Stem cells in veterinary medicine

At present, stem cell therapies in veterinary patients are not rigorously supervised by regulatory agencies in any country [1]. Unfortunately, this has led to the implementation of some therapies that have not demonstrated efficacy in vitro or in preclinical animal studies. In general, the therapeutic role of stem cells in regenerative medicine is not fully understood. It is unclear whether stem cells ultimately function once differentiated into a tissue-specific cell such as a tenocyte or whether they primarily improve tissue repair through secretion of immunomodulatory and bioactive trophic factors or whether a combination of the two mechanisms occurs [2]. These questions are not purely academic in nature, because if stem cells are truly immunomodulatory, then allogeneic transplantations should be possible. Safe and efficacious applications of allogeneic stem cells would imply that off-the-shelf stem cell products could be developed for increased availability and rapid implementation of stem cell therapies early in a disease course. The potential for allogeneic stem cells to be more cost-effective than autogenous stem cells is questionable. For allogeneic cells, there would be no costs associated with a tissue harvest procedure, but there would be added expenses of ensuring that the stem cell product was free of disease and of storing the stem cells until sale.The therapeutic application of stem cell-based technologies in veterinary medicine was first used by Herthel [3] to treat equine suspensory ligament desmitis. This application involved direct injection of large volumes (20 to 60 mL) of na？ve bone marrow aspirate obtained from the sternum into an injured ligament. In this report of an uncontrolled, nonrandomized case series, the technique appeared to improve return to athletic function rates over conventional therapies. However, it is unlikely that the observed results were due to stem cells, as it became known that there are very few stem cells in bone marro