Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are long unbranched polysaccharides consisting of repeating disaccharide units that are found in various tissues and fluids in horses. They are integral components of connective tissues, contributing to the structural integrity and function of cartilage, tendons, and synovial fluid. GAGs are involved in maintaining joint health and facilitating smooth movement by providing lubrication and shock absorption. Common types of glycosaminoglycans in horses include chondroitin sulfate, dermatan sulfate, and hyaluronic acid. Changes in GAG levels and composition can be indicative of joint disorders or degenerative conditions in horses. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the biochemical properties, physiological roles, and clinical implications of glycosaminoglycans in equine health.
Collins EA.Four cases of equine lameness were treated with intra-articular polysulphated glycosaminoglycan. Two, two-year-old flat racers were treated conservatively after traumatic injury. They subsequently became lame owing to the formation of new bone and osteophytes. Two older steeplechasers were lame owing to degenerative joint disease. The four horses were treated with intra-articular injections of polysulphated glycosaminoglycans and, after three or four injections, they became clinically sound and were able to continue racing with varying degrees of success.
McIlwraith CW, Vachon A.Treatment of degenerative joint disease (osteoarthritis) is discussed in relationship to pathogenesis of five clinical entities, defined to facilitate discussion:-1) occurring in high motion joints and associated with synovitis; 2) associated with low motion joints; 3) "non-progressive" articular cartilage erosion; 4) secondary to other identified problems (intra-articular fractures, ligamentous damage, wounds, septic arthritis, osteochondrosis); and 5) chondromalacia of the patella. In addition to direct damage to articular cartilage, synovitis and capsulitis and depletion of matrical glycosa...
van den Heuvel LP, Veerkamp JH, Monnens LA, Schröder CH.1. Proteoglycans were isolated from human and equine glomeruli or tubules by guanidine extraction and anion exchange chromatography. 2. These proteoglycan preparations contained about equal amounts of heparan sulfate and chondroitin sulfates. 3. During the preparation of glomerular or tubular basement membranes the main part of proteoglycans (greater than 50%) was extracted in the salt extract. Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan was mainly found in the water and salt extracts of glomeruli and tubules, heparan sulfate proteoglycan in the deoxycholate extracts and the basement membranes. 4. The gl...
Yovich JV, Trotter GW, McIlwraith CW, Norrdin RW.The effect of intra-articular polysulfated glycosaminoglycan (PSG) on repair of chemical and physical articular cartilage injuries was evaluated in 8 horses. In each horse, a partial- and a full-thickness articular cartilage defect was made on the distal articular surface of the radial carpal bone. In the contralateral middle carpal joint, a chemical articular cartilage injury was induced by injecting 50 mg of Na monoiodoacetate (MIA). Four of the 8 horses were not treated (controls), and 4 horses were treated by intra-articular injection of 250 mg of PSG into both middle carpal joints once a ...
Bertone AL, McIlwraith CW, Jones RL, Norrdin RW, Radin MJ.Both tarsocrural joints of 4 horses were inoculated with 1.5 X 10(5) colony-forming units of Staphylococcus aureus. On days 1, 3, and 6, each horse had one tarsocrural joint lavaged with a balanced electrolyte solution and had the contralateral tarsocrural joint lavaged with 0.1% povidone-iodine solution. All horses were orally administered trimethoprim (5 mg/kg)/sufadiazine (25 mg/kg) combination twice daily and phenylbutazone (2 g) once daily for the duration of the study (21 days). On days 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 14, and 21, synovial fluid specimens were collected and analyzed for color, clarity, to...
Whyte A, Allen WR.Pre- and post-implantation endometrial tissue was removed from equids at known stages of pregnancy. Thin sections of this material were reacted with fluorescein conjugates of several lectins. Two lectins in particular, with specificities for L-fucose and N-acetylglucosamine, reacted strongly with the endometrial epithelium. The reaction for N-acetylglucosamine occurred in small patches on the endometrial epithelium and extended to cover the entire epithelial surface and endometrial glands after implantation. L-Fucose was observed in larger surface deposits particularly at the openings of endom...
Reubsaet FA, Langeveld JP, Veerkamp JH.A spectrophotometric assay was applied for quantitation of sulfated glycosaminoglycans in digested renal basement membranes of six mammalian species. The conditions of digestion and the accuracy of the assay were evaluated. Papain digestion and alkaline treatment appeared to be most effective for solubilization. Basement membrane preparations obtained by sonication contained more glycosaminoglycans than those isolated by detergent treatment. Glomerular basement membranes had generally a higher glycosaminoglycan content than tubular basement membranes.
