New at Grovet: HorStem
Since the 1st of September, Grovet has been the distributor of Horstem in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. Horstem is the first registered veterinary medicine that consists of stem cells obtained from the umbilical cord of horses. These stem cells reduce lameness in horses with chronic inflammation of the joints (osteoarthritis). Horstem is ready-to-use, it can be injected directly into the affected joint.
In horses with osteoarthritis, Horstem inhibits the inflammatory response and the breakdown of cartilage. This reduces the horse's lameness and the clinical results last for more than a year.
Other advantages of stem cells obtained from the umbilical cord include:
· The cells are obtained non-invasively from birth tissue after birth. Because the amount of stem cells in the umbilical cord is relatively large, the isolation of these stem cells is efficient and fewer cycles are required in the cell culture procedure to achieve the desired quantity.
· Stem cells from the umbilical cord do not trigger immune response. This is due to small amounts of MHC-1, the absence of MHC-2. There are also fewer costimulatory agents and more inhibitory agents present.
· These stem cells are safer, at birth cells are not yet exposed to environmental factors and disease, also there is less risk of genetic changes in the cells.
