infectious disease
Anti-inflammatories in
EHV-1 Infection M ay Be Be n eficial
Pro-active use of anti-inflam-
• The first experiment used immortalized equine carotid artery cells. The degree of infection and subsequent cell lysis was detectable as a plaque, allowing cell infection to be measured by plaque count per well. All five anti-inflammatory drugs resulted in significantly
Courtesy U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
matories in the early stage of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) might be beneficial, according to a new in vitro study. In this study, researchers from several universities in the United States and Germany set out to determine the effects of several antiinflammatory drugs on endothelial cells infected with EHV-1. They tested acetylsalicylic acid, lidocaine hydrochloride 2%, firocoxib, flunixin meglumine and dexamethasone sodium disphosphate at therapeutic concentrations. Peripheral blood mononuclear (PBM) cells were infected with EHV-1, and three experiments were performed.
a restricted 24-hour period on infected PBM cells alone, brain endothelial cells alone or both together. Lidocaine and firocoxib significantly reduced plaque counts when both types of cells were incubated together. This effect was not seen when only one cell type was infected, with the exception of dexamethasone, which significantly decreased plaque counts in PBM cells.
Snotty nose is a sign of EHV-1.
decreased plaque counts compared with untreated monolayers. • The second used brainderived endothelial cells, which resulted in significant reduction in plaque counts in monolayers treated with lidocaine, firocoxib and dexamethasone. • The third experiment evaluated the effect of the drugs over
These results provide evidence that infection of the central nervous system with EHV-1 appears to occur by contact between PBMC and endothelial cells. Infection of endothelial cells in vitro is reduced by exposure to anti-inflammatory medications, including commonly used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories. However, more information is needed to determine whether antiinflammatories result in reduced infection rates in clinical cases of disease, the researchers said. MeV
For more information: Goehring LS, Brandes K, Ashton LV, et al. Anti-inflammatory drugs decrease infection of brain endothelial cells with EHV-1 in vitro. Equine Vet J. 2017 Jan 17 (Epub ahead of print). http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evj.12656/full ModernEquineVet.com | Issue 3/2017
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