New research conducted suggests saliva can be used to indicate gastric ulcers as an alternative to the more expensive and invasive scoping.
In research conducted at the Large Animal Teaching Hospital at the University of Copenhagen the potential use of a panel of salivary biomarkers to detect Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) was evaluated.
The research team found that 17 biomarkers were increased in saliva from horses with EGUS compared to healthy animals. Three of those biomarkers, uric acid (UA), triglycerides (Trig), and calcium (Ca), showed a modest but statistically significant difference between horses with EGUS and horses showing signs suggestive of EGUS but with no ulceration on endoscopy.
The study entitled "Evaluation of a Comprehensive Profile of Salivary Analytes for the Diagnosis of Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome' was published in the journal Animals this month.
You may also be interested in this previous post which talks about treating ulcers with products you can get from the supermarket.
Gastric ulcers are very common in racing and performance horses.
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