The Horse

JUN 2017

The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.

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29 June 2017 THE HORSE TheHorse.com different role entirely. "Stem cells never perform as well as differentiated cells in synthesizing new tissue," says Smith. "Current theories with more evidence are that these cells are not regenerative—instead they modulate (reduce) inflammation, and this appears to be their main mechanism of action." In other words, researchers originally hoped that stem cells would simply re- place the cells in the target tissue (which can be done reliably in the laboratory but not the live horse). But, instead, it appears stem cells have a different role, helping direct the healing process of in- jured and damaged tissues, with the end product more like native tissue. A New Generation of Regenerative Medicine Many researchers, mainly in the United States and Europe, have been looking to produce a new generation of stem cell therapy. Spaas says his group has found it's possible to use healthy donor cells, divided into large batches for reduced costs, and "predifferentiate" them in the laboratory—to "tell" them to become the right cells, prior to injection. He and colleagues have been researching this yet- unreleased off-the-shelf therapy, with en- couraging results, and are awaiting their work's publication in a peer-reviewed journal. The next steps for stem cell research, in general, says Smith, involve: ■ Better retention of stem cells in the horse's body; ■ Understanding of the effects of multiple dosing; ■ Validating the effects of allogenic (com- ing from another horse, as in Spaas' work) stem cell therapy; and ■ Better understanding of inflammation's role in tendon and ligament healing process, and how mesenchymal stem cells influence it. Take-Home Message Tendon and ligament injuries do heal on their own, and rest remains the best home treatment. Left-to-heal structures, however, are more prone to re-injury and likely to get re-injured. To preserve your horse's performance future, you can turn toward treatments aimed at improving the healing process. And as researchers keep investigating ways to heal injured tendons and ligaments, we can remain optimistic that these cases will no longer be career- ending—only career- postponing. h A veterinarian injects stem cells into an injured tendon. DUSTY PERIN

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