{"doi":"10.2460/ajvr.25.02.0059","title":"Inflammatory marker analysis of uterine cytobrush samples helps identify mares with endometritis","abstract":"Objective: To evaluate inflammatory cytokine and chemokine concentrations in endometrial samples collected by cytobrush or swab as a potential screening diagnostic marker for equine endometritis. Methods: 88 mares had endometrial samples collected, which included cytobrush, swab, and/or biopsy. Clinical reproductive records, reproductive ultrasound examination, endometrial cytology and culture results, and biopsy grading score were recorded. Fluorescent bead-based multiplex assays for the inflammatory markers interferon-γ, interferon-α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-10, IL-17A, soluble CD14, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, C-C motif chemokine ligand (CCL)-2, CCL3, CCL5, and CCL11 were carried out from the endometrial cytobrush and swab samples in reproductively healthy mares and mares with endometritis in a prospective cross-sectional study. Results: The endometrial cytobrush technique yielded higher inflammatory marker concentrations for mares with endometritis than endometrial swabs. Tumor necrosis factor-α was increased in endometrial cytobrush samples from estrous mares that had endometrial neutrophils on cytology (n = 14; median, 4,185 pg/mL; IQR, 1,318.8 to 7,530 pg/mL) compared to samples from mares without neutrophils on cytology (n = 68; median, 1,653 pg/mL; IQR, 672 to 3,606.8 pg/mL; CI, 288 to 3,715) and in mares with endometritis (n = 14; median, 4,185 pg/mL; IQR, 1,318.8 to 7,530 pg/mL) compared to mares without endometritis (n = 57; median, 1,718 pg/mL; IQR, 651.5 to 3,968 pg/mL; CI, 580 to 4,383). Finally, mares with uterine TNF-α concentrations < 3,942 pg/mL in combination with CCL5 concentrations < 15,985 pg/mL had a 100% chance of identifying as a mare with a healthy endometrium. Conclusions: Increased concentrations of TNF-α and CCL5 in endometrial cytobrush samples are identified in mares with inflammatory endometritis. Clinical Relevance: Inflammatory markers measured from endometrial cytobrush samples could be used to identify mares for endometritis that may have false negative results.","journal":"American Journal of Veterinary Research","year":2025,"id":567069,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":0,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9409,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1471298,"name":"Maria R. Schnobrich","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":409297,"name":"Bettina Wagner","orcid":"0000-0003-2370-6324","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":592233,"name":"Michael Byron","orcid":"0000-0003-1162-9907","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1471299,"name":"Bradley Back","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":676310,"name":"Alicia Rollins","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1471300,"name":"Rafaella F. Castro Alves","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1171380,"name":"Soon Hon Cheong","orcid":"0000-0001-9002-7589","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":979763,"name":"Mariana Diel de Amorim","orcid":"0000-0002-3385-3654","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1304207,"name":"Jennine Lection","orcid":"0000-0001-5173-1426","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":31,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:56:40.491968Z","pmid":"40441267","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}