Glade MJ, Krook L, Schryver HF, Hintz HF.Epiphyseal and articular cartilages were examined in pony foals treated with intramuscular injections of either 0.5 mg dexamethasone per 100 kg bodyweight daily for 3, 8 or 11 months, or 5.0 mg per 100 kg for 11 months, and in horse foals treated with 5.0 mg per 100 kg for 20 weeks. The proximal femoral growth plates exhibited increased spatial separation between chondrocyte columns, narrowed zones of disorganized columnar and hypertrophic cartilage, abnormal penetration of hypertrophic cartilage by metaphyseal capillaries, retained cartilage in the spongiosa, distal terminal plate formation, ...
McIlwraith CW.Current concepts of pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of equine degenerative joint disease are presented on the basis of recently acquired experimental and clinical knowledge. A number of concepts of pathogenesis need modification and the rationale of some of the newer treatments requires definition. Synovitis and other soft tissue changes are important components of the pathogenesis in addition to direct trauma to the articular cartilage. Loss of glycosaminoglycans constitutes an important biochemical "lesion" in the articular cartilage, making it weak and susceptible to trauma. Recognit...
McIlwraith CW, Van Sickle DC.Arthritis was experimentally induced in the intercarpal joints of a series of mature ponies by the intraarticular injections of 400 microgram of the polyene antibiotic filipin in 1 ml of dimethyl sulfoxide. Twelve consecutive weekly injections were administered and the ponies were euthanatized 4 weeks after the last injection of filipin was made. The ponies were exercised for 1 hour each day throughout the experiment. Articular cartilage specimens from 4 sites in each intercarpal joint were examined histologically and histo-chemically. For the histochemical examination, safranin O-fast green, ...
Butler WF, Pousty I.Disc material from horse, ox, sheep, pig, dog and cat was stained by the Alcian-blue-critical electrolyte concentration technique and with the standard and two-step periodic acid Schiff methods. The effects of pretreatment with hyaluronidase and with chondroitinase was also evaluated. There appears to be a small increase in total cellular glycosaminoglycan content with age in all species: cellular material of high molecular weight however only increases in aged animals. The degree of sulphation of cellular glycosaminoglycans does not vary with age or with position in the disc.
Masuda H, Shichijo S, Takeuchi M.1. Glycopeptides in the stomachs of eleven mammalian species, including human, rabbit, horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, dog, cat, guinea pig and rat were assayed by determining the carbohydrate content of materials which remained after proteolysis. 2. The glycopeptide content was higher in the mucosa than in the muscular layer including serosa, especially in the porcine stomach and the fourth stomachs of the ruminants than in the stomachs of any other animals. 3. The glycopeptide, which was stained with both alcian blue and PAS, was absent or sparingly present in the mucosae of the human, rabbit,...
Fransson LA, Havsmark B.The structure of dermatan sulfate-chondroitin sulfate
copolymers, isolated from horse aorta, has been examined.
It was found that a large proportion of the galactosaminoglycans of this tissue was obtained as a discrete polysaccharide fraction with an L-iduronic acid to D-glucuronic
acid ratio of approximately 1: 2. This finding together with
infrared data indicated that the polymer contained approximately equimolar proportions of the three repeating disaccharide units glucuronosyl-N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate
(A), iduronosyl-N-acetylgalactosamine 4-sulfate (B), and
glucuronosyl-N-acet...
Khatibzadeh SM, Menarim BC, Nichols AE, Werre SR, Dahlgren LA.Extracellular matrix (ECM) is responsible for tendon strength and elasticity. Healed tendon ECM lacks structural integrity, leading to reinjury. Porcine urinary bladder matrix (UBM) provides a scaffold and source of bioactive proteins to improve tissue healing, but has received limited attention for treating tendon injuries. The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of UBM to induce matrix organization and tenogenesis using a novel in vitro model. We hypothesized that addition of UBM to tendon ECM hydrogels would improve matrix organization and cell differentiation. Hydrogels see...
