E efficacy of diacerein to slow the progression of the disease

Authors' contributions DG, JRC, FM and AGC participated in the conception and design of the study. The animal model and the histological analyses were performed by MP, ML, FM and AGC; micro-CT assessments were conducted by DG and JRC. All authors have title= jir.2011.0103 collaborated on data analysis, interpretation of results, drafting and revision of article for final approval. Acknowledgements The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Natalia Mi , Mariano L ez and Oscar Varela of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Stattic chemical information Santiago de Compostela, for their contribution in surgery procedures and drug administration, of the staff at the Animal Research Facility, University title= fnhum.2013.00596 of Santiago de Compostela, for taking care of the animals and Bioiberica (Barcelona, Spain), which provided drugs for the study. The authors are grateful to the Directorate-General of Research, Development and Innovation, Ministry of Economy and Industry, Xunta de Galicia for EPZ004777 biological activity funding this work through research project 09CSA008E, co-financed by the European Regional and Social Funds (FEDER and FSE) and by a grant from the Fundaci Salud 2000. The funders have no role in the study design, data analysis and interpretation, writing of the manuscript or decision to submit it for publication. Author details 1 Veterinary Clinical Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), Campus Universitario, s/n, 27002, Lugo, Spain. 2Trabeculae S.L., Parque Tecnol ico de Galicia, 32900 San Cibrao das Vi s, Ourense, Spain. 3 Orthopedic Surgery Service, USC University Hospital Complex, Traves de Choupana, s/n,.E efficacy of diacerein to slow the progression of the disease in an early model of OA, as shown in previous studies in vitro [45], in different animal models [12, 42, 45, 46] and in clinical trials [7, 16, 47]; although the comparison of different studies is difficult because of their high degree of heterogeneity (different models conducted in different animal species and humans, different time schedule and others). ToPermuy et al. BMC Veterinary Research (2015) 11:Page 10 ofcomplete this study and correctly evaluate the obtained results, it may be necessary to evaluate the effects of diacerein treatment in the same animal model with a more advanced OA.Conclusions Oral diacerein as OA treatment has been able to reduce cartilage swelling, surface alterations and the inflammation of the synovial membrane in the early stages of OA in a rabbit surgical model. Regarding the subchondral bone, diacerein has shown in healthy bone, but not in the osteoarthritic one, the ability to increase bone volume and mineral density, indicating a surprising effect of this drug on the bone structure, whose results have not been published up to now. The study also demonstrates the validity of the animal model, and that micro-CT could be a valid technique to detect morphological changes in articular cartilage with comparable results to histomorphometry. Further studies on long-term OA animal models and well-conducted clinical trials may be required to confirm or exclude the efficacy of diacerein in the treatment of knee OA.Abbreviations OA: Osteoarthritis; SYSADOAs: symptomatic slow-acting drugs for osteoarthritis; NSAIDS: non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; ARRIVE: Animal Research: Reporting in vivo experiments; ACLT: anterior cruciate ligament transection; SO: safranin-O staining; H-E: Hematoxylin-eosin. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.