title: Concepts for the clinical use of stem cells in equine medicine.
abstract: Stem cells from various tissues hold great promise for their therapeutic use in horses, but so far efficacy or proof-of-principle has not been established. The basic characteristics and properties of various equine stem cells remain largely unknown, despite their increasingly widespread experimental and empirical commercial use. A better understanding of equine stem cell biology and concepts is needed in order to develop and evaluate rational clinical applications in the horse. Controlled, well-designed studies of the basic biologic characteristics and properties of these cells are needed to move this new equine research field forward. Stem cell research in the horse has exciting equine specific and comparative perspectives that will most likely benefit the health of horses and, potentially, humans.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1. tkoch@uoguelph.ca
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Lise C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Berg
authors.forename: Dean H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Betts
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006736:Horses; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000662:veterinary*; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D023822:Tissue Engineering / Q000662:veterinary*