In January of 2008, Vet-Stem, located in San Diego, Calif., started offering stem cell therapy in dogs to treat arthritis and tendon and ligament injuries.

The procedure uses stem cells derived from the dog's own adipose tissue, or fat. The cells are then injected into the damaged area to help grow healthy cells.

Vet-Stem has treated more than 3,000 horses with the same therapy.

In chronic injuries, like arthritis, the goal is to slow down the breakdown of the joint tissues and suppress inflammation, thus providing pain relief.

In acute injuries, such as torn ligaments, the goal is to strengthen the damaged tissues.

"With chronic injuries we know we're not going to make those tissues normal, but it will suppress inflammation, slow the progression of the degenerative changes in many cases, but also provide pain relief by diminishing the immune or inflammatory response within that joint," Jeff Peck, D.V.M., said veterinarian at Affiliated Veterinary Specialists in Orlando, Fla. Stem cell therapy for acute injuries has been primarily used on horses, but may soon be used on dogs.

Fatty tissue has a high concentration of stem cells, called mesenchymal stem cells.

Whereas these same cells in bone marrow create new blood cells, mesenchymal cells found in fatty tissue create connective tissues like muscle, tendon, bone and cartilage, making them ideal for repairing joint injuries and slowing down joint degeneration.

Because mesenchymal stem cells come from the animal's own body, veterinarians don't have to worry about cell rejection.

In addition, because there are so many stem cells in fat tissue, the turnaround time is 48 hours.

With bone-marrow-derived stem cells, turnaround time in humans may be from one to three weeks. This is because marrow-derived stem cells have to be separated from other cells in the marrow, and sometimes grown or expanded in the laboratory.

Stem cell therapy on dogs can cost between $2,000 and $3,000. More than 100 board-certified small animal veterinary surgeons around the country have been trained by Vet-Stem to perform the procedure.

In this kind of therapy, doctors usually harvest the stem cells during surgery, either to treat the joint injury or specifically to collect those cells. The veterinarian then sends the cells to a laboratory to be prepared for injection and then injects the stem cells directly into the affected joint.

The cells are sometimes injected intravenously, but this is not as effective. Because this procedure is fairly new for dogs, there have been no patterns in recovery time yet.

In clinical trials conducted on humans, stem cells from fatty tissue have proven successful in strengthening cardiovascular. Other experiments with human adipose stem cells have shown the cells to be capable of differentiating into smooth muscle cells.

These findings are promising for the future treatment of cardiovascular and musculoskeletal problems in humans with their own adipose stem cells.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Affiliated Veterinary Specialists
Orlando, FL
(407) 644-1287
http://www.avsspecialists.com
vet@AVSspecialists.com