Frances Henson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Frances Henson

Research paper thumbnail of Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur in ponies with histological features of equine dyschondroplasia

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Enhance Cartilage Repair in in vivo Osteochondral Defect Model

PLOS ONE, 2015

This study characterized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in terms of their potential in... more This study characterized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in terms of their potential in cartilage repair and investigated their ability to improve the healing in a pre-clinical large animal model. Human PBMCs were isolated with gradient centrifugation and adherent PBMC's were evaluated for their ability to differentiate into adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages and also for their expression of musculoskeletal genes. The phenotype of the PBMCs was evaluated using Stro-1, CD34, CD44, CD45, CD90, CD106, CD105, CD146 and CD166 cell surface markers. Osteochondral defects were created in the medial femoral condyle (MFC) of 24 Welsh mountain sheep and evaluated at a six month time point. Four cell treatment groups were evaluated in combination with collagen-GAG-scaffold: (1) MSC alone; (2) MSCs and PBMCs at a ratio of 20:1; (3) MSCs and PBMC at a ratio of 2:1 and (4) PBMCs alone. Samples from the surgical site were evaluated for mechanical properties, ICRS score and histological repair. Fresh PBMC samples were 90% positive for hematopoietic cell surface markers and negative for the MSC antibody panel (<1%, p = 0.006). However, the adherent PBMC population expressed mesenchymal stem cell markers in hypoxic culture and lacked CD34/45 positive cells (<0.2%). This finding demonstrated that the adherent cells had acquired an MSC-like phenotype and transformed in hypoxia from their original hematopoietic lineage. Four key genes in muskuloskeletal biology were significantly upregulated in adherent PBMCs by hypoxia: BMP2 4.2-fold (p = 0.0007), BMP6 10.7-fold (p = 0.0004), GDF5 2.0-fold (p = 0.002) and COL1 5.0-fold (p = 0.046). The monolayer multilineage analysis confirmed the trilineage mesenchymal potential of the adherent PBMCs. PBMC cell therapy was equally good as bone marrow MSC therapy for defects in the ovine large animal model. Our results show that PBMCs support cartilage healing and oxygen tension of the environment was found to have a key effect on the derivation of a novel adherent cell population with an MSC-like phenotype. This study presents a novel and easily attainable point-of-care cell therapy with PBMCs to treat osteochondral defects in the knee avoiding any cell manipulations outside the surgical room.

Research paper thumbnail of Induction of an osteoarthritic phenotype and an attempted repair response in impact-loaded equine articular cartilage

Osteoarthritis and Cartilage

Research paper thumbnail of Response of equine articular cartilage to a single impact load

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral blood derived mononuclear cells enhance osteoarthritic human chondrocyte migration

Arthritis Research & Therapy, 2015

A major problem in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tiss... more A major problem in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tissue into defects. Cartilage is essentially avascular and therefore its healing is not considered to involve mononuclear cells. Peripheral blood derived mononuclear cells (PBMC) offer a readily available autologous cell source for clinical use and therefore this study was designed to evaluate the effects of PBMCs on chondrocytes and cartilage. Human primary chondrocytes and cartilage tissue explants were taken from patients undergoing total knee replacement (n = 17). Peripheral blood samples were obtained from healthy volunteers (n = 12) and mononuclear cells were isolated by density-gradient centrifugation. Cell migration and chemokinetic potential were measured using a scratch assay, xCELLigence and CyQuant assay. PCR array and quantitative PCR was used to evaluate mRNA expression of 87 cell motility and/or chondrogenic genes. The chondrocyte migration rate was 2.6 times higher at 3 hour time point (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and total number of migrating chondrocytes was 9.7 times higher (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) after three day indirect PBMC stimulus and 8.2 times higher (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) after three day direct co-culture with PBMCs. A cartilage explant model confirmed that PBMCs also exert a chemokinetic role on ex vivo tissue. PBMC stimulation was found to significantly upregulate the mRNA levels of 2 chondrogenic genes; collagen type II (COL2A1 600-fold, p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and SRY box 9 (SOX9 30-fold, p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and the mRNA levels of 7 genes central in cell motility and migration were differentially regulated by 24h PBMC stimulation. The results support the concept that PBMC treatment enhances chondrocyte migration without suppressing the chondrogenic phenotype possibly via mechanistic pathways involving MMP9 and IGF1. In the future, peripheral blood mononuclear cells could be used as an autologous point-ofcare treatment to attract native chondrocytes from the diseased tissue to aid in cartilage repair.

