Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Nov 9;10(11):2072.
doi: 10.3390/ani10112072.

Infrared Thermography Correlates with Lactate Concentration in Blood during Race Training in Horses

Olga Witkowska-Piłaszewicz  1 , Małgorzata Maśko  2 , Małgorzata Domino  3 , Anna Winnicka  1
Affiliations

Infrared Thermography Correlates with Lactate Concentration in Blood during Race Training in Horses

Olga Witkowska-Piłaszewicz et al. Animals (Basel). .

Abstract

In horse racing the most acceptable way to objectively evaluate adaptation to increased exertion is to measure lactate blood concentration. However, this may be stressful for the horse, therefore, a simple, noninvasive procedure to monitor race progress is desirable. Forty Thoroughbreds attended race training, with blood samples collected at rest, immediately after, and 30 min after exercise. The lactate concentration was determined 60 s after blood collection using an Accusport®. Thermal imaging of the neck and trunk areas was performed following international veterinary standards from a distance of approximately 2 m from the horse using the same protocol as the blood sampling. The Spearman rank correlation coefficients (ρ) between the changes in the blood lactate concentration and surface temperature measures were found for the regions of interest. The highest positive correlation coefficients were found in the musculus trapezius pars thoracica region for the maximal temperature (T Max; ρ = 0.83; p < 0.0001), the minimal temperature (T Min; ρ = 0.83; p < 0.0001), and the average temperature (T Aver; ρ = 0.85; p < 0.0001) 30 min after the exercise. The results showed that infrared thermography may supplement blood measurements to evaluate adaptation to increased workload during race training, however, more research and references values are needed.

Keywords: IRT; LAC; exercise; muscle metabolism; sport; sport monitoring; thoroughbreds.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study, in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data, in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The procedure of the thermographic data collection. The measurements were repeated three times: Before exercise, immediately after exercise, and 30 min after exercise. Two images were taken each time. In each image, 11 regions of interest (ROIs) were determined. The maximal temperature (T Max), the minimal temperature (T Min), and the average temperature (T Aver) were calculated for each of the ROIs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The regions of interest (ROIs) chosen for statistical analysis of the thermographic data. (A) The neck area (ROIs of 1–5); (B) the trunk area (ROIs 6–11).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The blood lactate concentration and maximal temperatures (mean + SD) in the selected ROIs before training (A), immediately after exercise (B), and 30 min after exercise (C). Lowercase letters indicate differences between regions of interest (ROIs) for p < 0.05. The p-value for ROI comparison is indicated above the right X-axis. The correlations between blood lactate concentration and maximum temperatures are indicated above consecutive temperature bars using the Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ), which reflected the consistency when p < 0.05.
Figure 4
Figure 4
The blood lactate concentration and minimal temperatures (mean + SD) in the selected ROIs before training (A), immediately after exercise (B), and 30 min after exercise (C). Lowercase letters indicate differences between regions of interest (ROIs) for p < 0.05. The p-value for ROI comparison is indicated above the right X-axis. The correlations between blood lactate concentration and minimum temperatures are indicated above consecutive temperature bars using the Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ), which reflected the consistency when p < 0.05.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The blood lactate concentration and average temperatures (mean + SD) in the selected ROIs before training (A), immediately after exercise (B), and 30 min after exercise (C). Lowercase letters indicate differences between regions of interest (ROIs) for p < 0.05. The p-value for ROI comparison is indicated above the right X-axis. The correlations between blood lactate concentration and average temperatures are indicated above consecutive temperature bars using the Spearman correlation coefficient (ρ), which reflected the consistency when p < 0.05.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Bolwell C.F., Rogers C.W., French N.P., Firth E.C. The effect of interruptions during training on the time to the first trial and race start in thoroughbred racehorses. Prev. Vet. Med. 2013;108:188–198. doi: 10.1016/j.prevetmed.2012.08.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sloet van Oldruitenborgh-Oosterbaan M., Clayton H. Advantages and disadvantages of track vs. Treadmill tests. Equine Vet. J. 1999;30:645–647. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-3306.1999.tb05305.x. - DOI - PubMed
    1. McGowan C. Clinical pathology in the racing horse: The role of clinical pathology in assessing fitness and performance in the racehorse. Vet. Clin. N. Am. Equine Pract. 2008;24:405-vii. doi: 10.1016/j.cveq.2008.03.001. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Allen K., van Erck-Westergren E., Franklin S. Exercise testing in the equine athlete. Equine Vet. Educ. 2016;28:89–98. doi: 10.1111/eve.12410. - DOI
    1. Davie A.L., Evans D.J. Blood lactate responses to submaximal field exercise tests in thoroughbred horses. Vet. J. 2000;159:252–258. doi: 10.1053/tvjl.1999.0420. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources