Authors:
A. V. GONCHAROVA, candidate of veterinary sciences,
L. F. SOTNIKOVA, doctor of veterinary sciences,
Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology – MVA by K. I. Skryabin (23 academician Scriabin str., 109472, Moscow).
Abstract. A number of typical symptoms of ulcerative keratitis in sick horses was investigated in current research. It was found that pathology of the eyes can be observed in animals of different age groups belonging to both genders. A group of 40 horses owned by private stables of Moscow and Moscow region was selected to conduct the study. Current research was a clinical and morphological investigation, which included both ophthalmic method and a set of cytological and bacteriological examinations. Ulcerative keratitis in horses can be either a result of a minor injury of the cornea caused by awn grasses, seed hulls, leaves, sawdust and further bacterial infection development (coccal flora, Escherichia coli, Proteus, fungi), prolonged use of antibiotics or corticosteroids or when dystrophic cornea is infected due to the microcirculatory processes disorder. Malfunction of the evolutionally formed mechanisms of innate and acquired eye mucosa immunity, which play the role of the physiologic barrier of the eyeball, should also be considered risk factors of the damage of the cornea and the occurrence of ulcerative keratitis. In all cases the inflammatory process in the cornea developed in response to the impact of various primary (microorganisms, their exoand endotoxins, components of the bacterial cell wall) and secondary damaging factors (metabolic disorders, acute and chronic tissue hypoxia). Based on established correlation between changes in the cornea, the results of cytological and bacteriological analyses, anamnesis data, the evaluation criteria for primary and secondary forms of the disease were established. Identified clinical and morphological parallels allowed to define diagnostic criteria of the cornea inflammation.
Keywords: keratopathies, сorneal cells, vascularization, tear film, horse, tear, fibroblasts, inflammation.
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