Search

Introduction: Tendon injury is a major cause of lameness and decreased performance in athletic equines. Various therapies for tendonitis have been described; however, none of these therapies results in complete tissue regeneration, and the injury recurrence rate is high even after long recovery periods involving rest and physiotherapy., Methods: A lesion was induced with collagenase gel in the superficial digital flexor tendon in the center portion of the metacarpal region of eight equines of mixed breed. After two weeks, the lesions of the animals in the treated and control groups were treated through the intralesional administration of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue (adMSCs) suspended in platelet concentrate (PC) and with phosphate buffered saline (PBS), respectively. Serial ultrasound analyses were performed every two weeks. After 16 weeks of therapy, a biopsy was performed for histopathological, immunohistochemical and gene expression (type I collagen (COL1A1), type III collagen (COL3A1), tenascin-C (TNC), tenomodulin (TNMD), and scleraxis (SCX)) analyses., Results: Differences in the ultrasound and histopathological analyses were observed between the groups. Improved results were reported in the group treated with adMSCs suspended in PC. There was no difference in the gene expression levels observed after the different treatments. The main results observed from the histopathological evaluation of the treated group were as follows: a prevention of the progression of the lesion, a greater organization of collagen fibers, and a decreased inflammatory infiltrate. A lack of progression of the lesion area and its percentage was observed in the ultrasound image, and increased blood flow was measured by Power Doppler., Conclusions: The use of adMSCs combined with PC for the therapy of experimentally induced tendonitis prevented the progression of the tendon lesion, as observed in the ultrasound examination, and resulted in a greater organization and decreased inflammation, as observed in the histopathological evaluation. These data demonstrate the therapeutic potential of this therapy for the treatment of equine tendonitis.

The purpose of this work was to isolate and cultivate mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) derived from equine adipose tissue and conduct cellular characterization with the following markers: CD90, CD44 and CD13. Adipose tissue collection was performed at the base of the horses' tails, followed by immediate isolation and cultivation of the MSC and posterior characterization by flow cytometry for the interspecies reaction test using mouse anti-rat CD90 monoclonal antibody (mAb), fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC), and tests with specific mAb mouse anti-horse CD13 and mouse anti-horse CD44. The technique used for isolation and cell cultivation proved to be safe and viable. The CD90 mAb expressed cross-reaction with MSC derived from equine adipose tissue and CD44 showed greater expression in cells as the number of culture passages increased. Although marker CD13 expresses reaction in other studies involving MSC in different species, it presented no expression in the experiment realized. The results obtained revealed the immunophenotypic characterization of the surface of isolated and cultivated MSC, classifying these cells as a promising type of progenitor cells that can be applied in equine cellular therapy.

Introduction: Tendon injury is a major cause of lameness and decreased performance in athletic equines. Various therapies for tendonitis have been described; however, none of these therapies results in complete tissue regeneration, and the injury recurrence rate is high even after long recovery periods involving rest and physiotherapy. Methods: A lesion was induced with collagenase gel in the superficial digital flexor tendon in the center portion of the metacarpal region of eight equines of mixed breed. After two weeks, the lesions of the animals in the treated and control groups were treated through the intralesional administration of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue (adMSCs) suspended in platelet concentrate (PC) and with phosphate buffered saline (PBS), respectively. Serial ultrasound analyses were performed every two weeks. After 16 weeks of therapy, a biopsy was performed for histopathological, immunohistochemical and gene expression (type I collagen (COL1A1), type III collagen (COL3A1), tenascin-C (TNC), tenomodulin (TNMD), and scleraxis (SCX)) analyses. Results: Differences in the ultrasound and histopathological analyses were observed between the groups. Improved results were reported in the group treated with adMSCs suspended in PC. There was no difference in the gene expression levels observed after the different treatments. The main results observed from the histopathological evaluation of the treated group were as follows: a prevention of the progression of the lesion, a greater organization of collagen fibers, and a decreased inflammatory infiltrate. A lack of progression of the lesion area and its percentage was observed in the ultrasound image, and increased blood flow was measured by Power Doppler. Conclusions: The use of adMSCs combined with PC for the therapy of experimentally induced tendonitis prevented the progression of the tendon lesion, as observed in the ultrasound examination, and resulted in a greater organization and decreased inflammation, as observed in the histopathological evaluation. These data demonstrate the therapeutic potential of this therapy for the treatment of equine tendonitis [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which characterized the peripheral blood-derived multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (PbMScs) of equine such as horses, zebras and asses. Topics discussed include the processes involved in the study such as the collection of peripheral blood, flow cytometry evaluation and the quantification of mononuclear cells, adipogenic and chrondrogenic differentiation, and tissue engineering. Also presented are the results of the study.

Abstract: Superficial digital flexor tendon lesion is an important cause of lameness in equine athletes. Although numerous treatments have been described, few are effective at promoting significant improvement in the quality of the extracellular matrix. Therefore, great potential remains for recurrence and in certain cases, an abrupt end to the horse’s athletic career. Recently, several experiments have focused on the therapeutic potential of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in cases of tendon lesions. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of adipose tissue-derived MSCs in the treatment of induced tendinitis of the superficial digital flexor tendon in horses by clinical, ultrasonographic, histopathological, and immunochemical analyses. Tendinitis was induced in both thoracic limbs of eight mares by administration of collagenase solution and adipose tissue was collected from the tail base for MSCs isolation and expansion, which were used during cellular therapy on only one limb 30 days after lesion induction. No differences occurred between the groups regarding the clinical and ultrasonographic analyses; however, histopathological evaluation revealed a significant improvement in tendon fiber organization and diminished inflammatory infiltrate, whereas immunohistochemical analysis showed increased expression of type I collagen in the treated group as compared with controls. The cellular therapy model implanted in this experiment promoted increased perivascular inflammatory infiltrate, fibroblastic density, neovascularization, and qualitative healing improvement of tendon extracellular matrix, in terms of fiber orientation and type I/III collagen ratio; moreover, it was considered to be a safe and viable process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]