Stem Cells and The Future of Veterinary Medicine

A particular interest of mine within both science and the veterinary world is the potential uses of stem cells in regenerative medicine. So far I have explored this interest through two projects, one focusing upon past methods that stem cells have been heavily involved in and the other looking forward to the future, contemplating how scientific technology and understanding may have improved further in order to allow us to  extend the uses of stem cells.

My first project was centered around an article I read whilst browsing an equestrian website. It documented how a racehorse had been successfully treated after damage was done to the Superficial Digital Flexor Tendon in one of its legs using a course of mesenchymal stem cells originating from bone marrow injected into the site of damage. These mesenchymal stem cells are multipotent, therefore can be  differentiated into a limited variety of specialised cells including tissue cells. The full process is explained in the diagram above. Intrigued by this concept I started to do some deeper research, particularly finding the company website of VetCell of great use and other scientific journals such as "Implantation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells demonstrates improved outcome in horses with overstrain injury of the superficial digital flexor tendon. by Godwin E.”  which could then be compared to other studies into conservative methods where the horse is just left in to heal naturally with a controlled exercise programme. Looking at alternative forms of treatment in comparison to stem cells gave me a valuable insight into the number of different treatment plans vets may be aware of and how it is within their duty to explain carefully all the applicable options to a particular case.

The second project examined the future use of stem cells in being able to provide veterinary practices with the option to offer organ transplants, particularly in the case of chronic renal failure in felines. To complete this project I worked with a partner I met at the Vet-Medlink conference and together we constructed the idea that by understanding cell differentiation, we could re-programme adult cells to revert back to an embryonic totipotent state. From this we could cause different genes to be expressed, thus causing different proteins to be transcribed and transcripted allowing us to create specialised cells at will and hopefully a full organ. By using this potential method, the risk of rejection would be non existent as the adult stem cells initially used could be extracted from the patient. We also discussed the idea that with this method more non-clinical veterinarians would be required to oversee the re-programming of adult stem cells and induced differentiation of the embryonic cells created.

From completing these two pieces upon stem cells, I believe that I personally would like to spend some time myself in the future studying these fascinating biological cells and their applications in veterinary medicine. Potentially I would also like to carry out my own research after being inspired by the work and journals I have so far seen. Not only do I believe stem cells will play an ever increasing role in the future of veterinary science, but I additionally predict that the treatments developed through veterinary medicine may be transferred increasingly into human medicine, thus helping to save and improve lives both human and animal.

Image and more information on stem cell treatments: http://www.vetcell.com/