Glucosamine BenefitsGlucosamin Collagen and Compare GlucosaminGlucosamine benefits are many and perhaps you wondering if glucosamine can help painfull acing joints in your dog. Do you like to know why this might be the best solution for your dog? Joints contain lots of chains of glycosaminoglycaner. Especially in the cartilage the concentration is very high. Glycosaminoglycanes (GAG) absorbs and holds much water. Thanks to this, cartilage is very chock and weight absorbing. Glycosaminoglycaner is made by the cells lying within in the cartilage. Joints are now more and more regarded as a whole. If one part of joint is diseased or different from normal, it will affect all other joint components.
If the capsule surrounding the joint is inflamed and irritated, the fluid (synovie) will be changed as well. It will become thinner, less weight baring and less efficient in nourishing the chondrocytes. Chondrocytes produces new cartilage matrix (you could call it glucosamin collagen) all the time. If chondrocytes are receiving less nutrition, the cartilage they are producing would be of less quality. Glucosamine benefitsGlucosamin for dogs do have important effects on the joint's health status. First of all it's a important precursor to glycosaminoglycaner (GAG). In a normal chondrocyte GAG is actually made from glucose and glutamine. This is a limited production. So, if the breakdown of GAG exceeds the formation, you have a breakdown of the cartilage. Adding extra glucosamine can one way or the other speed up, or up-grade, the GAG building process. The result is less breakdown of cartilage and formation of new one. This improved GAG formation greatly affects the synovial fluid as well. This becomes more watery in arthritis dogs because the concentration of GAG in the synoviadecreases as well. Therefore, much less weight baring and less lubricating. Glucosamin improves synovial fluid and increases viscosity and the lubricating effect. Second, glucosamine work anti-inflammatory and therefore reduces pain and swelling. This is great news. Anti-inflammatory - Yes. But, not through the cyclooxygenase system in the cells. Therefore, no possible side effects as live, kidney problems or gastrointestinal bleeding are seen. This is possible adverse reactions seen if NSAID medications such as Rimadyl and others are used. Glucosamine improves joint cartilage and joint fluid by up grading GAG production and be anti-inflammatory. The actual mechanism behind this effect are not known. If you stop the glucosamine supplementation, it takes approximately one week before the anti-inflammatory effect ceases to work and the pain returns. I have seen this in several of my patients.
Photo courtesy of Mike Baird Does Glucosamin work?Yes, in theory. But, to find out you really have to try it. I strongly recommend to use supplementation with glucosamine (with or without chondroitin/MSM) because it can't do any harm. The potentially positive glucosamine benefits is big. Also, in dogs running and jumping a lot can it be worthwhile trying. Glucosamine can have a delaying effect in the development of arthritis in your dog. So, give a try. Dog Arthritis Relevant Pages
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