Showing posts with label cell. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cell. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2012

Acute Laminitis Medication Available to Field Case(s) for Testing


SPONSORED HOOF BLOG POST

Laminitis #2

WANTED: YOUR NEXT ACUTE LAMINITIS CASE

MAY 18, 2012--Hoofcare Publishing is asking the blog readership for assistance. The developer of a promising medication to improve the prognosis of acute laminitis cases is seeking a collaborator in the field who has a case that has just been diagnosed.

The medication is a mast cell inhibitor (stabilizer) that has been FDA-approved for use in humans. It is designed to inhibit the release of inflammatory mediators from the cells involved in laminitic reactions and has been successfully tested as a medication for induced laminitis in cattle, sheep and horses in university and private test studies.

B0004150 Mast cell showing histamine granules
A mast cell contains a bundle of granules. When it is activated, the pink granules, in this case of histamine, are released.  Mast cells are important in the immune response system but have many functions that are being studied in medicine. Color-enhanced transmission electron microscope image credit: University of Edinburgh. Wellcome Images
The developer now needs some clinical tests of the drug, which ships in solution in a vial. It is injected into the foot via retrograde venous therapy, similar to the way that antibiotics are injected into feet with infections. A tourniquet is used at the fetlock and the medication, in solution, is injected into the digital vein.

Only acute laminitis cases are being sought at this time. Horses that have progressed to chronic laminitis are not suitable for this test.

B0002677 Mast cell releasing histamine granules
A stimulated mast cell that has just exploded, releasing histamine granules. The remains of the cell are seen towards the lower left, still containing a number of granules that are yet to escape. Image credit: K. Whitley, D. Becker, Wellcome Images
The medication is a mast-cell stabilizer, meaning that it inhibits the release of excess inflammatory mediators contained within mast cells. This is a much-studied area of immune-response medicine and other areas of disease pathways. The laminitis formulation also offers anti-inflammatory properties but must be administered only to horses that are not receiving Bute for therapy.

 A $75 formulation fee will be waived to a Hoofcare + Lameness blog reader who comes forward with a case to participate.

A clinic or private practitioner who would like to participate agrees to:

a. Administer the drug via the retrograde administration instructions provided.

b. Complete a Post-Treatment – Results Form – “5-Days” Post-Treatment.

c. To allow study sponsor to contact horse owner to complete Post-Treatment survey.

d. An owner-consent form must be completed.

If you are interested in participating, please send an email to Hoofcare Publishing and the developer will contact you.

Caution: Federal (United States) Law restricts this drug to use by or on the order of a licensed veterinarian.   Storage requirements: Room Temperature 

Followup: this product is also known as Laminil 
 
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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Video: Rood and Riddle Laminitis Treatment and Stem Cell Therapy for Regally-Bred Rescued Racehorse

"Laminitis: Film at 11" was the message in Tucson, Arizona this weekend as the media framed the play-by-play of treatment to a rescued laminitic Thoroughbred by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Dr. Vern Dryden. Videos are posted at the end of this article. This slideshow is compiled of images taken by Kim Reis. The slide show in its entirety and the individual photos as well are © Heart of Tucson. Media facilitated by Greg Ambrose (thanks). Click on the "play" icon to start the show.

Somewhere in the desert outside of Tucson, Arizona, a horse is wondering "Where'd everyone go?" this morning. Film crews, spectators, new shoes, tourniquets and a big buzz have electrified life at the barn the past few days as a rescued, rundown racehorse received state-of-the-art treatment for his chronic laminitis.

A lost and sickly Thoroughbred taken in by the Heart of Tucson rescue and therapy group has turned out to be a quite royally bred son of the famed Three Chimneys Farm stallion Dynaformer, who also sired such great racehorses as Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and Melbourne Cup winner Americain. His name in the Jockey Club record books is Dyna King.

But laminitis doesn't care who you are.

Vernon Dryden, DVM, CJF
Dyna King, whose identity was unknown when he limped off trailer at the rescue center after being found abandoned and lame in the desert, now goes by the barn name "Gifted". He was was slow to his feet yesterday, and slow to hobble down the barn aisle to the mats where he'd stand for two hours while far-from-home Vern Dryden, DVM, CJF of the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Center in Lexington, Kentucky went to work on his feet.

The treatment, performed at state-of-the-art Bandalero Ranch near Tucson, included frog-support equipped Sigafoos glue-on shoes and dental impression material with a hospital plate--a standard treatment these days.

