Journal of Veterinary Advances

Effect of Physical Activity and other Factors on Serum Levels

of total Cholesterol and Triglycerides in Horses in Colima,
Mexico
Carren V., Macedo R. and De la Pea C.

J Vet Adv 2013, 3(7): 215-219

DOI: 10.5455/jva.20130723120931

Online version is available on: www.grjournals.com

CARREN ET AL.

ISSN: 2251-7685

Short Communication

Effect of Physical Activity and other Factors on

Serum Levels of total Cholesterol and Triglycerides
in Horses in Colima, Mexico.
Carren V., Macedo R. and De la Pea C.
Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad de Colima, Tecomn, Colima, Mxico.

Abstract
A study was conducted with the objective to evaluate the effect of physical activity, breed, age, sex and
body condition on serum levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides of horses in Colima, Mexico. Blood
samples were collected from 40 clinically healthy stallions and geldings, a half of them physically active and
the rest sedentary. Additional information on frequency and intensity of physical activity was recorded and total
cholesterol and triglycerides serum levels were determined. Average total cholesterol and triglycerides serum
level were 2.370.65 and 0.300.11mmol/L respectively. Total cholesterol serum level was not significantly
affected (P<0.05) by any factor under study, whereas body condition had a significantly effect (P<0.05) on
triglycerides serum level. In active horses, no effect (P>0.05) of frequency and intensity of physical activity on
the study variables were observed.

Keywords: Horses, total cholesterol, triglycerides, physical activity.

Corresponding author: Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Universidad de Colima, Tecomn, Colima, Mxico.
Received on: 11 Jun 2013
Revised on: 05 Jul 2013
Accepted on: 23 Jul 2013
Online Published on: 28 Jul 2013

215

J. Vet. Adv., 2013, 3(7): 215-219.

EFFECT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND OTHER FACTORS ON SERUM LEVELS

Introduction
In horses, skeletal muscle has a large aerobic
capacity and therefore, the ability to utilize fatty
acids as an energy source during exercise. Horses
running distances not exceeding 1 000 meters use
60% of anaerobic energy produced and 40%
produced aerobically. As the distance increases, up
to 80% of the energy used is generated by the
aerobic way and only 20% is from the anaerobic
metabolism (Martn 2008). Furthermore, horses
subjected to high intensity exercise have greater use
of serum triglycerides which concentration decrease
after several months of exercise, suggesting that
training enhances the extraction and efficiency of
oxidation of plasma free fatty acids by muscle
(Koivisto1982, Kedzierski and Podolak 2002,
Muoz et al., 2002, Kedzierski et al., 2009).
The effect of occurrence, frequency and
intensity of physical activity on lipid profile and
particularly on serum cholesterol and triglycerides
concentration has been previously study (Prez et
al., 1997; Daz et al., 2008). Additionally, the effect
of breed (Asadi et al., 2011), age (Nazifi et al.,
2005) and castration (Ju et al., 1993) on these
metabolites has been also studied.
Despite the great importance that horses have
in the national sport and as a labor force in
agriculture (Arriaga et al., 2005, Deraga 2007,
Colunga et al., 2010) in Mexico, there has been
little research on the subject. The objective of this
study was therefore, to evaluate the effect of
physical activity, breed, age, sex and body condition
on serum levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides
of horses in Colima, Mexico.
Materials and Methods
Blood samples were collected from 40
clinically healthy horses comprising 16 stallions and
14 geldings according to their age (1-10, 11-20 and
20-30 years) and breed (Arabian, Spanish, Creole,
Azteca, Quarter Horse and others). Half of the
horses were sedentary and the rest performed some
physical activity and all of them fed a diet based on
corn stubble (Zea mayz), alfalfa hay (Medicago
sativum) and 1 to 2 kg of complete commercial
concentrate.
216

At the start time of the study, body condition

Henneke (1985) was recorded and, in the case of
active horses the frequency (1-3 and 4-7 days per
week) and intensity (1-2 and >2 hours per day) and
low (5 min dogtrot, 5 min fast trot, 5 min gallop,
1015 min training) and high (10 min dogtrot, 10
min fast trot, 20 min gallop, 20 min training).
Blood sampling was obtained early in the
morning by puncture of the jugular vein of 12 h
fasting horses into Vacutainer tubes. On the day
of blood collection physically active horses had a
rest period from 12 to 20 hours. Blood samples
were leaving at room temperature for 20 min after
collection. Plasma was recovered by centrifugation
at 3500 rpm for 10 min and stored at 25C until
use. Plasma total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides
(TG) concentration were determined by enzymatic
method using a Vitros DT60II (Johnson & Johnson,
USA) Blood Biochemistry Analyzer.
Data were analyzed statistically by variance
analysis (ANOVA) using the general lineal model
procedure of SAS (2002) and LSD test when
differences were found between treatments.
Statistical model included the fixed effects of the
physical activity, age, breed, castration and body
condition. Further variance analysis was performed
to evaluate the effect of the frequency, duration and
intensity of the physical activity.
Results and Discussion
Average serum content of TC and TG was 2.37
mmol/L and 0.30 mmol/L respectively. Physical
activity and breed did not affect serum levels of TC
and TG (Table 1).
While the lack of effect of physical activity on
serum TC and TG has been previously documented
by Day et al. (2008), Hambleton et al. (1980)
indicated that TC serum levels increase with
exercise. TG serum level of horses with physical
activity measured in this study (0.31 mmol/L), was
slightly higher than those reported in Chilean sports
horses (0.28 mmol/L) by Perez et al. (1997). TC
concentration was lower than those determined by
Jagri et al. (2012) who found concentrations of
2.29 mmol/L in sport horses after 24 hours of rest.
TC serum content of Arab horses was
significantly greater while the TG serum content
J. Vet. Adv., 2013, 3(7): 215-219.