Oke SL, Hurtig MB, Keates RA, Wright JR.To develop a new 1,9-dimethylmethylene blue (DMMB) assay for measurement of sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) concentrations in equine synovial fluid (SF) by use of membrane technology and to compare the assay's ability to measure sGAG concentrations with that of 2 other established DMMB assays. Methods: 25 samples of SF collected from affected joints of 14 horses and 13 samples of SF collected from nonaffected (control) joints of 4 horses. Methods: A solid-phase DMMB assay was developed to measure sGAG concentrations in SE Results for the assay were then compared with results obtained by use ...
Hernandez SM, Begum L, Keller LE, Fu Q, Zhang S, Fortier LA.To identify chondroprotective factors as potential disease-modifying osteoarthritis treatments using an unbiased, bottom-up proteomics approach. Methods: Paired equine cartilage explants and synovial membrane were collected postmortem from 4 horses with no history of lameness and grossly normal joints at necropsy. Methods: Six groups were established: cartilage, synoviocytes, and cartilage + synoviocytes (coculture), all with or without interleukin (IL)-1β. The catabolic effect of IL-1β was verified by glycosaminoglycan (GAG) released from cartilage into media by 1,9-dimethyl-methylene blue ...
Caron JP, Eberhart SW, Nachreiner R.Articular cartilage explants from 3 horses were maintained in tissue culture to test the effects of a polysulfated glycosaminoglycan on proteoglycan biosynthesis. Cultures were exposed to concentrations of 0, 50, or 200 micrograms of the drug/ml for either 2 days or 6 days, and labeled with 35S, before measuring the content of sulfated proteoglycan in the culture media and in extracts of cartilage. In a second experiment, the explants were incubated with the isotope and subsequently exposed to the same concentrations of the polysulfated glycosaminoglycan for 4 days. Subsequently, the amount of...
Biros DJ, Brooks DE, Brown MP, Merritt KA, Kubilis PS.To determine regional and zonal variation in sulfation patterns of chondroitin sulfate in normal equine corneal stroma. Methods: 22 normal eyes from 11 horses. Methods: Corneas were collected within 24 hours of death from equine necropsy specimens. After papain-chondroitinase digestion of corneal tissue, disaccharides deltaDi4S and deltaDi6S were quantified by use of capillary zone electrophoresis in the superficial, middle, and deep zones of central and peripheral regions of the cornea. Results: For the 2 regions combined, deltaDi6S/deltaDi4S values were significantly lower in the deep and mi...
Velloso Alvarez A, Wooldridge AA, Fuller J, Shrader SM, Mansour M, Boone LH.No studies have evaluated the effect of culture in serum-free media (SF) vs. media supplemented with equine serum (ES) on co-culture of synovial membrane and cartilage tissue explants. The study objective was to evaluate the effects of equine serum supplementation on induced production of inflammatory and catabolic mediators from articular cartilage and synovial explants while in co-culture. Articular cartilage and synovial membrane explants were harvested from femoropatellar joints of five adult horses. Cartilage and synovial explants were harvested from the stifle of five horses, placed in c...
Calatroni A, Avenoso A, Ferlazzo AM, Lindner A, Campo GM.Plasma glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were isolated and purified by chromatographic procedures in healthy humans and horses before and after physical exercise. A weak anion exchange resin was used to separate polyanions. Humans exercised on a cycloergometer, while horses were exercised on a treadmill and in show jumping competition. Some GAGs were isolated from untreated plasma and operationally defined as native proteoglycans (PGs), while the total GAG amount was isolated from mild alkali treated plasma. Plasma GAG concentrations in terms of galactosamine and galactose, the respective components o...
Sun Y, Chen H, Kandel R, Hurtig M.Lesions in cartilage of equine weightbearing joints commonly result in lameness. Cell-based resurfacing techniques are currently being developed for human and veterinary applications. Biopsies of stifle joint cartilage (1 g) were harvested aseptically and chondrocytes were isolated by sequential enzyme digestion. The cells were grown in vitro on filter inserts. Analysis of cultures 8 weeks later showed that the cells had accumulated extracellular matrix and formed a continuous layer of cartilagenous tissue as determined histologically. The cells maintained their phenotype as they synthesised t...
McCarthy HE, Singer ER, Davies Morel MC.This study compared the effect of sodium heparin and gentamicin sulphate on equine articular cartilage (AC) explants in order to investigate the possible use of sodium heparin in the treatment of infectious arthritis. Six concentrations of sodium heparin and gentamicin sulphate were tested. The supernatant and explant digest were assayed for glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content with the dimethyl-methylene blue assay and the per cent loss of GAG was calculated. A significant (P< 0.001) increase in percentage GAG loss was noted for the sodium heparin groups when compared to the control, whilst no ...
