Archive for the ‘Veterinary Stem Cell Therapy’ Category
Veterinary Stem Cell Therapy For Dogs – New Uses For Old Fat
December 12th, 2009 | 
Author: New technology is around that is bringing stem cell therapy to your dog. A company called Vet-Stem, Inc has come up with a procedure whereby adult stem cells can be harvested from a dog and then used to treat diseases such as osteoarthritis , tendon repair, and other possible things such as wound healing, bone healing, and liver disease.
Microscopic View of Stem Cells
To understand the concept, the place to start is by answering the question, what is a stem cell? A stem cell is a “primitive” cell found throughout the body that has the ability to differentiate into any type of tissue such as bone, tendon, ligament, muscle, etc. The idea is that these cells are very immature and haven’t started differentiating into any set type of tissue yet. So, with manipulation, we can make them differentiate into whatever we want.
There are two big categories of stem cells, embryonic stem cells and adult stem cells. Most everyone has heard of embryonic stem cells because this is where all of the controversy is in our country today. Embryonic stem cells come from the inner cell mass of embryos and are intended to form a whole person or animal. These are extremely powerful stem cells and have tremendous potential to help a lot of diseases but they do have some down sides. One downside is that because they are intended to form a whole creature, they have the potential to form a type of tumor called a teratorma. This has really only been seen in the laboratory but is still a small concern. Also, because they usually come from another person (fetuses), there is a chance of rejection because the body identifies them as a foreign being to itself.
Differentiation of Stem Cells
The other type of stem cell is the adult stem cell. Most adult tissues (bone marrow, fat, muscle, skin, brain, nerve)have stem cells present within them. These stem cells are more differentiated than embryonic stem cells but still have the ability to differentiate into many types of tissue. An added advantage of these tissues is that they don’t form teratomas and they can be collected and harvested from a person and given back to the same person, thus no chance of rejection by the body. Currently, in dogs, we are able to use fat as a source of adult stem cells. I will discuss why fat is a good source in a little bit.
The reason stem cells are beneficial is that they are loaded with substances we call “trophic factors”. These trophic factors reduce scarring, improve blood flow, block cell death, and stimulate differentiation of the resident tissue to heal the damaged tissue. They also block the mechanisms of inflammation and can regulate the immune systems response to the damaged tissue. Stem cells also have the ability to find where the damaged tissue is and home in on that location. What this leads to is a reduction in inflammation, reduction in scarring, and an increase in repair of the damaged tissue.
As I said earlier, in dogs, the current area we are focusing on is using adipose (fat) derived adult stem cells. There are quite a few advantages to using fat as a source of stem cells over other tissues like bone marrow. A big advantage is that fat has a very large number of stem cells present within it.
It has over 500 times greater stem cells than bone marrow for the same amount of tissue. When harvesting bone marrow, because the yield per amount is lower than fat, you have to culture the bone marrow-derived stem cells for a few weeks to increase the population of cells. With fat, the stem cells just need to be harvested and not cultured so turnaround time is quicker. Also, fat is easy to harvest and there is a large amount of it present within the body. Because it can be harvested from the patient and returned to the patient, this also eliminates the chance of rejection by the body.
Regenerative medicine (stem cells) has advantages over traditional medicine (medications such as aspirin) in many ways. Stem cells function by not just using one receptor or pathway to work, but by using multiple pathways. They also can be delivered directly to the affected area or have the innate ability to home to damaged tissue. Once at the site of injury, they are able to differentiate into multiple different tissue types, induce repair, and stimulate regeneration. They also release substances into the area that have affects on the local tissues as well as tissues away from the damaged area. Medications pretty much function by one pathway of action or by blocking one particular substance but don’t have other abilities.
Currently, adipose-derived stem cell therapy is being used to treat osteoarthritis in dogs. There have been a few studies looking at treating advanced arthritis in elbows, hips, and knees of dogs, all of which have shown improvement in lameness within 30 days. These improvements have lasted for months and for some over a year with a single injection. Adipose-derived stem cell therapy has also been used in horses to treat tendon injuries/inflammation with similar beneficial results in lameness and improvements in the actual tendon healing. Current indications for dogs
are for osteoarthritis, polyarthritis (inflammation within multiple joints,
usually caused by the immune system), tendonitis/tendonosis (inflammation of a tendon), desmitis (inflammation of a ligament), and bone healing.
Harvesting, Processing, Reinjecting
The process of treating animals with stem cells is a 3 step procedure. There is harvesting, processing, and reinjection of the stem cells. Harvesting the stem cells is a relatively simple procedure. There are 3 main locations where there is usually an abundance of fat that can be harvested from: inguinal region, thoracic region, and the falciform fat. Harvesting does require the dog to be briefly anesthetized and the fat needs to be harvested in a sterile manner so it does not become infected. Once harvested, the fat is shipped to the company, Vet-Stem, Inc., overnight where it is processed.
Processing the fat is a sterile procedure where the fat is minced, washed, enzymes are used to digest the unnecessary tissue to form a pellet of cells which then is resuspended and returned overnight in a sterile syringe for re-injection. The processing is done within 12 hours so the stem cells are available 48 hours after harvesting.
Injection of the stem cells into the patient can usually be done with just sedation. Although the stem cells can be injected intravenously, better results have been found with injecting them directly into the affected joints. When multiple joints need to be injected, you just need to plan during the harvesting to take a larger amount of fat to make sure enough stem cells are returned. Complications with stem cell injections are rare with only a few cases of mild irritation at the injection sites and an occasional pocket of fluid forming where the fat was harvested from.
There is great potential for the use of adipose-derived stem cells in many other canine diseases, not just arthritis. Currently, there is research into using them for liver disease, wound healing, immune-mediated disease, and ischemic disease. In people there are studies looking at adipose-derived stem cells for treatment of heart attack patients, Crohn’s disease, and graft-vs-host rejection diseases like with kidney or liver transplants.
Vet-Stem, Inc
If you are curious and want to learn more about adipose-derived stem cell therapy or want to find a veterinarian in your area that is doing the procedure, visit Vet-Stem, Inc website.
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