Nerve Growth Factor as a biomarker for pain and inflammation
Project overview
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Short summary
In veterinary medicine and equestrian sports, there is a need to be able to detect, diagnose, and treat joint inflammation (osteoarthritis) at an early stage in order to achieve the best possible treatment results. However, the symptoms can be difficult to detect as the pain is often mild at first.
Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) is a protein that has been shown to play an important role in inflammation and pain signals in other animal species and humans. People with osteoarthritis in the knee joint have elevated levels of NGF in their joint fluid. Almost no NGF research has been published on horses, and we therefore know very little about NGF in this animal species.
In a collaborative project between SLU and Sahlgrenska University Hospital, NGF is being studied in joint fluid, blood, and saliva in horses. In the first stage of the project, we want to find out whether NGF increases in osteoarthritis and, if so, whether we can optimize sampling and analysis of the substance.
In order to conduct this type of research, we need samples from horses with lameness due to osteoarthritis, horses with pain from, for example, acute fractures, and samples from healthy horses. You may be asked if you would like your horse to participate in the biomarker study when you visit the clinic.
What does participation entail?
Sampling can be done in different ways. If the horse is to be treated in a joint, a small amount of joint fluid, which would have been extracted before treatment anyway, can be saved in our biobank. Other body fluids that are sampled are blood (using a simple blood sample from the jugular vein) and saliva (sampled using a special type of swab in the mouth).
If the horse is to undergo joint surgery for, for example, “loose bone fragments,” the removed bone fragment can be saved instead of being discarded.
No samples are collected without the animal owner's consent.