ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.

Sec. Animal Behavior and Welfare

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1608770

Effect of time of day and physical exercise on inflammatory biomarkers in athletic horses

Provisionally accepted
Francesca AragonaFrancesca Aragona1*Claudia GiannettoClaudia Giannetto1Giuseppe PiccioneGiuseppe Piccione1Francesca ArfusoFrancesca Arfuso1Federica ArrigoFederica Arrigo1Antonino CostaAntonino Costa1Salvatore De CaroSalvatore De Caro2Antonio CannuliAntonio Cannuli2Francesco FazioFrancesco Fazio1
  • 1Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy
  • 2Department of Engineering, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

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The present study aimed to investigate the effect of time of day and physical exercise on some inflammatory biomarkers (white blood cell count-WBCs, leukocyte subpopulation CD4+ and CD8+ cells, total proteins, Interleukins IL-6, IL-1β and Tumor Necrosis Factor TNFα) in trained saddle horses. Blood samples were collected from 10 horses before, immediately (following 5 min) and 1 hour after the training session in the morning (am) and afternoon (pm). Statistical analysis showed increasing value of WBCs immediately and 1 hour after exercise (p<0.01: p<0.01) at am compared to rest. Lower CD4+ concentration was observed immediately and 1 hour after exercise (p<0.01; p<0.01) at pm compared to rest and decreased levels 1-hour post-exercise at pm compared to am (p<0.001). CD8+ exhibited significant lower value at pm compared to am at each time point (before: p<0.01; immediately: p<0.01; 1h after: p<0.001). IL-6 showed increasing value post-exercise at pm (p<0.01). IL-6 and IL-1β levels were markedly elevated at pm compared to am at each time point (p<0.0001; p<0.0001; p<0.0001). This information is essential for formulating suitable training regimens, considering performance in connection to possible daily risk for infection, illness, and inflammation to which the horse may be vulnerable.

Keywords: horse, Exercise, Immune System, Leukocyte subpopulation, Inflammatory Response, CD4-CD8, cytokine

Received: 09 Apr 2025; Accepted: 23 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Aragona, Giannetto, Piccione, Arfuso, Arrigo, Costa, De Caro, Cannuli and Fazio. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Francesca Aragona, Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Supplementary Material