CARREN ET AL.

was significantly lower than those observed by

Asadi et al. (2011) for this breed in Iran (1.92 and
1.96 mmol/L respectively). Meanwhile, contrary to
what observed in this study, Poso et al. (1983)
found differences in the concentration of TG
attributed to breed, and indicate that the ability of
liver to metabolize TG varies between horse breeds.
Castration did not increase (P < 0.05) the serum
levels of TG whereas serum levels of TC tended to
increase (P = 0.08). Age did not affect (P > 0.05)
serum levels of TC and TG. Fleshy horses showed a
significantly higher (P < 0.05) level of TG
compared to moderate and thin horses, whereas
serum levels of TC tended (P = 0.05) to increase
(Table 2).
As happened in this study Ju et al. (1993) did
not found difference in TG serum levels of stallions
and geldings, whereas Mayer et al. (1984) did not
found effect of age on TC and TG serum levels of
Spanish horses. This result differs of those obtained

by Nazifi et al. (2005) whom indicate that serum

levels of TC and TG increase with age. Contrary,
Gupta et al. (2002) concluded that serum levels of
TC and TG where higher in 6-month to 3-year
horses than in 10-year horses.
The increase in TG concentration due to the
rise in body condition of horses, does not coincide
with the findings of Carter et al. (2009), who
concluded that an increased of 2 points in the body
condition (from 6 1 to 8 1) of geldings fed
200% of its energy needs, did not increase serum
TG.
Frequency (days per week) of physical activity
did not affect (P < 0.05) serum levels of TC and
TG. Serum levels of TC tended to increase (P =
0.08) in horses exercising more than two hours per
day, whilst intensity of sessions did not affect serum
levels of TC and TG (Table 3).

Table 1. Effects of physical activity and breed on serum total cholesterol and triglycerides of horses in Colima, Mexico.
Total cholesterol
Triglycerides
Factor
P
P
(mmol/L)
(mmol/l)
Physical activity
Yes
2.19 0.55
0.57
0.31 0.10
0.16

Breed

No

2.32 0.73

0.27 0.11

Arabian

2.80 0.98

Spanish

2.65 0.78

0.34 0.09

Creole

2.14 0.58

0.24 0.13

Azteca

2.08 0.67

0.29 0.13

Quarter Horse

1.97 0.53

0.28 0.11

Other

1.91 0.28

0.27 0.08

0.22

0.30 0.09

0.73

Table 2: Effects of castration, age and body condition on serum total cholesterol and triglycerides of
horses in Colima, Mexico.
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J. Vet. Adv., 2013, 3(7): 215-219.

EFFECT OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND OTHER FACTORS ON SERUM LEVELS

Sex

Gelding
Stallion

Total cholesterol
(mmol/L)
2.50 0.51
2.01 0.71

Age

1 10 years
11 20 years
20 30 years

2.34 0.70
2.24 0.42
2.20 0.54

0.91

0.24 0.10
0.25 0.09
0.38 0.09

0.11

Body condition

Fleshy (7)
Moderate (5)
Thin (3)

2.61 0.74
2.02 0.51
2.14 0.42

0.05

0.38 0.10a
0.27 0.09b
0.22 0.05b

0.00

Factor

ab

P
0.08

Triglycerides
(mmol/l)
0.32 0.09
0.26 0.09

P
0.14

Means within rows with different uppercase letters are significantly different (P<0.05).

Table 3: Effects of frequency and intensity of physical activity on serum total cholesterol and
triglycerides of horses in Colima, Mexico.
Days per week

13
47

Total cholesterol
(mmol/L)
2.39 0.68
2.51 0.49

Hours per day

1a2
>2

2.05 0.52
2.84 0.10

0.08

0.27 0.10
0.31 0.17

0.59

Intensity

High
Low

2.46 0.52
2.43 0.37

0.99

0.30 0.12
0.25 0.09

0.65

Factor

Poso et al. (1989) and Viana et al. (2007) found

that exercise intensity increase levels of TG with no
effect on TC concentration. Miller-Graber et al.
(1991) and Prez et al. (1997) report a greater
utilization of triglycerides during high intensity
exercise, suggesting that training enhances the
extraction and efficiency of oxidation of plasma
free fatty acids by muscle (Koivisto et al., 1982; Li
et al., 2012). Other studies indicate that TG
concentration decrease with constant training,
which implies that the horses subjected to training,
develop a higher efficiency of the mechanism
controlling lipid metabolism during the following
race seasons (Kedzierski and Podolak 2002; Muoz
et al., 2002; Kedzierski et al., 2009).
Conclusions
Serum levels of total cholesterol and
triglycerides of horses were not affected by physical
activity, age, castration and breed, whereas the
increase of body condition elevated triglycerides
serum concentration.
218

P
0.67

Triglycerides
(mmol/l)
0.27 0.13
0.31 0.12

P
0.46

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