Objectives: To evaluate digital flexor tendon sheath (DFTS) synovial fluid cartilage oligomeric matrix protein (COMP) concentrations as a molecular marker for intrathecal pathology.
Study Design: Case control study.
Animals: Horses (n=46) with DFTS tenosynovitis; 23 fresh cadaver horses.
Objective—To obtain morphometric values for the superficial digital flexor tendon, deep digital flexor tendon, accessory ligament of the deep digital flexor muscle, and suspensory ligament in the palmar metacarpal region of Icelandic Horses.
Animals—50 nonlame Icelandic Horses in training.
A retrospective analysis of 15 cases of flexor tendon lacerations managed with a fetlock support brace between 2004 and 2008 was performed. Information was gathered concerning exact nature of the injury, treatment details and outcome. Limbs involved included 2 forelimbs and 13 hindlimbs. Eight of fifteen horses (53%) presented with a dropped fetlock, elevated toe or both when bearing weight on the affected limb. General anaesthesia was performed on 7/15 cases to further evaluate and treat the wound, 8/15 cases were managed with local anaesthesia and/or sedation only.
Objectives: To evaluate the effects of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) treatment on the metabolism of equine tendon fibroblasts in vitro to aid in investigating the response of tendon fibroblasts to injury and novel therapeutics. Methods: Superficial digital flexor tendon fibroblasts isolated via collagenase digestion from six young adult horses were grown in monolayer in four concentrations of PGE2 (0, 10, 50, 100 ng/ml) for 48 hours.
Reasons for performing study: Damage to the flexor tendons, particularly the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT), is one of the most common musculoskeletal injuries sustained by horses competing in all disciplines. Our previous work has shown that SDFTs from different individuals show a wide variation in mechanical strengths; this is important clinically as it may relate to predisposition to injury.
Reasons for performing study: The flexor tendons support the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) and distal interphalangeal (DIP) joints during stance phase and since tendon stiffness and strain changes with age, it is likely that kinematics are also age-dependent.
Hypothesis: Maximum MCP and DIP angles decrease in the young horse, plateau in the mature horse and increase towards senescence.
Reasons for performing study: Injury to the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) is common in racing and sport horses and poor tendon regeneration leads to high reinjury rates. Autologous mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are being used clinically to improve tendon regeneration but they have some practical limitations. Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) may overcome these limitations but their fate following injection into the damaged SDFT is unknown.
Objective: To inject MSCs and ESCs into distinct areas of damage in the SDFT and monitor their survival over a 3 month period.
Objective: Tendon injuries are common in all athletic activities in both humans and horses. Research of treatment modalities for this disease has typically been performed on a model of collagenase-induced tendonitis. This model has several disadvantages. Our hypothesis was that a reproducible core lesion could be created surgically in superficial digital flexor tendons (SDFT), which could then be evaluated consistently using ultrasonography. Materials and methods: Four horses free of forelimb lameness were used in this study.
The objective of the present study was to determine the efficacy of urinary bladder matrix (UBM) in collagenase-induced superficial digital flexor (SDF) tendonitis by using clinical, ultrasonographic, and histologic data. A total of eight healthy adult horses were used in this study. Bilateral forelimb SDF tendonitis was created in the horses by injecting collagenase. After 14 days, one randomly selected forelimb SDF tendon was blindly treated with UBM and the opposite tendon was treated with a control (saline).
Reasons for performing study: Clinical tendon lesions usually enlarge during the first days to weeks after sustaining the injury due to enzymatic and biomechanical influences. Limiting this enlargement would positively influence prognosis related to lesion size. Objectives: To investigate the effect of cyclic loading on the propagation of enzymatically and physically induced tendon lesions and to assess the effect of immobilisation thereon in an ex vivo model. Methods: Equine cadaver limbs with either physically or collagenase-induced SDFT lesions were placed in a pneumatic loading device.