Veterinary Medicine Commons^™

Regenerative Medicine For Tendon/Ligament Injuries: De Novo Equine Tendon/Ligament Neotissue Generation And Application, Takashi Taguchi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Tendon and ligament injuries are debilitating conditions across species. Poor regenerative capacities of these tissues limit restoration of original functions. The first study evaluated the effect of cellular administration on tendon/ligament injuries in horses using meta-analysis. The cellular administration was effective in restoring ultrasonographic echogenicity and increasing vascularity during early phase of healing. Additionally, it improved microstructural organization of healed tissue in terms of cellularity and fiber alignment. However, the study did not support its use for increasing rate of return to performance, expression/deposition of tendon-specific genes/proteins, or mechanical properties.

The findings led to the second study that engineered implantable …

Matrix Metalloproteinases In The Equine Systemic Inflammatory Response: Implications For Equine Laminitis, Lee Ann Fugler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Laminitis is a crippling and often life-threatening disease of the equine foot. Soft tissue damage characteristic of this disease has been associated with increased MMP activity. Therefore, it seems likely that MMPIs could be potential therapeutic agents for laminitis. Further characterization of equine MMPs and evaluation of the effectiveness of MMPIs in the horse are needed. Equine MMP-9 was harvested from neutrophils, purified by affinity chromatography, and evaluated using western blotting and gelatin zymography. The Biotrak MMP-9 Activity Assay was evaluated for use with equine samples using equine neutrophil MMP-9 as a standard, and was determined to have insufficient sensitivity …

Characterization And Comparison Of Cell Frequency, Growth, And Multipotential Differentiation Of Adult Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Derived From Equine Bone Marrow And Adipose Tissue, Martin Andreas Vidal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Equine bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and adipose tissue-derived stromal cells (ASCs) were compared for frequency within their respective tissues, cell doubling characteristics and differentiation multipotential in culture based on histochemical staining and compositional analysis. Equine MSCs and ASCs from young adult horses were harvested and isolated from sternal bone marrow and supragluteal subcutaneous adipose tissue, respectively, and grown up to passage 10 (P10) to determine cell doubling characteristics. Limit dilution assays were performed on primary and passaged (P2, P4) MSCs and ASCs to determine the frequency of colony forming units with a fibroblastic phenotype (CFU-F), and the frequency …

The Relationship Between Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines, Prostaglandins, And Fetal Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activation In Mares With Infective Pre-Term Delivery, Sara K. Lyle

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Ascending placentitis is a significant cause of abortions, stillbirths, and perinatal loss in horses. A technique for laparoscopic-guided catheterization of the allantoic space was developed and utilized in an experimental model of streptococcal infective pre-term delivery in pony mares. Mares received either 1 x 107 CFU live S. zooepidemicus (n=3), 5.1 x 108 CFU live S. zooepidemicus (n=1), 1 x 107 heat-killed S. zooepidemicus (n=3), 1 mL sterile PBS (n=3). Sham control mares did not receive a transcervical inoculation (n=3). One mare not instrumented with an allantoic catheter received 5.1 x 108 CFU live S. zooepidemicus. Mares with spontaneous abortion …

Equine Immunity To Cyathostome Infections, Marie Alexandra Baudena

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

To study the protective responses of cyathostome-infected ponies, two challenges were performed employing animals with different histories of exposure to these parasites. The hypothesis developed and to be tested in these experiments was that ponies that had longer exposure to cyathostome contaminated pastures would express acquired resistance to infection. The assumption behind this hypothesis was that helminth-naïve ponies infected with cyathostomes would eliminate the infection using only innate immune responses. Whereas previously exposed ponies would eliminate the infection with acquired immune responses, and these would be more effective in ponies with longer exposure to cyathostomes. Thus, helminth-naïve animals would acquire …