A Comparative Neuro-Histological Assessment of Gluteal Skin Thickness and Cutaneous Nociceptor Distribution in Horses and Humans

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dc.citation.issue11
dc.citation.volume10
dc.contributor.authorTong L
dc.contributor.authorStewart M
dc.contributor.authorJohnson I
dc.contributor.authorAppleyard R
dc.contributor.authorWilson B
dc.contributor.authorJames O
dc.contributor.authorJohnson C
dc.contributor.authorMcGreevy P
dc.coverage.spatialSwitzerland
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-14T02:56:37Z
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-25T06:52:28Z
dc.date.available2020-11-11
dc.date.available2024-05-14T02:56:37Z
dc.date.available2024-07-25T06:52:28Z
dc.date.issued2020-11-11
dc.description.abstractThe current project aims to build on knowledge of the nociceptive capability of equine skin to detect superficial acute pain, particularly in comparison to human skin. Post-mortem samples of gluteal skin were taken from men (n = 5) and women (n = 5), thoroughbreds and thoroughbred types (mares, n = 11; geldings, n = 9). Only sections that contained epidermis and dermis through to the hypodermis were analysed. Epidermal depth, dermal depth and epidermal nerve counts were conducted by a veterinary pathologist. The results revealed no significant difference between the epidermal nerve counts of humans and horses (t = 0.051, p = 0.960). There were no significant differences between epidermal thickness of humans (26.8 µm) and horses (31.6 µm) for reference (left side) samples (t = 0.117, p = 0.908). The human dermis was significantly thinner than the horse dermis (t = -2.946, p = 0.007). Epidermal samples were thicker on the right than on the left, but only significantly so for horses (t = 2.291, p = 0.023), not for humans (t = 0.694, p = 0.489). The thicker collagenous dermis of horse skin may afford some resilience versus external mechanical trauma, though as this is below the pain-detecting nerve endings, it is not considered protective from external cutaneous pain. The superficial pain-sensitive epidermal layer of horse skin is as richly innervated and is of equivalent thickness as human skin, demonstrating that humans and horses have the equivalent basic anatomic structures to detect cutaneous pain. This finding challenges assumptions about the physical capacity of horses to feel pain particularly in comparison to humans, and presents physical evidence to inform the discussion and debate regarding the ethics of whipping horses.
dc.description.confidentialfalse
dc.edition.editionNovember 2020
dc.format.pagination1-15
dc.identifier.author-urlhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33187204
dc.identifier.citationTong L, Stewart M, Johnson I, Appleyard R, Wilson B, James O, Johnson C, McGreevy P. (2020). A Comparative Neuro-Histological Assessment of Gluteal Skin Thickness and Cutaneous Nociceptor Distribution in Horses and Humans.. Animals (Basel). 10. 11. (pp. 1-15).
dc.identifier.doi10.3390/ani10112094
dc.identifier.eissn2076-2615
dc.identifier.elements-typejournal-article
dc.identifier.issn2076-2615
dc.identifier.numberARTN 2094
dc.identifier.piiani10112094
dc.identifier.urihttps://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/71082
dc.languageeng
dc.publisherMDPI (Basel, Switzerland)
dc.publisher.urihttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/11/2094
dc.relation.isPartOfAnimals (Basel)
dc.rights(c) 2020 The Author/s
dc.rightsCC BY 4.0
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectdermis
dc.subjectepidermis
dc.subjectinnervation
dc.subjectnerve cell counts
dc.subjectpain
dc.subjectwhipping
dc.titleA Comparative Neuro-Histological Assessment of Gluteal Skin Thickness and Cutaneous Nociceptor Distribution in Horses and Humans
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.elements-id435837
pubs.organisational-groupOther
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