Evaluation of intramuscularly administered sodium pentosan polysulfate for treatment of experimentally induced osteoarthritis in horses

McIlwraith CW, Frisbie DD, Kawcak CE · American Journal of Veterinary Research

IM PPS substantially reduced articular cartilage fibrillation and raised synovial-fluid CS846 (an aggrecan-synthesis marker) versus saline — the nearest any controlled PPS study in any species comes to demonstrating a structural benefit, and it is in horses with induced disease.

Population

18 horses with arthroscopically induced carpal osteoarthritis (9 treated, 9 controls)

Intervention

PPS 3 mg/kg IM weekly for 4 weeks, starting day 15 after OA induction

Comparator

Saline injections

Limitations

Induced-OA model in young horses, not naturally occurring disease; small groups; full text is paywalled, so the record reflects the journal's structured abstract, in which cartilage fibrillation and CS846 are the only treatment effects reported as significant.