Our Cornell Richard P. Riney Canine Health Center-funded research on ATP-release pannexin channels is helping to bridging the gap between clinical and basic pain research. Dogs undergoing tibial plateau-leveling osteotomy (TPLO) for cranial cruciate ligament (CCL) rupture in the stifle (knee) in the Cornell University Hospital for Animals are being enrolled in a study in which synovial (joint) fluid samples are collected by faculty in the Department of Clinical Sciences from the dogs under anesthesia during surgery and under sedation for recheck radiographs (X-rays) 8 weeks later. The samples are flash-frozen and transported to the Kawate Laboratory in the Department of Molecular Medicine for analysis. Just before anesthesia for surgery and sedation for radiographs, the dog’s gait is analyzed to determine how lame it is (how much weight it bears on the affected limb – an objective means of assessing stifle pain). If the severity of lameness is directly proportional to pannexin 1 activation, pannexin 1 activation by synovial fluid could serve as a biomarker of joint pain in dogs. Read more here.