What Do Racehorses, asthmatics and meatpackers Have in Common?

Research in the Department of Physiological Sciences at the Center for Veterinary Health Sciences may lead to the development of cures for asthma and related diseases.

Drs. Michael S. Davis, Jerry R. Malayer, Lori VanDeventer, Christopher M. Royer, Erica C. McKenzie and Katherine K. Williamson link the problems suffered by horses, athletes and cold-air workers in “Cold Weather Exercise and Airway Cytokine Expression,” which appears in a recent issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology, published by the American Physiological Society.

When people exercise or work outside in winter, the dry feeling at the back of the throat indicates the cold air has irritated it. Data from racehorses shows they share a similar experience indicating that exercising in sub-freezing air causes mild airway injury.

The research, funded by the National Center for Research Resources, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Thoroughbred Charities of America, suggests these kinds of experiences may be the beginning of a chain of events leading to more serious conditions later. Winter athletes, sled dogs, meatpackers and even fisherman are capable of being affected.

Similarly, both athletes and horses seem susceptible to infection after strenuous activity such as races or marathons. Exercise physiologists and others have long thought over-exertion might open a window of susceptibility for sickness.

The research team at CVHS reports that their “data are the first to provide a specific mechanism for the exercise-induced open-window effect as a local pulmonary phenomenon.”

DerinDa Lowe