New regenerative strategies for tendon repair and regeneration.

In recent years tissue engineering techniques and cell-based therapies improved regenerative outcomes. Both approaches are important for treating frequently occurring conditions as traumatic rupture or tendinopathies and attempt to improve the intrinsic repair mechanism that mimics embryonic tendon development. For instance, the injection of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) and/or platelet rich plasma (PRP) into the core of a damaged tendon aims to enhance and support regenerative mechanisms that occur naturally in the animal body. Moreover, our results confirmed once more the great “flexible” nature of MSC since they can be injected in a decellularized tendon, obtained from cadaveric tissues, and survive in the resulting scaffold for a couple of weeks. In this report we summarize the most significant results and future strategies of our research into two main sections, one devoted to bioscaffold technology for curing complete tendon tears (Martinello T. et al 2012) and one dedicated to the use of adult stem cells and PRP for treating overstretching lesions of tendons (Martinello T. et al 2013, Renzi S. et al 2013). We underline the fact that MSC obtained from different tissutal sources are safe and have the potential to enhance functional recovery in equine injuries although molecular mechanisms are still to be elucidated. Likewise, the real efficacy of PRP is still under debate in the orthopaedic field of both human and veterinary medicine. Therefore, we suggest increasing the number of clinical and experimental cases in a long-term follow-up period for evaluating the re-injury percentages and analyse the histological and molecular parameters of the healed tissues (Patruno M & Martinello T, in press).