Research paper thumbnail of The relationship between HTRA1 and type VI collagen in a single impact load model of human cartilage damage

International Journal of Experimental Pathology

Research paper thumbnail of Tissue engineered extruded collagen graft for tendon repair

Research paper thumbnail of In vivo evaluation of the role of PBMCs in an osteochondral repair

Research paper thumbnail of Factors associated with impactive colic in the donkey

Research paper thumbnail of Delivering rhFGF-18 via a bilayer collagen membrane to enhance microfracture treatment of chondral defects in a large animal model

Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Jan 26, 2015

Augmented microfracture techniques use growth factors, cells and/or scaffolds to enhance the heal... more Augmented microfracture techniques use growth factors, cells and/or scaffolds to enhance the healing of microfracture treated cartilage defects. This study investigates the effect of delivering recombinant human fibroblastic growth factor 18 (rhFHF18, Sprifermin) via a collagen membrane on the healing of a chondral defect treated with microfracture in an ovine model. 8mm diameter chondral defects were created in the medial femoral condyle of 40 sheep (n = 5/treatment group). Defects were treated with microfracture alone, microfracture + intra-articular rhFGF18 or microfracture + rhFGF-18 delivered on a membrane. Outcome measures included mechanical testing, weight bearing, International Cartilage Repair Society repair score, modified O'Driscoll score, qualitative histology and immunohistochemistry for types I and II collagen. In animals treated with 32μg rhFGF-18 + membrane and intra-articularly there was a statistically significant improvement in weight bearing at 2 and 4 weeks...

Research paper thumbnail of Equine referrals for two ongoing studies

The Veterinary record, Jan 15, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factors I and II on the growth of equine fetal and neonatal chondrocytes

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of 4 cases of equine lymphoma with megavoltage radiation

Research paper thumbnail of Review article: Regenerative techniques for repair of rotator cuff tears

Journal of orthopaedic surgery (Hong Kong), 2013

The failure rate of rotator cuff repair is high. Regenerative techniques using material scaffolds... more The failure rate of rotator cuff repair is high. Regenerative techniques using material scaffolds, stem cells, and growth factors help augment repair and regenerate tissue. We reviewed the literature of various regenerative techniques in terms of (1) enhancing the repair process, (2) tissue regeneration, (3) mechanical strength, and (4) clinical outcome.

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral Blood Derived Mononuclear Cells Enhance the Migration and Chondrogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Stem Cells International, 2015

A major challenge in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy ti... more A major challenge in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tissue into damaged areas and strategies to promote this should be developed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of peripheral blood derived mononuclear cell (PBMC) stimulation on mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from the infrapatellar fat pad of human OA knee. Cell migration was measured using an xCELLigence electronic migration chamber system in combination with scratch assays. Gene expression was quantified with stem cell PCR arrays and validated using quantitative real-time PCR (rtPCR). In both migration assays PBMCs increased MSC migration by comparison to control. In scratch assay the wound closure was 55% higher after 3 hours in the PBMC stimulated test group ( = 0.002), migration rate was 9 times faster ( = 0.008), and total MSC migration was 25 times higher after 24 hours ( = 0.014). Analysis of MSCs by PCR array demonstrated that PBMCs induced the upregulation of genes associated with chondrogenic differentiation over 15-fold. In conclusion, PBMCs increase both MSC migration and differentiation suggesting that they are an ideal candidate for inclusion in regenerative medicine therapies aimed at cartilage repair.

Research paper thumbnail of Alterations in sclerostin protein in lesions of equine osteochondrosis

Veterinary Record Open, 2014

Osteochondrosis (OC) is a common and clinically important joint disease that occurs in many speci... more Osteochondrosis (OC) is a common and clinically important joint disease that occurs in many species, including humans, pigs, chickens and horses. It has been described as a focal failure of endochondral ossification (EO), but no cellular/molecular mechanisms are fully described that explain the cause of this condition. Recently a Wnt signalling inhibitor, sclerostin, has been described in osteoarthritic cartilage, where it has been proposed to protect damaged cartilage from degradation. Cartilage degradation is a key event in EO, thus, abnormalities of sclerostin in growth cartilage could, potentially, lead to a failure of EO and, thus, OC. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of sclerostin protein in normal and OC growth cartilage. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to localise sclerostin protein in normal and OC growth cartilage. Growth cartilage was harvested from the distal femur of horses aged between 6 and 18 months. Cartilage was classified as normal or having lesions consistent with a diagnosis of early OC. IHC was used to identify sclerostin protein in cartilage sections. Sclerostin protein distribution was semiquantified using a grading system and shown to be upregulated throughout all three zones of cartilage in lesions of OC (IHC score 8.1 compared to IHC score of 0.88). These results indicate that sclerostin may be contributing to the development of OC lesions by inhibiting extracellular matrix remodelling or may reflect the response of damaged cartilage. Clearly, further work is required to fully characterise this observation but, with antisclerostin antibodies used to treat human osteoporosis, the possibility of development of a systemic treatment of OC remains a potential goal.

