Medical Research Aides Humans and Horses
I’m Susan Allen reporting for Open Range. As I ‘ve discussed in the past on this program, horses and humans share many medical conditions , when Open Range returns how one Italian research group has developed cutting edge technology using stem cell therapy that could aide in treating both the nervous and musculoskeletal systems of both species. My husband’s rope horse has a high suspensory hind leg injury, rehab has been a long process with a fifty percent chance the animal will be sound. One new option for treatment with a great prognosis is currently being done at WSU using stem cell yet we found the cost at around $4,000 to $5,000 prohibitive. In the US and Europe Equine scientists are working on genetically modifying stem cells to create a vaccine that could possibly make treatments for more affordable but Italian researchers have taken it a step farther, using fat cells they have created therapeutic molecules that will be utilized to treat a host of equine and hopefully human diseases that affect the nervous system. The stem cell vaccine is injected into a horses neck and the genetically modified cells begin to generate a protein that works to heal the horses injuries, like joints and ligaments that in the past haven’t responded well to treatment. For more information on this new stem cell technology, There will be a link to the study on my Open Range Facebook page.
