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Several regenerative therapies represent a promising and highly effective approach for the treatment of joint problems in horses, according to the authors of a just-published review.

Andrea Prez Fraile and her colleagues, writing in the journal Veterinary Sciences, said musculoskeletal injuries in horses are important, mainly due to their economic and sporting implications.

The tissues most affected by such injuries include tendons, ligaments and cartilage, all of which have a restricted ability to self-heal.

This is where regenerative therapies arise, which involve the use of living cells and non-cell therapies to treat various diseases, injuries, and medical conditions and to restore the affected tissue to its native state, both structurally and functionally.

The researchers performed a systematic review, searching the PubMed and Web of Science databases for articles on regenerative medicine for equine musculoskeletal injuries.

Their review covered 17 experimental clinical studies categorized by the therapeutic approach used: platelet-rich plasma, conditioned autologous serum, mesenchymal stem cells, and the secretome.

Overall, they found regenerative medicine based on cell therapy to be highly effective in osteoarticular injuries in horses due to the regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties of these therapies, making them a promising alternative for the treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses.

The most commonly used cellular therapies in regenerative medicine in equine clinics today include mesenchymal stem cell therapy, platelet-rich plasma, autologous conditioned serum, and other therapies in the developmental phase such as the secretome.

The problems most treated with regenerative medicine, obtaining satisfactory results, include bone tissue injuries, ligament and tendon injuries, osteoarthritis, and degenerative joint diseases.

Regenerative medicine is considered a treatment option when conventional therapies have not yielded satisfactory results or when a more advanced therapeutic option focused on tissue regeneration is sought, they said.

It should be pointed out that these results obtained in the treatment of injured horses, in addition to their inherent economic implications, have an enormous interest in translational medicine to human beings in this context.

These kinds of therapies seem to be preferable to other potential therapies, i.e., replacement surgery, with its inherent decrease in the fitness of the patient, and avoid the risks and ethical concerns of other potential treatments like gene therapies.

The authors said experimental studies in horses have shown promising results in terms of tissue repair and regeneration largely due to the potential benefits of mesenchymal stem cells.

However, further research in this field is considered necessary to support its effectiveness and establish clear guidelines for its use in clinical practice.

The lack of controlled clinical trials limits the strength of this evidence, they said.

Moreover, the importance of conducting medium- and long-term evaluations to determine the durability and sustained efficacy of these therapies is highlighted.

This, they said, is particularly relevant in cases of chronic or degenerative injuries, where long-term evaluation is essential to understand the real impact of the treatment.

The lack of factual conclusions based on long-term analysis, coupled with high economic costs compared to other regenerative medicine techniques, implies the need to perform a costbenefit analysis to ensure and justify the use of this type of therapy in clinical practice.

The review team comprised Prez Fraile, Elsa Gonzlez-Cubero, Susana Martnez-Flrez, Elas Olivera, and Vega Villar-Surez, all with the University of Len in Spain.

Prez Fraile, A.; Gonzlez-Cubero, E.; Martnez-Flrez, S.; Olivera, E.R.; Villar-Surez, V. Regenerative Medicine Applied to Musculoskeletal Diseases in Equines: A Systematic Review. Vet. Sci. 2023, 10, 666. https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci10120666

The review, published under a Creative Commons License, can be read here.

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Review shows benefits of regenerative medicine for joint issues in ... - Horsetalk