Double blind investigation of the effects of oral supplementation of combined glucosamine hydrochloride (GHCL) and chondroitin sulphate (CS) on stride characteristics of veteran horses

Abstract

Oral GHCL and CS supplementation may improve welfare by alleviating symptoms of degenerative joint disease.

The Effect of Exercise and Nutritional Supplementation on Proinflammatory Cytokine Expression in Young Racehorses During Training

“…Thus, there is growing interest in nonpharmacologic approaches to ameliorate exercise-induced inflammation [36][37][38][39]. Various dietary supplements have been proposed to alleviate exercise-related injuries and illnesses [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50]. Although many of these same compounds have been used in horses [37,[48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58], their effect on exercise-induced proinflammatory responses has not been investigated in detail [55].…”

Comparative Effects of a Single Treatment Session Using Glucosamine Sulphate and Methyl Salicylate on Pain and Hamstring Flexibility of Patients with Knee Osteoarthritis

“…Also, recent studies have indicated that glucosamine sulfate possesses antioxidant properties, thereby, suppressing high concentrations of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which cause the breakdown of cartilage due to the presence of free radicals and pro-oxidants [33]. Also, in an animal study, range of joint motion increased significantly at the elbow joint with an increase in selected gait parameters following oral administration of glucosamine sulphate [34]. Previous reports had also established that drugs are detectable underneath site of application using transdermal administration techniques [35].…”

Low quality of evidence for glucosamine‐based nutraceuticals in equine joint disease: Review ofin vivostudies

“…Lameness evaluations are fine, but for these data to provide meaningful insight into the biological effect of GBN on horses, they must be supported by objective outcome measures, within a context of experimental blinding. These may include synovial fluid and/or serum analyses for biomarkers of inflammation and/or cartilage metabolism (White et al 1994;Fenton et al 1999;Caron et al 2002;Verde et al 2006;Meulyzer et al 2008Meulyzer et al , 2009Pearson et al 2009), objective measures of gait analysis (Clayton et al 2002;Forsyth et al 2006), and/or imaging techniques, including radiographs (Hanson et al 2001), ultrasound, arthroscopy or nuclear scintigraphy.…”

“…Another common problem with studies evaluating GBN for horses was the lack of an appropriate placebo control. In some cases placebo controls were not used at all (Hanson et al 1997;Rodgers et al 2006) but, more frequently, the use of a placebo was reported but the composition not provided (Hanson et al 2001;Forsyth et al 2006;Verde et al 2006;Keegan et al 2007). Without this information, it is impossible for readers to determine if the dietary treatment was compared against an inert product as intended, or a product which might influence outcome measures in some way.…”

“…This is a common weakness in studies on GBN for horses. In some cases inclusion criteria are minimalistic, generating a poorly defined and heterogeneous cohort (Hanson et al 1997;Clayton et al 2002;Forsyth et al 2006;Keeton et al 2007); in other cases inclusion criteria are not reported at all (White et al 1994;Fenton et al 2002;Rodgers 2006;Pearson et al 2009). Particularly important for studies involving clinical field cases of 'lameness', which can be very difficult to standardise, basic information that should be made available in research papers, includes lameness aetiology, duration of lameness, exercise regimens before and after inclusion in the study, diet(s) and management strategies, sex, age and bodyweight(s).…”