stem cell research for horses

[carmenlucy123]

I met two very interesting men from Boston America last night,
and they where in the UK for stem cell research they where here trying to sell stem cell preservation to race horse owners.

and they where interested to know if I as a horse owner would pay around $500 or £250 to have the stem cells of my horse preserved when it was born

and I said i would....heres the science bit (stem cells could be taken from the umbilical cord at birth and they can become any cell in the body and be used to treat medical conditions or injuries which could not be treated without them like ligament damage for eg)

anyway yes I would pay that and i am breeding from mildred and if it was an option for me there would be no question I'd cough up

also if it was something that caught on and it happened to most foals...then I would also expect the frozen stem cells to be sold on with the horse so if i was buying i would want a horse with the stem cells (if it ever become that mainstream)

your views please....and would you pay?

hope your all well xxx

 

[Eventerlad15]

Yes-the horse I may get on lease had it one one leg a few years ago-and it worked wonders, giving a fully sound horse.

 

[kit279]

Well, we do collect cord blood (in humans) for research at my lab and my god, what a palaver it is! So much so that the NHS directive is that if you are having an NHS delivery, you are not supposed to have the cord blood collected as it distracts the obstetrician and midwife from the rather more urgent task of delivering the baby.. Then you have to spin it down and snap freeze it - trust me, it is incredibly difficult to coordinate and you can't really do it from a natural delivery, usually has to be a Caesarean.

What I'm trying to say is that it is very unlikely to be practical for most horses giving birth, particularly if they are just a one-horse owner. Perhaps for the very expensive racehorses with good stud facilities, but why would you bother when you can get decent stem cells by biopsying the bone marrow anyway? It's the culturing and injecting of the cells that's really expensive, not the initial collecting.

 

[carmenlucy123]

I never thought of the actuall process of getting them your right it would be tricky.

And yes there is bone marrow-but dont they loose the ability to become any cell with age?

I have just done a degree in biomedical science i should know that actually but i cant remember-im going to wikipeedy it........................

 

[ifmpeck]

Probably no, purely because my understanding you could get stem cells from the marrow? (open for correction here!)
and also because all the cases of stem cell therepy I've ever been involved with/heard off/had bosses/friends whatever doing haven't worked in the long term. Tbf they were all top competition horses, but surely if they're being marketed at race horses thats sort of the point? With all the time off involved and the high chance of breakdown I probably wouldn't go down that route...but then maybe all my friends are just masisvely unlucky?! Does anyone know how it works usually?