A comparative assessment of the effectiveness of adult stem cell (MSCS) and platenet rich plasma (PRP) applied on tendon lesions: preliminary results.

In veterinary as well as in human medicine the tenodesmic lesions play a great interest because of their high incidence and entail long periods of rest. The therapeutic protocols recently used in the treatment for these lesions are not able to achieve a real “restitutio ad integrum”. In sport horses, tendon and ligament injuries are a frequent cause of lameness and recently many novel therapies, such as the use of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), have been proposed to treat these pathologies. In the present project we are evaluating the efficacy of the application of: PRP (group 1), autologous MSCs transfected with the reporter gene GFP (group 2) and PRP combined with MSCs (group 3) in experimentally injured tendons of sheep (DM n°97/2010-B). The lesions have been performed with the collagenase enzyme in the deep digital flexor tendon (flexor digitorum profundus) of pelvic limb in three animals for each group. The effectiveness of this treatment has been assessed clinically in vivo and histologically post mortem. Moreover, the in vivo integration of the MSCs injected in the injured tendon has been verified by several approaches. The preliminary results of our research indicates a better quality of tissutal regeneration, especially after the use of MSCs while the clinic evaluation is satisfactory also after the combined use of PRP and MSCs.