ab-sorbed anyway. It is much more rele-

vant for fat soluble vitamins wherethe efficiency of intestinal absorptionis probably only 25%. There are alsodisadvantages that may far outweighthe advantages.

Disadvantages of injectionThe greatest problem of all is sen-

sitization – either to the vitamin sub-stance or to an adjuvant. For exam-ple, several companies used to havecombined vitamins A, D and E injec-tion. There were several cases ofdeath in horses and sheep fromanaphylactic shock brought on by sen-sitization to one of the ingredients,usually the emulsifierused to ensure thatthe fat soluble vita-mins could be carriedin suspension in theblood plasma. An-other difficulty – par-ticularly with singlevitamin injections –is that they are givenin large enough quan-tities to unbalance thevitamin/hormone/en-zyme system, leadingto inefficiencies inthe utilisation of theother vitamins. Afurther disadvantageis that adjuvants usedin the preparation ofinjectable productsmay produce positivereactions to dopetests; there are noguarantees or strin-gent quality controltests used by manu-facturing companiesto ensure that in-jectable products canbe given to perfor-mance horses withoutrisk of positive testresults.

The immediate surge in blood con-tents falls away fairly rapidly afterthe injection; the rate of decay vary-ing between vitamins. The watersoluble vitamins are lost far morerapidly than the fat soluble vitamins.This is generally because the homeo-static mechanisms in liver and kid-neys remove excess levels andexcrete them as rapidly as possible.Within 24 to 48 hours the water solu-ble vitamin contents in the blood willbe almost back to where they werebefore the injection unless steps aretaken to renew the injection on adaily basis. No one likes the idea of

VITAMINS AND THEIR BIOAVAILABILITYORALLY AND BY INJECTION

Michael E. Putnam

43

HPH 04/05

sticking needles in horses every day,particularly if there is an on-goingrisk of sensitization and anaphylacticshock. Equally, there is always a riskof septic reactions since few stablespractice good asepsis.

Looking at the individualvitamins, the possible concentrationsin injections vary enormouslydepending on solubility and theneed for adjuvants.

We do not recommend the use ofinjections on a regular basis to pro-vide supplies of nutrients andstrongly advise against the adminis-tration of vitamins by injection ex-cept where absolutely necessary. Itis much more economic and effec-tive to give vitamins and other mi-cronutrients orally. For example, theeffect of 15 injections is lower than adaily dosage of 75 g of TWYDIL®

RACING.However, there are some circum-

stances where injections cannot beavoided. When horses are so seri-ously debilitated that they are noteating, repeated multivitamin injec-tions may aid rapid recovery,whereas oral applications are ineffec-tive. The other situation is where thevitamin is needed as an antidote to atoxic reaction. Two examples aregiven below:

Two concrete cases whereinjections cannot be avoided:

1) Poisoning with coumarinrodenticides

Oral coumarin anticoagulants,used in many rodenticides, act by in-terfering with vitamin K metabolismin liver cells producing haemolysisand death. Should non-target species

ingest rodenticides the effects can beneutralised by repeated vitamin K in-jections. Vitamin K1 (phylloquinoneor phytomenadione) is effective as anantidote to coumarin anticoagulantswhereas vitamin K3 (menadione) isineffective and should not be used.The normal feed supplement is vita-min K3.

Horses that have been poisonedwith coumarin rodenticides shouldbe given 0.5 – 1.0mg vitamin K1 perkg liveweight daily for seven days individed doses intramuscularly.

2) Thiaminase ingestionHorses are unlikely to suffer from

a deficiency of thiamine becausethere are normally adequate suppliesin plant products. However, horsesthat have access to bracken may in-gest thiaminase, an enzyme that de-stroys vitamin B1 and results in acutesymptoms of hypovitaminosis.Treatment is to supply excessiveamounts of thiamine to overcome theeffects of the enzyme.

The usual injectable form isthiamine hydrochloride, which is ex-tremely soluble. It is possible to dis-solve 100 g in 100 ml of water. Thisproduces a very acidic solution (pH

about 2). Concentrations of between1 and 10% have been used in injecta-bles with buffering agents to reducethe acidity to make the solution com-patible with blood plasma; 10% isfairly common in injectable solutionssuitable for horses. This means thateach 1 ml contains 100 mg thiaminehydrochloride which is equivalent toabout 80 mg vitamin B1 measured asthiamine. The normal treatment forhorses that have consumed brackenand have started to show deficiencysymptoms such as excessive ex-citability or unexplained paralyticspasms is 0.25 – 1.25 mg thiamineper kg liveweight by intramuscular orslow intravenous injection twicedaily for up to 7 days.

ConclusionsThere are some cases where it is

absolutely essential to give vitaminsby injection. Horses that are underveterinary care for severe hypovita-minosis or debilitation, or wherethere has been a toxic interaction,need the rapid response from in-jectable material.

Users should note that injectableproducts do not come with any guar-antees that they are without risk ofpositive doping test results if given toperformance horses; in fact, some ad-juvants are known to give positive re-sults.

Horses require daily supplies of allthe vitamins and oral applications areconvenient, fully bioavailable and in-expensive. However, there are differ-ences between that quality of variousvitamin products and manufacturingprocesses, so it is essential to selectthe best and most suitable productwith a quality control guarantee.

There is good scientific proof ofthe excellent bioavailability of theproducts in the TWYDIL® range.Scientific trials have shown that, af-ter only three weeks, horses receiv-ing a TWYDIL® product had signifi-cantly more active vitamins and an-tioxidants than those receiving aplacebo. In addition to this excellentbioavailability, each batch of everyTWYDIL® product is supplied with atriple guarantee of a nil response todoping tests (analysis of the product,and tests on urine and blood of ahorse receiving a triple daily supply)and a shelf life guarantee.

0 2 6 12 24 48

Représentation classique des teneurs en vitamines dans le sang à la suite d‘une injection

Vitamine E ou autres vitamines liposolubles

Vitamine C ou autres vitamines hydrosolubles

Temps après injection (heures)

Teneur initiale en vitamines dans le sang

Teneur en vitamines dans le sang

Vitamin C

Typical pattern of vitamin levels in blood following injection

Vitamin content in blood at start

Increase inblood vitamincontent

Vitamin E or otherfat soluble vitamins

Items after injection

Vitamin C or otherwater soluble vitamins

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AVAILABLE THROUGH YOUR VETERINARY SURGEON

TWYDIL® MINERAL COMPLEXAppetising and bio-available mineral supplement with three different sources of calcium so that the total ration tends toward an ideal phospho-calcic ratio. At an attractive ratio concentration/price, this product forms the ideal supplementation for TWYDIL® RACING and TWYDIL® STUD and also of a traditional diet or