But this treatment had something else. In addition to Dryden's world-class expertise in treating laminitis, analyzing the radiographs and preparing the foot for his special shoes, the horse felt both his front limbs get wrapped. A catheter was inserted and Dryden pumped millions of stem cells into the horse's lower limbs.

Rood and Riddle's regenerative medicine program's stem cell project uses specially-harvested umbilical stem cells collected from blood in the afterbirth of foals.

Dyna King's story caught the imagination--and support--of local television station KGUN9-TV in Tucson. A production crew followed Dryden on the job and the horse's treatment has been featured on Tucson television news over the weekend.

KGUN9 and Heart of Tucson kindly shared the videos and slide show so they can be posted here for Hoof Blog readers around the world.

Intro TV News video:

 

 Interview with Dr Vern Dryden; video © Heart of Tucson:

   

If you'd like to donate to help Dyna King, click here for the Heart of Tucson donation page. Note: Dr. Dryden's treatment and services were donated, but the costs of caring for Dyna King will be high.

To learn more:
Call 978 281 3222 to order your copy; always in stock!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Umbilical Stem Cells Show Promise in Pilot Study at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital Podiatry Center

What's underneath that hoof cast? The latest laminitis therapy is virtually invisible to the observer, and may often covered with a foot cast.
The following article is provided by the Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital Podiatry Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky.

Background

Laminitis can be a devastating and expensive disease to treat. Today there is no true cure for the disease. However cases can often be rehabilitated back to varying degrees with the aid of therapeutic shoeing, foot management, and medical therapies. Although special foot management can in some cases return horses back to previous athletic use, others remain severely compromised and lame. Once the lamina detaches and the pedal bone displaces, each case heals back with varying degrees of stability. The tissue that heals the separated lamina is a combination of scar tissue, dysfunctional disorganized horn tissue (epithelial cells) and healthy lamina.

Additionally, these cases can suffer permanent damage to the growth centers of the foot such as the coronary band and the sensitive sole, further limiting their ability to heal. The degree of future stability most likely is dependent upon the type of tissue that heals the diseased region.

What are stem cells? What is regenerative medicine?

Stem cells are cells that have the ability to replicate themselves and regenerate tissue. They play an important role in embryonic and fetal development as well as repairing damaged tissue. Isolating these cells and using them for a targeted treatment with the intention to heal a specific area is the principle behind their potential use.

Stem cell therapy or regenerative medicine is an exciting, but relatively new area which has sparked great interest. Its potential use to influence the type of tissue that heals a diseased or damaged area is a great interest to the veterinary community.

How is Rood and Riddle approaching stem cell therapy for laminitis patients?

Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital is currently working on clinical-based research using stem cells on severe laminitic patients which have proven unresponsive to other treatments. The clinical use of stem cells is still in its early stages, but results appear promising and worth further investigation.

Since many laminitis cases can be rehabilitated with other modalities, it was determined to limit our clinical study to those cases which have been unresponsive to all other treatments. These cases failed to show sole or wall growth after shoeing, foot casting, slinging and, in many cases, after deep digital flexor tenotomy.

Stem cell therapy is an adjunctive therapy, used in conjunction with extensive medical and mechanical treatments. To date, Rood and Riddle's laminitis-specialist veterinarians selected cases based on poor response to the disease's normal treatment protocols at the clinic. (Fran Jurga photo)

To date we have used stem cell therapy on twelve cases as an adjunctive treatment. All but one case has responded with significant sole and wall growth in the affected feet. Typically signs of growth were evident within two weeks.

The one case that did not respond was a severe acute “sinker” (lamellar failure or detachment occurs around the entire hoof capsule causing the coffin bone to “sink”) ; the horse was sloughing the hoof and had severe soft tissue necrosis before treatment.

It is important to note that stem cell therapy alone will most likely offer little benefit in the unstable cases. As with all therapies these feet will require special management (shoeing, casting, sling, and DDF tenotomy) to help stabilize and support the foot while it is healing.

The stem cells used in Rood and Riddle's clinical laminitis research are harvested and cultured from the blood in umbilical cords of foals. (Joanna8555 photo)

Umbilical stem cells from newborn foals

Rood and Riddle's Stem Cell Lab is currently harvesting cells from the umbilical cord blood of newborn foals. Umbilical cord blood is collected at the time of birth, which provides a pool of stem cell which can be cultured and expanded for clinical use.

