Page 15 - October 2008 The Game

Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
The Game, October 2008 15
The Game
Health & Nutrition 2008
Special Advertorial Feature
Equine Health
By Karen Briggs
Dave Landry Photo
HORSES LEAD HUMANS IN STELL CELL RACE
strength, tness and conditioning in half the time it would take using regular training methods.
Improved performance and muscle development, increased cardiovas- cular tness and exibility as well as minimizing injuries are just some of the bene ts of using the underwater treadmill for your horses.
“The AquaPacer offers trainers something better than just stall rest or lay-ups.” explains Sharon, “We work with owners, trainers and veterinar- ians to do what is best for the horse.”
Based on the successes with of the AquaPacer in the United States, Sha- ron is very optimistic about offering the service in Ontario.
“The horses look good when they come back from AquaPacer rehabili- tation. Most racehorses have injuries like bucked shins or are recovering from chips that have been surgically removed. These horses have been able to maintain a certain level of t- ness in the AquaPacer, so we can get started up at the track a little sooner, but the main goal is to get back the best horse you can.” - Bill Mott, Hall of Fame conditioner.
For more information on the AquaPacer contact Sharon at 519- 683-6908 or 519-401-2769 email: fox refarms@hotmail.com
As horsepeople, we’re used to equine medical research lagging years behind the human version. But when it comes to stem cell research, human phobias and religious beliefs have (in some parts of the world, at least) stalled out some very promising work, while researchers focusing on horses have enjoyed fewer restraints. As a result, scientists working on the equine side now nd themselves in the unusual, but not unwelcome, posi- tion of leading the way when it comes to stem cell research.
recently collaborated with researchers
at the University of Copenhagen to isolate mesenchymal stem cells from equine umbilical cord blood as well. Their work was published in Biotechnol- ogy and was partially funded by Equine Guelph and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).
to treat the horse from which they were harvested, or serve as donor cells for
an unrelated animal. The U of Guelph team speculates that “equine cord blood mesenchymal stem cells (MSC’s) might have superior cellular characteristics to other equine stem cells with regard to immune tolerance, proliferative potential and differentiation potency, which are desirable traits in the selection of cells for tissue engineering.” Comparative studies of human bone marrow, fat tis- sue, and cord blood derived MSC’s, they note, revealed that cord blood MSC’s had higher proliferation potential than both bone marrow and fat tissue-derived MSC’s, even though fewer stem cells were isolated from the cord blood.
Among the recent breakthroughs is the news that stem cells have been success- fully isolated from the cellular matrix
of equine umbilical cords (sometimes called “Wharton’s jelly”). Once col- lected, these umbilical cord matrix cells can then be preserved, frozen, cultured, and differentiated into a host of cell lines. In other words, they can be persuaded to become adult bone, cartilage, fat, or ner- vous system cells, with the potential to repair and renew these tissues in injured horses while reducing in ammation.
Veterinarians are already harvesting stem cells from the fat and bone marrow of adult horses, and are employing them to treat degenerative and traumatic dis- eases including bowed tendons, strained ligaments, some kinds of osteoarthritis, and growth-related orthopedic disorders such as osteochondrosis and bone cysts.
Researchers Steven Hoynowski, Madeline Fry, Bryn Gardner, Matthew Leming, Jeanell Tucker, Linda Black, Theodore Sand, and Kathy Mitchell had their paper published in the October 2007 edition of Biochemical and Bio- physical Research Communications.
But stem cells harvested from placental tissues, including the umbilical cord, have the singular advantages of being available non-invasively and early in the life of the horse. Banking these cells can act as an ‘insurance policy’ against injury once the animal is mature enough to go into race training – and unlike stem cells isolated from adult fat or bone marrow, which take time to collect and process, they’re immediately available when they’re needed.
At least one commercial enterprise is already taking advantage of this rich new source of equine stem cells. Australian health care company, Vet Biotechnology, has launched a service to harvest, grow, and cryogenically preserve umbilical cord stem cells, which will be stored at the Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science in Adelaide.
At the University of Guelph, Thomas Koch, Dean Betts, and Tammy Heerkens
The potential applications for umbili- cal cord stem cells are many. They’re versatile enough that they can be used
Cont. Page 17 - See Equine Health
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Watch for the next Health & Nutrition Special Section Coming April 2009! For advertising information contact Stacie Roberts at 1-866-886-5827 or email info@thehorsegame.com