Papers of the Week

Regenerative medicine therapies have become significant tools for treatment of joint, soft tissue, and a variety of other conditions in animals and humans. Regenerative medicine aims to restore form and function of injured tissues using the body's own resources such as cells, fluids (ie, plasma and serum), and their resulting anti-inflammatory and prohealing cytokines. Platelet-rich plasma and other hemoderivatives have application for joint disorders such as osteoarthritis, cartilage injury, synovitis, and soft tissue injuries. These therapies achieve anti-inflammatory and healing effects without the use of corticosteroid therapy. This response is an advantage when treating young animals or human patients, and in animals with metabolic or hormonal issues such as equine pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction. Also, these therapies may have beneficial effects when traditional IA treatments such as corticosteroids and/or hyaluronan are no longer effective at reducing joint inflammation and pain. Examples of hemoderivative regenerative therapies to be discussed include platelet-rich plasma, autologous conditioned serum, autologous protein solution, and α-2 macroglobulin.