author(s)
K Balamurugan, Mala Shammi, R Sivashankar and S Subapriya

abstract
Synovial fluid is an ultrafiltrate of blood plasma, supplemented with hyaluronic acid and other products and supplies nutrients to the articular cartilage. Horses presented with lameness and showed signs of osteoarthritis were taken for this study. A total of 12 osteoarthritic joints fluid were physically evaluated for appearance, colour, volume, viscosity, clot formation and mucin clot test. Both serum and synovial fluid were evaluated for alkaline phosphatase (ALP), alanine aminotransaminase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). This study found that viscosity and mucin clot test were useful in diagnosing osteoarthritis and biochemical values of synovial fluid had some diagnostic value but serum biochemical values did not have any role in diagnosing osteoarthritis.