Matrix Overloaded - Structural Alterations of Claw Connective Tissue and their Functional Implications

Collagen fibres of the connective tissue are the crucial structural and functional components of the suspensory apparatus of the third phalanx in the claw. The outstanding structural and functional role of the suspending structures in healthy and diseased claws has clearly been demonstrated (Lischer et al., 2002, Maierl et al., 2002, Tarlton and Webster, 2002, Westerfeld and Mülling, 2000). The sinkage of the pedal bone in subclinical laminitis is responsible for the secondary damage of claw tissue and a variety of laminitis associated lesions. Alterations of the suspensory apparatus or more precisely alterations of the formed extracellular matrix in the connective tissue, the collagen fibres, have been made responsible for this dislocation (Ossent and Lischer, 2000; Mülling and Lischer, 2002; Tarlton et al., 2000) ...