Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Distinction Paper

Degree Name

Equine Pre-Veterinary/Pre-Graduate Studies-BS

Department

Equine Science

Advisor

Steffanie Burk

First Committee Member

Sheri Birmingham

Second Committee Member

Nick Robinson

Keywords

Equine, Cytokine, Interleukin-4, Deworming, Serum

Subject Categories

Animal Diseases | Higher Education | Large or Food Animal and Equine Medicine | Other Animal Sciences | Parasitology

Abstract

The effect of deworming obese horses with high levels of parasite eggs in their feces is poorly understood. In some parasitic nematodes, such as strongyles, larvae encyst in the mucosal lining of the gastrointestinal tract, causing local inflammatory responses within the affected tissue. Once dewormed with oral anthelmintics, parasites are expelled from tissues and excreted in feces, potentially setting off an inflammatory cascade as the mucosal lining is disturbed en masse. Interleukin-4 is a cytokine marker characterized as a pro- and anti-inflammatory chemical signal involved in stimulating worm expulsion as well as preserving local tissue integrity; it can be tracked as a means of monitoring systemic inflammatory responses in equines. Obesity has been known to increase baseline levels of systemic inflammation in human and mice studies, although no studies have been done to examine the same in horses. It is assumed that this relationship would remain the same, however, since adipose tissue stimulates inflammatory responses. This study aimed to investigate the interaction between deworming obese (BCS ≥ 7/9) and non-obese horses (BCS 4-6.9/9) with two different dewormers, moxidectin and fenbendazole. In total, 56 horses were sampled across central Ohio and separated into control, moxidectin or fenbendazole groupings. Blood and fecal samples were collected at three points over the course of seven days: day 0 (d0) immediately prior to administering anthelmintics, day 1 (d1) twenty-four hours after deworming, and day 7 (d7) seven days after deworming. Blood samples were submitted to Cornell University’s diagnostic lab to be quantified with a 5-Plex Cytokine Assay, while fecal samples were analyzed to determine eggs per gram of strongyle eggs. In total, only 5 of the 56 tested horses returned with measurable IL-4 markers. Findings did not show clinically significant IL-4 reactions in horses to either moxidectin or fenbendazole on the basis of age, BCS, or eggs per gram.

Licensing Permission

Copyright, all rights reserved. Fair Use

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Acknowledgement 2

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