Aortic ruptures in the Friesian horse; The role of collagen type I and III

Abstract

This study explores the possibility that collagen type I and/or III plays a role in the development of aortic ruptures in the Friesian horse. A total of 70 horses were used, across three groups; Affected Friesians, Non-Affected Friesians and a control group of Warmbloods. Two sets of slides were stained with immunohistochemistry, one for collagen type I and the other for collagen type III, and examined for collagen amount and fragmentation. The results show a significant increase of the amount of collagen type I, but not type III, for Affected Friesians, which suggests that only collagen type I amount plays a role in the development of aortic ruptures. However due to differences in storage time of the slides, the results may not be entirely accurate. The results of fragmentation are surprising, as it shows no significant differences for collagen type I, but does show an increase of fragmentation in the control group of warmbloods. This may be attributed to the fact that the control group is, on average, older then the two Friesian groups.