Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Drugs, supplements, and osteoarthritis

A very small trial was conducted in Italy that I thought may be of interest to those whos dogs are suffering from osteoarthritis.  "Two groups of [osteoarthritis affected] dogs and one group of healthy dogs (6 dogs each) were clinically evaluated and blood was sampled before (T0) and after 20days (T20) of dietary administration of NSAID [on-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] (NSAID group) or curcumin (CURCUMIN group).


Genes involved in "inflammatory response" and in "connective tissue development and function" dramatically decreased at T20. Other genes, included in "cellular movement", "cellular compromise" and "immune cell trafficking", were differentially expressed at T0 but not at T20 in both groups. Specific molecular targets of CURCUMIN, not observed for NSAID, were the IkB up regulation in the "TNRF1 signaling pathway" and IL18 down regulation in the "role of cytokines in mediating communication between immune cells". The activity of CURCUMIN was also evidenced from the inhibition of macrophages proliferation (HBEGF), related to a strong down regulation of TNFα and to activation of fibrinolysis (SERPINE1). The results would suggest that curcumin offers a complementary antinflammatory support for OA treatment in dogs."

(Colitti et al.2012.Transcriptome modification of white blood cells after dietary administration of curcumin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug in osteoarthritic affected dogs.)





In my current position in the healthcare industry, I rarely mention an article with such a small sample size and length of follow up. However, these are studies on dogs. The industry rarely has large-scale studies of products for animals that are not sponsored by a manufacturer. Therefore, I would take this normally VERY low quality study, and say it has interesting results for those that are desperate. Curcumin (turmeric) is known to be very beneficial for humans for a range of ailments, and a large part of Indian Ayurvedic medicine.  

I will keep an eye out for any further scientific studies. 

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About Lulu's-Picks

An honest attempt to provide information on products for our beloved four-legged buddies! I do as much research as I can and am very open to any thoughts!