Cytological Analysis of Tracheal Wash and Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid in Healthy and Asthmatic Horses

Abdullah, Zakaria and Alsayed, Saleh and Almuhanna, Abdulaziz and Alsalman, Mohammad and Hamoud, Basel and Shawaf, Turke (2026) Cytological Analysis of Tracheal Wash and Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid in Healthy and Asthmatic Horses. World's Veterinary Journal. 468 - 475. ISSN 23224568

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Abstract

Although numerous recent studies have explored the cytology of equine asthma, its cytological profile in Arabian horses is still insufficiently described. This study compared the differential cell counts in tracheal lavage (TW) and bronchial lavage fluid (BALF) samples between healthy and asthmatic Arabian horses in Saudi Arabia. Seventeen horses (5 healthy, 12 asthmatic), with an average age of 7 ± 5.5 years, and an average weight of 325 ± 120 kg, enrolled in this study to collect and analyze tracheal wash (TW) or bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples. The affected horses were taken from the respiratory cases admitted to the veterinary teaching hospital of Faisal University, while the healthy horses were taken from the horse research center in Faisal University (Saudi Arabia). Differential counts were performed on TW and BALF samples using microscopic examination after staining the samples with Diff Quick stain for evaluation of macrophages, lymphocytes, neutrophils, mast cells, eosinophils, and epithelial cells. A significant increase in neutrophils was observed in the affected group in both TW and BALF, compared to the control group. In contrast, a marked decrease in the percentage of lymphocytes was observed in asthmatic BALF, while macrophage proportions decreased in affected and control groups. TW eosinophils were elevated in asthmatic horses compared to healthy horses, though BALF eosinophil counts did not differ between healthy and asthmatic horses. The percentage of epithelial cells was decreased in TW but modestly increased in the BALF of asthmatic horses. No change in the number of mast cells was observed in any of the groups, as it was low. These findings confirmed that equine asthma in Arabian horses enrolled in this study is characterized by pronounced neutrophilic inflammation with concomitant lymphocytic and macrophagic depletion, particularly in the BALF samples. © The Author(s) 2026 CC BY Open Access: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Bronchoalveolar; Cytology; Horse; Respiratory; Tracheal; Wash
Subjects:	S Agriculture > SF Animal culture
Divisions:	World's Veterinary Journal (WVJ)
Page Range:	468 - 475
Journal or Publication Title:	World's Veterinary Journal
Journal Index:	Scopus
Volume:	16
Number:	2
Publisher:	Scienceline Publication
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.54203/scil.2026.wvj44
ISSN:	23224568
Depositing User:	Dr. Alireza Sadeghi
URI:	https://eprints.science-line.com/id/eprint/1696

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