Objective—To determine characteristics of the inflammatory reaction in the jejunum of horses in response to various mechanical manipulations. Animals—12 adult warmblood horses without gastrointestinal tract disorders. Procedures—The proximal aspect of the jejunum in each horse was divided into 5 segments, and the following manipulations were performed: manual emptying, placement of Doyen forceps, enterotomy alone, enterotomy with mucosal abrasion, and serosal abrasion. Jejunum samples were collected before (control), immediately after, and 30 minutes after the end of manipulations and histologically evaluated to determine distribution of neutrophils and eosinophils. Results—Macroscopically, all manipulations resulted in jejunal hemorrhage and edema. Compared with control samples, neutrophil numbers were significantly higher after manipulations in the serosa (after all manipulation types), circular muscle layer (after manual emptying), submucosa (after placement of Doyen forceps), and mucosa (after all manipulations except enterotomy alone). Eosinophil numbers were significantly higher in the submucosa after mechanical abrasion of the serosa and manual emptying versus control samples. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Results indicated mechanical manipulation of the jejunum resulted in local inflammatory reactions characterized predominantly by infiltration of neutrophils. This could contribute to the development of postoperative ileus or adhesions in horses without macroscopically detectable injury of the jejunum during surgery.

Objective-To characterize the effects of pentoxifylline on the gross and microscopic variables associated with immediate and late-phase inflammation following injection of IgE-specific antibodies in the skin of clinically normal dogs. Animals-6 healthy adult mixed-breed dogs. Procedures-Intradermal injections (0.1 mL each) of PBS solution, histamine phosphate, and cross-linking rabbit-origin anti-canine IgE antibodies (3 injections/dog) were administered at 0 hours on day 0; wheal sizes were evaluated at 20 minutes, 6 hours, and 24 hours. Biopsy specimens of injected and noninjected skin were collected 24 hours after injection. On day 2, treatment with pentoxifylline (20 mg/kg, PO, q 8 h) was initiated and continued until day 30. For each dog, injection, measurement, and biopsy procedures were repeated on days 30 to 31 and on days 37 to 38 (ie, after discontinuation of pentoxifylline administration). Results-Pentoxifylline administration was associated with a significant decrease in wheal size at 6 and 24 hours (but not at 20 minutes) after injection of anti-canine IgE. Repeated injections performed 1 week after drug discontinuation revealed partial recovery of the 6-hour cutaneous reaction and complete recovery of the 24-hour cutaneous reaction. Pentoxifylline administration was also associated with inhibition of mast cell degranulation and significant decreases in the total numbers of cutaneous inflammatory cells and eosinophils, compared with pretreatment findings. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-In clinically normal dogs, pentoxifylline effectively impaired late-phase reactions but not immediate reactions at sites of intradermal injection of IgE-specific antibodies by inhibiting mast cell degranulation and recruitment of cutaneous inflammatory cells, especially eosinophils.

Objective—To characterize the response of skin of nonallergic horses following ID injection of polyclonal rabbit anti-canine IgE (anti-IgE) and rabbit IgG. Animals—6 healthy horses. Procedures—Skin in the cervical area was injected ID with anti-IgE and IgG. Wheal measurements and skin biopsy specimens were obtained before and 20 minutes and 6, 24, and 48 hours after injection. Tissue sections were evaluated for inflammatory cells at 4 dermal depths. Immunohistochemical analysis for CD3, CD4, and CD8 was performed, and cell counts were evaluated. Results—Anti-IgE wheals were significantly larger than IgG wheals at 20 minutes and 6 and 24 hours after injection. There were significantly more degranulated mast cells after anti-IgE injection than after IgG injection. There were significantly more eosinophils at 6, 24, and 48 hours and neutrophils at 6 hours after anti-IgE injection, compared with cell numbers at those same times after IgG injection. There were significantly more eosinophils in the deeper dermis of anti-IgE samples, compared with results for IgG samples. No significant differences between treatments were detected for CD3+, CD4+, or CD8+ cells. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Injection of anti-IgE antibodies was associated with the development of gross and microscopic inflammation characterized by mast cell degranulation and accumulation of inflammatory cells, particularly eosinophils and neutrophils. This pattern appeared to be similar to that of horses with naturally developing allergic skin disease, although lymphocytes were not increased; thus, ID injection of anti-IgE in horses may be of use for evaluating allergic skin diseases of horses.