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Updated: Jun 2, 2026
Endotoxin Activity Assay for the Detection of Whole Blood Endotoxemia in Critically Ill Patients
Published on: June 24, 2019
Plasma endotoxin in horses presented to an equine referral hospital: correlation to selected clinical parameters and
J M Senior1, C J Proudman, M Leuwer
1School of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Neston, UK. marks@liv.ac.uk
Reasons For Performing Study:
Endotoxaemia is frequently presumed on the basis of clinical signs in horses with colic.
Objective:
Measurements of plasma endotoxin (LPS) are rarely made in clinical cases and there is little information on the correlations between this variable, clinical variables and outcomes.
Objectives:
To measure LPS levels in plasma of horses presented to the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital on admission and daily for up to 4 days and to relate LPS levels to selected clinical parameters, such as heart rate and packed cell volume, and outcomes.
Methods:
Blood samples were collected and stored at -20°C prior to assay of the plasma using a validated kinetic chromogenic Limulus amoebocyte lysate (LAL) assay. Clinical parameters and outcome variables were collected from hospital records. Associations were determined by Chi-squared test and logistic regression analysis.
Results:
Daily blood samples were collected from 234 horses. LPS was detected in 26.5% of the study population and in 29% of those horses presented for colic. Horses providing samples with detectable LPS were more likely to die whilst in the hospital than those that did not (P = 0.045). Horses presenting with colic were more likely to have detectable LPS in their plasma than noncolic cases (P = 0.037), although LPS was detected in the plasma of 8 out of 42 noncolic horses. A horse that did not meet the study definition of clinical endotoxaemia was 10 times less likely to provide a positive LPS sample (OR 0.10, 95% CI: 0.05-0.22).
Conclusions:
The proportion of horses providing samples with detectable LPS was similar to other studies.
Potential Relevance:
LPS was detected in the minority of horses presented with colic. Increased levels of LPS positively correlated with packed cell volume and with risk of mortality in colic cases.
