"Go small or go home" might be the new catch phrase at the Ohio State University’s Comparative Orthopedic Laboratory, where researchers are examining a novel molecular approach to finding the cure for osteoarthritis (OA) in horses. The team recently completed a study using this molecular approach, and the preliminary results they obtained were quite promising.

"Osteoarthritis remains a major problem in horses," explained Alicia L. Bertone, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVS, the Trueman Family Endowed Chair and Professor in Equine Orthopedic Surgery at The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine and author on the study. "To date, ways to regenerate cartilage rather than simply reduce inflammation and control pain in affected horses remain to be discovered."

Nutritional supplements and regenerative therapies (such as stem cells and platelet-rich plasma) are currently available and are increasingly popular options for treating OA’s clinical signs; however, neither option has "proven" itself via an evidence-based medicine approach.

An alternative method of treating OA is to address the problem at the genetic level, and this was the approach examined by the researchers on the current study