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Hyaluronate and large molecular weight proteoglycans in synovial fluid from horses with various arthritides
R M Tulamo1, J Houttu, A Tupamäki
1Department of Clinical Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Helsinki University, Finland.
Objective:
To investigate the presence of large molecular weight (MW) proteoglycans (PG) and hyaluronate (HA) in synovial fluid (SF) from horses with various arthritides and from control joints.
Design:
Horses with acute (< 2 weeks) or chronic (> 4 weeks) lameness were examined by clinical examination, intrasynovial anesthesia, radiography, arthroscopy, and SF analysis. Joints were grouped on the basis of diagnosis: acute traumatic arthritis, chronic traumatic arthritis (with a subgroup of degenerative joint disease), intra-articular fracture, and infectious arthritis.
Animals:
31 horses with arthritis and 9 control horses; altogether 43 SF samples were analyzed.
Procedure:
High-performance liquid chromatography was used to assess HA and large MW PG in SF samples.
Results:
A PG peak was identified in 8 of 23 SF samples of joints with chronic traumatic arthritis, 4 of which had no or minimal abnormal radiographic findings but mild articular cartilage fibrillation detected by arthroscopy, and in 3 joints with intra-articular fracture and 1 with resolving infectious arthritis, but not in joints with acute traumatic arthritis or in control joints. There was significant difference (P < 0.01) in mean (+/- SEM) HA concentration between control joints and joints with chronic traumatic arthritis (0.32 +/- 0.04 g/L; n = 9 vs 0.18 +/- 0.01 g/L; n = 23).
Conclusion:
Large MW PG fragments are released into equine SF in the course of articular disease and can be detected simultaneously with HA by high-performance liquid chromatography.
Clinical Relevance:
The SF HA concentration can be used as diagnostic marker for chronic traumatic arthritis. However, SF PG or other marker cannot be used for diagnosing or monitoring degenerative joint disease.