Hepatic diseases in horses

The concept 'liver disease' includes several pathological conditions affecting liver's functions. It can either consist of a temporary impaired functioning of the liver and/or it can progress to its failure. The purpose of this review is to update the knowledge on hepatobiliary diseases and in particular on equine hyperlipaemia. Hepatobiliary disease's aetiology, clinical signs, diagnosis and nutritional management are thus described in the first part of the review the second part being devoted to hyperlypaemia's lipid metabolism, epidemiology, clinical signs, post-mortem observations and nutritional management. Diagnosis of hepatic disease is usually based on the assessment of the serum activities while hepatic biopsy is considered as the golden standard of diagnosis of hepatic function. Nutritional management is often very useful in management of hepatic diseases: diet should be low in protein (of good biological value) and high in non-structural carbohydrates except for chronic hepatic disease (slightly high protein). Equine hyperlipaemia's mortality is around 70%. It consists of a disorder of lipid metabolism, characterized by increase in plasma triglycerides and deposition of fat on organs. From a nutritional point of view, hyperlipaemia in horses can be approached by maintaining positive energy balance, fighting dehydration and metabolic acidosis, and by the use of lipotropic factors.