Evaluating Potential Cell-Based Therapy for Articular Cartilage Defects in Horses

Pain, loss of mobility and osteoarthritis resulting from injured articular cartilage limit the athletic careers of many horses. Although current treatments for osteoarthritis focus on symptomatic pain relief, researchers hope that emergent cell-based therapies, under the broad heading of regenerative medicine, will achieve true cartilage repair. Researchers will study a tissue that is very important in the formation of joint cartilage during normal fetal development. They hope to determine if cells derived from this developmental tissue have a greater therapeutic potential than other types of stem cells to form new articular cartilage in adult horses and help repair joint cartilage lesions.