Research paper thumbnail of The role of platelet rich plasma in musculoskeletal science

JRSM Short Reports, 2012

The idea of using platelet rich plasma (PRP) in medicine has been around since the 1970s. It is o... more The idea of using platelet rich plasma (PRP) in medicine has been around since the 1970s. It is only more recently that its use has been employed in the area of musculoskeletal science. Platelet rich plasma in this area has received much media attention being used by many celebrity sports athletes for musculoskeletal injuries. Therefore it is important for the musculoskeletal practitioner to be aware of the concepts surrounding its use and application. In this article we cover what platelet rich plasma is, how it is prepared and administered, its potential clinical application, and what the current literature discusses in the various areas of musculoskeletal science.

Research paper thumbnail of Repair of a Longitudinal Scapular Fracture in a Horse

Veterinary Surgery, 2007

Objective-To report repair of a longitudinal scapular fracture in a horse. Study Design-Case repo... more Objective-To report repair of a longitudinal scapular fracture in a horse. Study Design-Case report. Animals-A 2-year-old Paint Horse colt. Methods-A longitudinal scapular fracture was surgically repaired using four 4.5 mm dynamic compression plates. Results-An acute longitudinal scapular fracture repaired surgically returned the horse to soundness within 6 months. Conclusions-Internal fixation of longitudinal scapular fracture is possible with multiple 3-5 hole dynamic compression plates. Clinical Relevance-Longitudinal fractures of the scapula should be considered when there is lateral instability of the shoulder after trauma. A displaced fracture can be adequately stabilized by internal fixation with a reasonable prognosis for soundness. r

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of sedation for standing clinical procedures in horses using detomidine combined with buprenorphine

Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia, 2014

Objectives: to examine the effect of including buprenorphine with detomidine for sedation of hors... more Objectives: to examine the effect of including buprenorphine with detomidine for sedation of horses undergoing clinical procedures.

Research paper thumbnail of Osteochondrosis lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur in four ponies

Veterinary Record, 2011

Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur (LTR) were investigated in four animal... more Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur (LTR) were investigated in four animals of pony or pony-cross breeding. The animals, all male, were 6-15 months old. Lesions were bilateral in three animals and unilateral in one. Femoropatellar joint effusion and lameness were present in two animals but clinical signs were absent in the others. The proximal LTR was affected in all animals. The radiographic appearance of the lesions was a subchondral defect containing mineralised bodies. Arthroscopic and post-mortem examination findings included an osteochondral flap, a fissured or irregular articular surface and a smooth surface overlying focally thickened cartilage which extended into subchondral bone. Thickened articular cartilage was a histological feature of all the lesions. Amongst the other histological features were 2 chondronecrosis, chondrocyte clusters, phenotypically abnormal chondrocytes, horizontal fissures at the osteochondral junction and retained blood vessels. The signalment of the four animals, their clinical signs and the pathological features of their lesions were consistent with osteochondrosis of the LTR in the horse, making this the full description of the disease in the pony. The use of multiple criteria was considered to be important to making a specific diagnosis.

Research paper thumbnail of Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur in ponies with histological features of equine dyschondroplasia

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Enhance Cartilage Repair in in vivo Osteochondral Defect Model

