Elevation of plasma hyaluronan and urinary pyridinoline in mouse collagen induced arthritis

Abstract

We have previously reported the elevation of plasma hyaluronan (HA) and urinary pyridinoline (PYD) in rat models of arthritis (1,2). Elevation of plasma HA has been linked to the hypermetabolic response of the synovium (3). Urinary pyridinoline cross links reflects the breakdown of collagen type I and type II from bone and cartilage (4,5). Because the mouse collagen induced arthritis model exhibits many characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including pannus and bone erosions (6), we examined the time dependent changes of these two markers in this model and the effect of a therapeutic agent on PYD excretion. In this report, we discuss for the first time the elevation of these markers in a mouse type II collagen induced arthritis model.