Pluripotent Stem Cells: The Future of Articular Cartilage Repair in Horses?
Scientific Literature Review:
Articular cartilage repair in horses and its new developments:
Pluripotent stem cells: the future of articular cartilage repair in the horse?
3rd year veterinary medicine student, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract
Articular cartilage is a unique connective tissue that is responsible for smoothly transferring variable loads between articulating bones. It is well known that cartilage has an extremely limited healing capacity thus once cartilage is injured it rarely heals properly. Consequently, cartilage injuries result in permanent loss of function, which can ultimately lead to euthanasia in athletic horses. The significant amount of horses and money lost as a consequence of these injuries is a strong motivation to find a treatment that will overcome the obstacles of cartilage healing. Unfortunately, current clinically used cartilage injury treatments have failed to provide functional hyaline-like repair tissue. It is for this reason that the interest in stem cells and their use medicinally has grown immensely over the years. The objective of stem cell-assisted regenerative therapy is to restore cartilage to its normal and completely functional state by harnessing the regenerative nature of stem cells to produce healthy functional chondrocytes and replace injured or defective tissues. Stem cells (embryonic-, adult- or induced) have shown great potential for healing cartilage injuries thus saving the horse racing industry a lot of capital and sparing the lives of many injured horses. In this article, current therapies for cartilage repair are reviewed and future prospects for the use of embryonic stem cells are identified.
Cartilage:
Cartilage is a strong yet flexible connective tissue capable of withstanding large amounts of force and mechanical stress (Desjardins and Hurtig 1990). These attributes are appropriate for articular cartilage
Articular cartilage repair in horses and its new developments:
Pluripotent stem cells: the future of articular cartilage repair in the horse?
3rd year veterinary medicine student, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Abstract
Articular cartilage is a unique connective tissue that is responsible for smoothly transferring variable loads between articulating bones. It is well known that cartilage has an extremely limited healing capacity thus once cartilage is injured it rarely heals properly. Consequently, cartilage injuries result in permanent loss of function, which can ultimately lead to euthanasia in athletic horses. The significant amount of horses and money lost as a consequence of these injuries is a strong motivation to find a treatment that will overcome the obstacles of cartilage healing. Unfortunately, current clinically used cartilage injury treatments have failed to provide functional hyaline-like repair tissue. It is for this reason that the interest in stem cells and their use medicinally has grown immensely over the years. The objective of stem cell-assisted regenerative therapy is to restore cartilage to its normal and completely functional state by harnessing the regenerative nature of stem cells to produce healthy functional chondrocytes and replace injured or defective tissues. Stem cells (embryonic-, adult- or induced) have shown great potential for healing cartilage injuries thus saving the horse racing industry a lot of capital and sparing the lives of many injured horses. In this article, current therapies for cartilage repair are reviewed and future prospects for the use of embryonic stem cells are identified.
Cartilage:
Cartilage is a strong yet flexible connective tissue capable of withstanding large amounts of force and mechanical stress (Desjardins and Hurtig 1990). These attributes are appropriate for articular cartilage
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