When these cells are used as a treatment on another horse, they are considered allogenic (from a donor) with the possible risk of rejection. However, no reactions in our cases have been noticed.

Stem cells can also be collected from fat or bone marrow and used specifically for that horse if needed. The best source of cells, timing, dose, administration, and route still need to be determined.


Case Study from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital's Podiatry Clinic

The following case is a severe bilateral front foot sinker. This case had a deep digital flexor tenotomy, foot cast, and partial hoof wall resection. She failed to show any signs of wall or sole growth over a two-month period of time.

Stem cell therapy and foot casts were applied on both front feet as a last effort to save her. Within two weeks she showed signs of healthy wall and sole growth and improving her comfort level. Currently this mare is doing well; it has now been six months since treatment and she is turned out in a small paddock.


Left and right foot radiographs before treatment. Stem cell therapy was begun at this time along with foot casts and antibiotics.  Two weeks later the coronary band and sole began to show healthy growth.(Scott Morrison images)

These are radiographic images of a 10 year old thoroughbred mare with severe sinking of both front feet before and after stem cell therapy. The mare was treated with deep digital flexor tenotomy, foot casts and partial wall resections. The foot did not show any signs of improvement for over 2 months.

 This photo was taken at six weeks post stem cell treatment. Note the new, healthy wall growing from the coronary band. (Scott Morrison image)
Left and right feet six months after therapy with umbilical stem cells. (Scott Morrison images)
Watch for more news about the use of umbilical and other stem cells in horse foot problems.

Rood and Riddle Podiatry Clinic veterinarians working on the stem cell treatment cases mentioned in this article are (from left to right) clinic director Dr Scott Morrison, Dr Vern Dryden and Dr Raul Bras.
TO LEARN MORE: The Second Annual North American Veterinary Regenerative Medicine Conference (NAVRMC) is scheduled for June 2-4, 2011, at the Marriott Griffin Gate Resort in Lexington, Kentucky.  Held in collaboration with the University of California at Davis Center for Equine Health, Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center and Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, the NAVRMC is a three-day working meeting consisting of scientific presentations and discussion sessions on all aspects of stem cell therapy and regenerative medicine in horses and small animals.

The conference will bring together researchers and practitioners to discuss and apply this promising area of veterinary medicine. Topics will be a blend of research and practical application discussions.

New to the NAVRMC in 2011 is a special session for horsemen. The half-day forum, set for June 4, is open to all horse owners, trainers, and equine professionals who are interested in learning more about this rapidly growing area of veterinary science.

For complete NAVRMA sponsorship information, membership fees, and conference registration please visit www.navrma.org.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
 
Follow the Hoof Blog on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Mobile-Friendly Hoof Blog Version Launched for Cell Phones and Mobile Devices

A mobile phone friendly version of Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog was launched on September 18, 2010. You can now access the Hoof Blog on your mobile phone in an easy-to-read, single column format.

The single column makes it easy to scroll through the blog. It shows a miniature version of visuals in each blog article and the first few sentences of text. By clicking on an image or headline, full images, videos and/or articles will appear.

The text in the mobile version is quite large and easy to read. Don't worry, you can still watch videos and leave comments, if you have a cell phone that is video-enabled and has a keyboard function.

To access the mobile version, just use your regular cell phone browser to reach the blog. Once you reach it, it will change from the normal format to the single column. Depending on what type of phone you have, you can either bookmark the blog (if you haven't already) or create a desktop icon for it to be able to access it directly. This method works with the iPhone.

Another development to make the blog easier to find and use was a shortening of the URL to reach the blog. The new url of www.hoofblog.com now re-directs to the blog and requires less typing, which is especially helpful on a cellphone or mobile device.

Watch for more developments and changes on the blog in the coming weeks. The blog will also begin accepting advertising on a trial basis. Advertising will be available as small ads in the right-hand sidebar or as banner ads between ads in the body of the blog. This will just be a trial; we'll see how it goes.
 
Email Fran Jurga at Hoofcare Publishing or call 978 281 3222 for information about all of Hoofcare Publishing's projects and advertising and sponsorship opportunities for 2011. It's going to be a great year!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
 
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Friday, December 11, 2009

Stem Cell Video: Lava Man Will Be An 8-Year-Old Gelding Racing on a 3-Year-Old's Ankles

by Fran Jurga | 11 December 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



On Saturday, American horseracing has a chance to welcome back one of its great heroes of recent years, the rags-to-riches California claimer Lava Man. The gelding is coming out of retirement to run in a stakes race and he's probably getting more press for his comeback than he did for winning more than $3 million in purses during his first career. You remember, the one he ran on his original legs.

