Biomarkers in equine bone and joint disorders

Sammanfattning: The purpose with this literature study was to summarize the research on biomarkers in equine bone and joint diseases and to get more knowledge about how these markers are affected by the diseases, exercise, age, sex and breed. Bone and joint diseases are a common cause of loss of performance in the athletic horse. Osteochondrosis (OC) is a disease of articular cartilage development and is a common cause of lameness in young horses, leading to decreased athletic potential. Osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by damage to and loss of articular cartilage matrix components, along with reduced joint function. Disorders in horses have a large economical impact on the horse industry through loss of breeding potential and reduced market value of the affected horses. Disease prevention and pain reduction are general aims of animal welfare within animal husbandry. It would therefore be welcome with any improvement in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognostication in these areas and biomarkers may be helpful tools. Molecules that are normal products and byproducts of the metabolic processes that are taking place within the skeletal tissues are often used as markers. Biomarkers are good tools for the prediction and detection of diseases without performing major procedure on the horse. The research is not yet at a stage of having a “magic marker” to diagnose the degree of articular cartilage or bone disease in a single joint with 100% accuracy. Though, many biomarkers have the potential to predict and distinguish the diseases but more research is needed to get higher reliability of these markers.