Shifting Focus...
Before any stem cell
therapy finds its way into local doctor’s offices, or humans at all, scientists
need to gain a complete knowledge of how the mechanics of the treatment work.
It’s great that these treatments have shown improvement in tendon repair, but
until it is determined how, no human testing can take place. The goal of scientists now should be to focus on this issue in order to apply the benefits of stem cell therapy to humans sooner rather than later, and to be able to give horse owners the reassurance they need before selecting a treatment plan. Until the year 2012, studies involving equine stem cells in vitro, or in culture, ignored a major fault in their experimental design. The environment cells experience in artificial culture is different from their natural setting in the body. Artificial culture has an oxygen concentration of 20%, known as a
normoxia. In contrast, adult stem cells experience an oxygen concentration between 1% and 8%, known as hypoxia. Oxygen plays an important role in the differentiation process of cells and the cell’s life cycle. In a 2012 study, cells derived from adipose and bone marrow were cultured in each oxygen environment. It was found that normoxic cells grew faster, divided faster, and showed less markers for differentiation ability than hypoxic cells (Ranera et
al. 2012). Future studies involving culture need to focus on observance in hypoxic environments to understand how cells behave in the body, as observance in normoxia could give scientists a different idea of stem cell processes. Once these cells are understood, another application should be investigated to expand the benefits of stem cell therapies.
It is believed that adult stem cells are immunomodulatory. This would mean that any horse could
receive cells from another safely, called autologous implantation. Off-the –shelf products could be developed for increased availability and rapid implementation early after injury. There would be no cost associated with the harvest procedure or separation, saving much of the costs involved (Fortier et al. 2011). Imagine walking down an aisle at the grocery store and being able to purchase injectable stem cells for a tendon or ligament injury with no extraction procedure. This would be, if possible, the most beneficial way to adapt stem cell therapies into the world of common medication.
One big question remains: which derivation of stem cells provides the best benefits to the
treatment of over-strained tendon?
Though all three of the currently utilized derivations show improvement in tendon regeneration, not enough is known of their individual behavior yet to isolate one cell type as the best. However, adult stem cells seem to have a brighter future in stem cell therapy than fetal cells. Too many people see the killing of a fetus as immoral for this process to
practically be commercially applied to humans, or horses for that matter. Bothtypes of adult stem cells show promise in tendon regeneration, and future research should focus on these mesenchymal stem cells. Some scientists have
started doing comparative studies between adipose and bone marrow derived stem cells, and more of this sort should be conducted. The future is bright for adult stem cell therapy, however more evidence and knowledge must be gained before any conclusions or advancements can be made.
therapy finds its way into local doctor’s offices, or humans at all, scientists
need to gain a complete knowledge of how the mechanics of the treatment work.
It’s great that these treatments have shown improvement in tendon repair, but
until it is determined how, no human testing can take place. The goal of scientists now should be to focus on this issue in order to apply the benefits of stem cell therapy to humans sooner rather than later, and to be able to give horse owners the reassurance they need before selecting a treatment plan. Until the year 2012, studies involving equine stem cells in vitro, or in culture, ignored a major fault in their experimental design. The environment cells experience in artificial culture is different from their natural setting in the body. Artificial culture has an oxygen concentration of 20%, known as a
normoxia. In contrast, adult stem cells experience an oxygen concentration between 1% and 8%, known as hypoxia. Oxygen plays an important role in the differentiation process of cells and the cell’s life cycle. In a 2012 study, cells derived from adipose and bone marrow were cultured in each oxygen environment. It was found that normoxic cells grew faster, divided faster, and showed less markers for differentiation ability than hypoxic cells (Ranera et
al. 2012). Future studies involving culture need to focus on observance in hypoxic environments to understand how cells behave in the body, as observance in normoxia could give scientists a different idea of stem cell processes. Once these cells are understood, another application should be investigated to expand the benefits of stem cell therapies.
It is believed that adult stem cells are immunomodulatory. This would mean that any horse could
receive cells from another safely, called autologous implantation. Off-the –shelf products could be developed for increased availability and rapid implementation early after injury. There would be no cost associated with the harvest procedure or separation, saving much of the costs involved (Fortier et al. 2011). Imagine walking down an aisle at the grocery store and being able to purchase injectable stem cells for a tendon or ligament injury with no extraction procedure. This would be, if possible, the most beneficial way to adapt stem cell therapies into the world of common medication.
One big question remains: which derivation of stem cells provides the best benefits to the
treatment of over-strained tendon?
Though all three of the currently utilized derivations show improvement in tendon regeneration, not enough is known of their individual behavior yet to isolate one cell type as the best. However, adult stem cells seem to have a brighter future in stem cell therapy than fetal cells. Too many people see the killing of a fetus as immoral for this process to
practically be commercially applied to humans, or horses for that matter. Bothtypes of adult stem cells show promise in tendon regeneration, and future research should focus on these mesenchymal stem cells. Some scientists have
started doing comparative studies between adipose and bone marrow derived stem cells, and more of this sort should be conducted. The future is bright for adult stem cell therapy, however more evidence and knowledge must be gained before any conclusions or advancements can be made.