That's right, Lava Man has been true to his California roots and he's been having some "work done". But it's not his nose or his chin or his thighs that were worked on, but his ankles. The gelding had his own bone marrow stem cells extracted and then injected into his lower limbs to help with some chronic wear-and-tear injuries.

The procedure was done at the lovely Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Los Olivos, California. The clinic is in the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara and is the sort of place most horses can only dream of seeing out their their windows when the vans brake to a stop.

Apparently some people are concerned that Lava Man is too old to race, or that the repaired ankles will backfire on him somehow. My guess is that if something backfires, it won't be the ankles. Racing is a young horse's game, but advances in veterinary medicine and sportsmedicine have allowed some senior campaigners to do very well in the sport lately--Commentator and Better Talk Now come to mind, not to mention Pepper's Pride.

Outside of racing, stem cell treatments are pretty standard for horses as old or older than Lava Man. Although every horse and every injury is different, stem cells are routinely injected into the injured legs of mature jumping horses who make comebacks. Consider the British National Hunt campaigner Knowhere, featured on this blog last year. At ten, he came back to jump racing after stem cell treatments on his bowed tendon and his first race was three miles, with 21 fences.

The British stem-cell technology firm VetCell studied 168 national hunt horses and identified that the re-injury rate, following stem cell therapy for superficial digital flexor tendon injury and return to full work, in the three years following treatment is 24 percent compared to 56 percent reported for horses that have undergone more traditional tendon treatment.

Horse racing stories doesn't usually make the New York Times in December, but Lava Man is in there today. The big races are over, the Breeders Cup is fading into a dreamy memory, but on a slow weekend on the slowest month of the racing year, here comes this great old gelding, back to the track to try again. His owners say they are doing it for racing, for his fans, and for him.

Maybe they should add that, if Lava Man succeeds, they are doing it for lots of other older horses that can be managed carefully and correctly into extended careers.

Video courtesy of www.alamopintado.com


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Stem Cell Tendon Repair for a Dressage Horse: Not Your Typical Public Radio Reporter's Assignment

by Fran Jurga | 14 July 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Today, we'll go along with KQED, the National Public Radio station in San Francisco, as they cross the bridge and leave the city behind. Their destination is the vet school hospital at the University of California at Davis. Amy Standen, the intrepid reporter, doesn't usually set up her sound equipment in a horse barn, but she gamely accepts a warmblood with the assumed name of Disney (to protect his real identity) as her subject for the day.

The goal is to portray advances in equine stem cell treatments for tendon injuries, using bone marrow or fat tissue stem cells, as promising experiments for future human treatments.

Have a listen! Thanks to KQED for setting up this shared audio file. Click here to go to the home page of Quest, KQED's science program, which produced the equine stem cell segment, where you will find photos and the reporter's notes.



© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Keep Going, Knowhere: Jump Champion Still Winning on Bionic Tendon

by Fran Jurga | 21 November 2008 | www.hoofcare.blogspot.com

Image by &ndie/courtesy of Flickr

News comes and go. Horses come and go. Every once in a while a story or a horse comes back into the headlines and you say, "I'll be darned..."

Last winter we reported on the jubilation of the veterinary community over the success of the jump racer Knowhere, who came back from tendon surgery to excel again at this most grueling of tests for a front tendon. Knowhere kept running, kept jumping and often, kept winning. I lost track of him after he fell at a fence in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last March, and thought he'd been retired.

But another racing season has just begun in England and a few weeks ago, Knowhere launched into his 2008 campaign...as a ten-year-old. He came home first in the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, near Liverpool, five years after bowing and having stem cells from his sternum inserted into the bulging superficial flexor tendon of his right front leg.

The technique used for Knowhere, called VetCell, is different from the normal fat-derived stem cell treatment.

Click here
to go back and read about Knowhere's treatment and all the people who will be cheering for him next Saturday in the Hennessy Gold Cup. His tendon will have to hold up over a distance of 3 miles, 2 and a half furlongs and carry him over 21 fences. The race is the oldest commercially sponsored sporting event in Europe, and Knowhere, who is trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies and ridden by Paddy Brennan, will face 53 others if they all are fit to run.

There may be plenty of horses racing with bionic parts!


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.