Research in Veterinary Medicine

Pathobiology of whole organisms

Since 2001 the PWO group has published 330 peer-reviewed papers, case reports and reviews.

Themes

Animal welfare

The Centre for Animal Welfare and Anthrozoology has been a pioneer in this field for 20 years and has published 104 papers since 2001. Major findings are on ethics, scientific welfare concepts, motivational strength assessment, sensory ability and cognitive ability including the "eureka effect" during learning. Work has continued on pig housing, especially farrowing, locomotion and lameness in cattle, poultry welfare including data on the extent of leg disorders and effects on carcasses in broilers, and welfare during transport.

Physiology

Homeostasis of ions and water under normal and disease conditions and how disturbances might be corrected therapeutically have been key research areas. A major advance has been patch-clamping red blood cells from normal individuals and sickle-cell patients showing inhibition of the deoxygenation-induced pathway by Zn²⁺ ions. The relationship between oxygen tension and haemoglobin in determining activity of membrane transporters has also been studied (Gibson). In game birds, the effect of infection with Spironucleosis on intestinal water transport has been described (Lloyd, Gibson).

In reproductive physiology Allen has generated the first pluripotent equine embryonic stem cell lines, established the effects of maternal nutrition on placental and fetal growth and established that embryonic oestrogens maintain early embryonic viability. Holdstock has focused on pancreatic development in the normal and dysmature foal.

Clinical sciences

Clinical research has developed best in areas with strong integration with non-clinical research groups. CIDC has strengthened expertise in epidemiology and statistics applied to clinical research. In internal medicine progress has been made in the epidemiology, pathogenesis and genetic susceptibility to diabetes mellitus in dogs (Herrtage) and the identification of sub-types of canine pancreatic disease (Watson). Clinical neurology is supported by laboratory expertise (Franklin, Blakemore) leading to pioneering studies on repair of canine spinal cord injury. Clinical oncology (Dobson) remains a national centre for radiotherapy and has linked in to our geneticists investigating the high incidence of sarcomas in flat-coated retrievers (Sargan). Henson and Davies investigate diseases of cartilage and repair mechanisms through new in vitro models. The clinical orthopaedics group has analysed optimal methods of fracture fixation, examined implant biomechanics (Langley-Hobbs) . In soft tissue surgery Ladlow has studied obstructive airway disease in brachycephalic dogs. In anaesthesia Brearley has studied post-operative problems in non-surgical cases, including the effects of opioid use.