Study of equine joint disease by using a proteomic approach.

Joint diseases are a common problem in equine industry. Most common orthopaedic diseases in equine practice are osteochondrosis (OC) and osteoathritis (OA). The first can be defined as developmental orthopaedic process and it is consider as of the endochondral ossification disorder of the epiphyseal plate or articular cartilage. OA is a well documented process of degenerative joint disease. The etiology and pathophysiology of OC remain not yet completely elucidated as well diagnosis in early stages has several limitations. The purpose of this study was to investigate, by proteomic approach, the synovial fluid protein patterns of equine OC and OA joints in order to better understand their pathogenesis as well to identify expressed proteins. The analysis of gels obtained from healthy and unhealthy synovial fluids showed different protein patterns between AO and OC joints related to metabolic change and inflammatory status.