Masuda H, Shichijo S, Takeuchi M.1. Glycopeptides in the stomachs of eleven mammalian species, including human, rabbit, horse, cow, pig, goat, sheep, dog, cat, guinea pig and rat were assayed by determining the carbohydrate content of materials which remained after proteolysis. 2. The glycopeptide content was higher in the mucosa than in the muscular layer including serosa, especially in the porcine stomach and the fourth stomachs of the ruminants than in the stomachs of any other animals. 3. The glycopeptide, which was stained with both alcian blue and PAS, was absent or sparingly present in the mucosae of the human, rabbit,...
Viitanen M, Bird J, Makela O, Schramme M, Smith R, Tulamo RM, May S.The purpose of this study was to investigate biochemical changes in synovial fluid in navicular disease, and to establish if synovial fluid from the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) could be used diagnostically to assess alterations in the synovial fluid of the navicular bursa. Cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), total glycosaminoglycans (GAG), hyaluronan (HA), metalloproteinases 2 and -9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and total protein (TP) levels were determined in synovial fluids obtained from 18 navicular bursae and 35 DIP -joints from animals suffering from navicular disease, and the same sy...
Mirahmadi F, Koolstra JH, Fazaeli S, Lobbezoo F, van Lenthe GH, Snabel J, Stoop R, Everts V.Nutrition of articular cartilage relies mainly on diffusion and convection of solutes through the interstitial fluid due to the lack of blood vessels. The diffusion is controlled by two factors: steric hindrance and electrostatic interactions between the solutes and the matrix components. Aging comes with changes in the cartilage structure and composition, which can influence the diffusion. In this study, we treated fibrocartilage of mandibular condyle with ribose to induce an aging-like effect by accumulating collagen crosslinks. The effect of steric hindrance or electrostatic forces on the d...
Parillo F, Rossi G, Busoni V, Magi GE, Verini Supplizi A.The aim of this study was to investigate the carbohydrate composition of mucosubstances in the equine guttural pouches using conventional histochemical tests in conjunction with glycolytic digestion to degrade different classes of glycosoaminoglycans. In the goblet cells, the mucopolysaccharides contained chondroitin sulfate B, heparin, heparan sulfate and sialic acid residues. The acinar cells also expressed these substances (except for heparin), whereas the ductal cells produced chondroitin sulfate B and sialic acid. Neutral sugars were also found in each cell type. The diversity of the glyc...
Wen X, Bou G, He Q, Liu Q, Yi M, Ren H.The reproductive ability of equine species is a critical component of equine breeding programs, with sperm quality serving as a primary determinant of reproductive success. In this study, we perform an integrative analysis of proteomics and metabolomics in seminal plasma to identify proteins and metabolites associated with sperm quality and reproductive ability in equine species. Methods: We utilized the CEROS instrument to assess the morphology and motility of sperm samples from three horses and three donkeys. Additionally, we statistically analyzed the mating frequency and pregnancy rates in...
Peralta AG, Raeisimakiani P, Hayashi K, Mahal LK, Reesink HL.Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is a common sequela to joint injury in both humans and companion animal species such as horses and dogs. Despite the increasing prevalence of osteoarthritis (OA) in humans, investigation of glycosylation changes associated with OA remains in its infancy. Recent advances, such as lectin microarray analysis, now enable detailed glycan profiling in complex biofluids such as synovial fluid. Using lectin microarray technology, this study characterized glycosylation patterns in synovial fluid samples from healthy and OA-affected joints in horses, dogs, and humans...
Secor E, Thomas M, Chu E, Hazzard S, Raimondi S, Reesink H.To investigate whether IA hydrogel therapeutics alter the inflammatory and/or degradative responses of articular cartilage (AC) and synovial membrane (SM) to cytokine stimulation. Unassigned: AC and SM tissue explants were stimulated with interleukin-1β (IL-1β) or tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and simultaneously treated with triamcinolone acetonide, hyaluronic acid, collagen-elastin hydrogel microparticles (CEHM), or 2.5% polyacrylamide hydrogel (2.5% iPAAG) at 3 doses. Synovial membrane (n = 9 explants, 3 horses) was stimulated/treated for 18 hours, whereas AC (12 explants, 6 horses) wa...
