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Horses are high-performance athletes prone to sportive injuries such as tendonitis and desmitis. The formation of fibrous tissue in tendon repair remains a challenge to overcome. This impels regenerative medicine to develop innovative therapies that enhance regeneration, retrieving original tissue properties. Multipotent Mesenchymal Stem/Stromal Cells (MSCs) have been successfully used to develop therapeutic products, as they secrete a variety of bioactive molecules that play a pivotal role in tissue regeneration. These factors are released in culture media for producing a conditioned medium (CM). The aforementioned assumptions led to the formulation of equine synovial membrane MSCs (eSM-MSCs)-the cellular pool that naturally regenerates joint tissue-combined with a medium enriched in immunomodulatory factors (among other bioactive factors) produced by umbilical cord stroma-derived MSCs (eUC-MSCs) that naturally contribute to suppressing the immune rejection in the maternal-fetal barrier. A description of an equine sport horse diagnosed with acute tarsocrural desmitis and treated with this formulation is presented. Ultrasonographic ligament recovery occurred in a reduced time frame, reducing stoppage time and allowing for the horse's return to unrestricted competition after the completion of a physical rehabilitation program. This study focused on the description of the therapeutic formulation and potential in an equine desmitis treatment using the cells themselves and their secretomes.

Tendon and ligament injuries are frequent in sport horses and humans, and such injuries represent a significant therapeutic challenge. Tissue regeneration and function recovery are the paramount goals of tendon and ligament lesion management. Nowadays, several regenerative treatments are being developed, based on the use of stem cell and stem cell-based therapies. In the present study, the preparation of equine synovial membrane mesenchymal stem cells (eSM-MSCs) is described for clinical use, collection, transport, isolation, differentiation, characterization, and application. These cells are fibroblast-like and grow in clusters. They retain osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic differentiation potential. We present 16 clinical cases of tendonitis and desmitis, treated with allogenic eSM-MSCs and autologous serum, and we also include their evaluation, treatment, and follow-up. The concerns associated with the use of autologous serum as a vehicle are related to a reduced immunogenic response after the administration of this therapeutic combination, as well as the pro-regenerative effects from the growth factors and immunoglobulins that are part of its constitution. Most of the cases (14/16) healed in 30 days and presented good outcomes. Treatment of tendon and ligament lesions with a mixture of eSM-MSCs and autologous serum appears to be a promising clinical option for this category of lesions in equine patients.