Treadmill exercise endoscopy of the upper respiratory airways alters time domain parameters of heart rate varability in horses

RUBIO MD; GÁMEZ DE MEDIO M; ESGUEVA M; CASTEJÓN-RIBER C; TRIGO P; MUÑOZ A

Pisa

Congreso; XXI SIVE International Congress; 2015

The function of a healthy heart is characterized by irregular time intervals between consecutive heart beats. Heart rate variability (HRV) measures these short-term fluctuations which depends on the antagonic oscillatory influences of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. In animal behaviour studies, HRV is determined in order to assess the neurophysiological response to stressful situations. Exercise is considered a stressor in the horse (Becker-Birck et al., 2013). Dynamic endoscopy is a common diagnostic procedure used in sport horses to evaluate upper respiratory disorders, such as laryngeal hemiplejia or dorsal displacement of soft palate without others. Emotional stress might be implicated in the ethiopatogenesis of some of these diseases. The aim of this work is to elucidate whether a dynamic endoscopy in horses alters sympathetic-parasympathetic balance, in comparison with the same exercise without endoscopy.