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  Discussion on Research Summary: Causes of OCD
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DrO

Posted on Tuesday, May 1, 2007 - 11:08 am:

We continue to get closer to causes of OCD in growing horses with this research study. A number of recent studies, like the one below in foals, have found the primary event in the beginning of OCD is a failure of the blood supply to the cartilage that surfaces the bone in the joints. The blood supply fails at the level of the vascular channels in the growing areas of the cartilage. The cause of the failure continues to be unknown but premature termination of the vascular channels, tiny fractures, or emboli of fat have been proposed and it may be a combination of these processes at work.
DrO

J Orthop Res. 2007 Apr 5;
Early lesions of osteochonDrOsis in the distal tibia of foals.

Olstad K, Ytrehus B, Ekman S, S Carlson C, Dolvik NI.

The Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Dep artment of Companion Animal Clinical Sciences, Section for Equine Medicine and Surgery, Post-box 8146 Dep., N-0033 Oslo, Norway.

Material available for research into osteochonDrOsis (OC) in humans tends to represent chronic lesions. Comparative studies of early lesions in young animals are, therefore, important in clarifying the pathogenesis of OC in humans. Recent studies in pigs provide strong evidence that lesions of articular OC are associated with a focal failure in the cartilage canal vascular supply to epiphyseal growth cartilage (articular-epiphyseal cartilage complex excluding the articular cartilage). The purpose of the present study was to examine histological sections from a specific predilection site for articular OC in the distal tibia of a large number of young foals to determine if the same is true in horses. Material from the distal tibiae of 100 foals aged from 191 days of gestation to 153 days old was collected from routine submissions of fetuses and foals for post mortem examination. The tibiae were band-sawed into slabs, and selected slabs were processed for histology, stained with hematoxylin and eosin, and examined using light microscopy. Early subclinical developmental stages of OC were found in the most common site for clinical OC lesions of horses in nine of 100 foals aged 12 to 122 days old. All lesions contained areas of chonDrOcyte necrosis that were associated with cartilage canal necrosis in five of nine foals. Five of these foals also had focal disruption of enchondral ossification at the chonDrO-osseous junction in the same site. Early lesions purported to play a role in the initial stages of articular OC in the distal tibia of horses were characterized by chonDrOcyte necrosis and likely occurred secondary to a failure of cartilage canal vascular supply to epiphyseal growth cartilage. The similarities in appearance between early lesions of piglets and foals suggest that information gained in one species may be transferable to others, including humans. (c) 2007 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res.
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