Synovial Fluid’s Effect on Stem Cells

Fluid caused little reaction in some horses’ stem cells but promoted or inhibited growth in others.
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For years horse owners have turned to traditional joint therapies to help manage their animals’ painful joint diseases, such as arthritis, so they might remain comfortable and usable despite their medical conditions. Today, some owners are exploring a relatively new type of joint therapy: intra-articular stem cell injections. While many initial anecdotal reports indicate this method has been successful, some questions still remain. For example, how do the stem cells interact with the synovial fluid that fills joints? A University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine (UGACVM) researcher recently completed a study on the topic.

Lindsey Helms-Boone, DVM, a surgical resident and PhD candidate at UGACVM set out to better understand how bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) interact within the synovial fluid environment, and to see if increasing concentrations of synovial fluid effected the BMSCs proliferation (growth) and viability (survival).

"I wanted to prove to myself when I first started this experiment that when I injected, say, 10-20 million BMSCs into a horse’s joint that they would be able to survive in synovial fluid without substantial loss in viable cells before adhering to the synovial membrane," she explained.

"Synovial fluid in vivo (in the live horse) has a concentration of 100% (i.e., the synovial fluid in the horse’s joints isn’t mixed with anything; it’s 100% synovial fluid)," Helms-Boone noted. "In an in vivo setting the nutrients available to the cells are constantly changing, but when you place this in an in vitro (in the laboratory) setting the nutrients in the synovial fluid do not change

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Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

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