MARCH/APRIL 2011 THE RIDER /29
WHAT’S UP DOC From the desks of Dr’s Armstrong & Frost.
HALTON EQUINE VETERINARY SERVICES Dear Doctors:
I am hearing all of news about Stem Cells and could you explain what they are and how they are being used.
Many thanks Nick
----------- Stem Cells
What are stem Cells? Ten to fifteen years ago scientists discov- ered the cell from which all tissue is created and they called it a ‘Stem Cell’. This cell has the capability to transform itself into the type of cell making up any type of tissue such as muscle, tendon, cartilage etc.
Although Stem Cells can be extracted from various types of tis- sue, they are most commonly found in umbilical chord blood, bone marrow and fat. Unfortunate- ly are not in the habit of keeping the horse’s umbilical chord frozen in liquid nitrogen so we are left to extracting them from the other two sources. Interestingly enough some people are now having the
umbilical chord of their children frozen and stored so they will have a source of stem cells in the future. In horses we extract stem cells from either bone marrow or fat. The bone marrow is removed via needle in the sternum and collected in a syringe. As there are not a lot of stem cells in bone marrow this sample is then sent to the laborato- ry and the stem cells extracted and propagated (i.e. cultured to increase their numbers). The sam- ple with the increased number of stem cells are then shipped back to the veterinarian and injected into the horse. Fat, on the other hand, contains a large number of stem cells and after a small lump of fat is removed from the horse it is pro- cessed in the laboratory to extract the stem cells. This sample is then injected into the horse.
The idea in using stem cell therapy is that once extracted and injected into the damaged area the cells will then convert to the type of cells that are damaged and these new cartilage, tendon or suspenso- ry cells will divide and repair the damage that has been done.
The caveat in all of this is that no one is absolutely sure of how to stimulate the stem cells to convert to the type of cells that are dam- aged and move on to repair the damaged tissue. At the present time we simply inject the stem cells and hope for the best. Some- times we inject the stem cells with PRP (Platelet Rich Plasma) and depend on the growth factors there in to stimulate the reaction. In the end, Stem Cell Therapy is a new concept and the academic theory of how it should work is sound. The stem cells are easy to collect and the treatment process is straightforward. Although there are many anecdotal testaments to the success of stem cells therapy what lacking, at this point in time, are the controlled clinical trials to show that the procedure is actually shortens healing time and results in better healing. ---------
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