title: Effect of a single injection of autologous conditioned serum (ACS) on tendon healing in equine naturally occurring tendinopathies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Autologous blood-derived biologicals, including autologous conditioned serum (ACS), are frequently used to treat tendinopathies in horses despite limited evidence for their efficacy. The purpose of this study was to describe the effect of a single intralesional injection of ACS in naturally occurring tendinopathies of the equine superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) on clinical, ultrasonographic, and histological parameters.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen horses with 17 naturally occurring tendinopathies of forelimb SDFTs were examined clinically and ultrasonographically (day 0). Injured tendons were randomly assigned to the ACS-treated group (n = 10) receiving a single intralesional ACS injection or included as controls (n = 7) which were either untreated or injected with saline on day 1. All horses participated in a gradually increasing exercise programme and were re-examined nine times at regular intervals until day 190. Needle biopsies were taken from the SDFTs on days 0, 36 and 190 and examined histologically and for the expression of collagen types I and III by immunohistochemistry.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In ACS-treated limbs lameness decreased significantly until day 10 after treatment. Swelling (scores) of the SDFT region decreased within the ACS group between 50 and 78 days after treatment. Ultrasonographically, the percentage of the lesion in the tendon was significantly lower and the echogenicity of the lesion (total echo score) was significantly higher 78 and 106 days after intralesional ACS injection compared to controls. Histology revealed that, compared to controls, tenocyte nuclei were more spindle-shaped 36 days after ACS injection. Immunohistochemistry showed that collagen type I expression significantly increased between days 36 and 190 after ACS injection.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Single intralesional ACS injection of equine SDFTs with clinical signs of acute tendinopathy contributes to an early significant reduction of lameness and leads to temporary improvement of ultrasonographic parameters of repair tissue. Intralesional ACS treatment might decrease proliferation of tenocytes 5 weeks after treatment and increase their differentiation as demonstrated by elevated collagen type I expression in the remodelling phase. Potential enhancement of these effects by repeated injections should be tested in future controlled clinical investigations.
authors.affiliation: Equine Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 9, 30559, Hannover, Germany. florian.geburek@tiho-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Geburek
authors.affiliation: Equine Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 9, 30559, Hannover, Germany. m.lietzau@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Maren
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lietzau
authors.affiliation: Institute for Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 17, 30559, Hannover, Germany. andreas.beineke@tiho-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beineke
authors.affiliation: Institute for Biometry, Epidemiology and Information Processing, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 2, 30559, Hannover, Germany. karl.rohn@tiho-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rohn
authors.affiliation: Equine Clinic, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Bünteweg 9, 30559, Hannover, Germany. peter.stadler@tiho-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Stadler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001804:Blood Transfusion, Autologous / Q000662:veterinary; D024042:Collagen Type I / Q000378:metabolism; D024061:Collagen Type III / Q000378:metabolism; D005552:Forelimb; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006736:Horses; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D052256:Tendinopathy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D013710:Tendons / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D024042:Collagen Type I; D024061:Collagen Type III