Cannabinoid receptors expression positively correlated with synovitis in horses with spontaneous osteoarthritis

Abstract

Purpose: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a major cause of disabling pain in all species and palliative therapy with anti-inflammatory molecules is a common therapy but has many associated undesirable side-effects. There is increasing interest in the use of cannabinoids for OA therapy. The horse is a suitable large animal model for cartilage studies and information is lacking concerning the endocannabinoid system in the equine joint.Our objectives are (1) to investigate cannabinoid receptor (CB1 & CB2) expression pattern in the synovium of healthy and equine OA joints and (2) to study the relationship between cannabinoid receptor expression, synovitis and OA scores.