PLOS ONE, 2015

This study characterized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in terms of their potential in... more This study characterized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in terms of their potential in cartilage repair and investigated their ability to improve the healing in a pre-clinical large animal model. Human PBMCs were isolated with gradient centrifugation and adherent PBMC's were evaluated for their ability to differentiate into adipogenic, chondrogenic and osteogenic lineages and also for their expression of musculoskeletal genes. The phenotype of the PBMCs was evaluated using Stro-1, CD34, CD44, CD45, CD90, CD106, CD105, CD146 and CD166 cell surface markers. Osteochondral defects were created in the medial femoral condyle (MFC) of 24 Welsh mountain sheep and evaluated at a six month time point. Four cell treatment groups were evaluated in combination with collagen-GAG-scaffold: (1) MSC alone; (2) MSCs and PBMCs at a ratio of 20:1; (3) MSCs and PBMC at a ratio of 2:1 and (4) PBMCs alone. Samples from the surgical site were evaluated for mechanical properties, ICRS score and histological repair. Fresh PBMC samples were 90% positive for hematopoietic cell surface markers and negative for the MSC antibody panel (<1%, p = 0.006). However, the adherent PBMC population expressed mesenchymal stem cell markers in hypoxic culture and lacked CD34/45 positive cells (<0.2%). This finding demonstrated that the adherent cells had acquired an MSC-like phenotype and transformed in hypoxia from their original hematopoietic lineage. Four key genes in muskuloskeletal biology were significantly upregulated in adherent PBMCs by hypoxia: BMP2 4.2-fold (p = 0.0007), BMP6 10.7-fold (p = 0.0004), GDF5 2.0-fold (p = 0.002) and COL1 5.0-fold (p = 0.046). The monolayer multilineage analysis confirmed the trilineage mesenchymal potential of the adherent PBMCs. PBMC cell therapy was equally good as bone marrow MSC therapy for defects in the ovine large animal model. Our results show that PBMCs support cartilage healing and oxygen tension of the environment was found to have a key effect on the derivation of a novel adherent cell population with an MSC-like phenotype. This study presents a novel and easily attainable point-of-care cell therapy with PBMCs to treat osteochondral defects in the knee avoiding any cell manipulations outside the surgical room.

Research paper thumbnail of Induction of an osteoarthritic phenotype and an attempted repair response in impact-loaded equine articular cartilage

Osteoarthritis and Cartilage

Research paper thumbnail of Response of equine articular cartilage to a single impact load

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral blood derived mononuclear cells enhance osteoarthritic human chondrocyte migration

Arthritis Research & Therapy, 2015

A major problem in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tiss... more A major problem in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tissue into defects. Cartilage is essentially avascular and therefore its healing is not considered to involve mononuclear cells. Peripheral blood derived mononuclear cells (PBMC) offer a readily available autologous cell source for clinical use and therefore this study was designed to evaluate the effects of PBMCs on chondrocytes and cartilage. Human primary chondrocytes and cartilage tissue explants were taken from patients undergoing total knee replacement (n = 17). Peripheral blood samples were obtained from healthy volunteers (n = 12) and mononuclear cells were isolated by density-gradient centrifugation. Cell migration and chemokinetic potential were measured using a scratch assay, xCELLigence and CyQuant assay. PCR array and quantitative PCR was used to evaluate mRNA expression of 87 cell motility and/or chondrogenic genes. The chondrocyte migration rate was 2.6 times higher at 3 hour time point (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and total number of migrating chondrocytes was 9.7 times higher (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) after three day indirect PBMC stimulus and 8.2 times higher (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) after three day direct co-culture with PBMCs. A cartilage explant model confirmed that PBMCs also exert a chemokinetic role on ex vivo tissue. PBMC stimulation was found to significantly upregulate the mRNA levels of 2 chondrogenic genes; collagen type II (COL2A1 600-fold, p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and SRY box 9 (SOX9 30-fold, p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.0001) and the mRNA levels of 7 genes central in cell motility and migration were differentially regulated by 24h PBMC stimulation. The results support the concept that PBMC treatment enhances chondrocyte migration without suppressing the chondrogenic phenotype possibly via mechanistic pathways involving MMP9 and IGF1. In the future, peripheral blood mononuclear cells could be used as an autologous point-ofcare treatment to attract native chondrocytes from the diseased tissue to aid in cartilage repair.

Research paper thumbnail of The relationship between HTRA1 and type VI collagen in a single impact load model of human cartilage damage

International Journal of Experimental Pathology

Research paper thumbnail of Tissue engineered extruded collagen graft for tendon repair

Research paper thumbnail of In vivo evaluation of the role of PBMCs in an osteochondral repair

Research paper thumbnail of Factors associated with impactive colic in the donkey

Research paper thumbnail of Delivering rhFGF-18 via a bilayer collagen membrane to enhance microfracture treatment of chondral defects in a large animal model

Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Jan 26, 2015

Augmented microfracture techniques use growth factors, cells and/or scaffolds to enhance the heal... more Augmented microfracture techniques use growth factors, cells and/or scaffolds to enhance the healing of microfracture treated cartilage defects. This study investigates the effect of delivering recombinant human fibroblastic growth factor 18 (rhFHF18, Sprifermin) via a collagen membrane on the healing of a chondral defect treated with microfracture in an ovine model. 8mm diameter chondral defects were created in the medial femoral condyle of 40 sheep (n = 5/treatment group). Defects were treated with microfracture alone, microfracture + intra-articular rhFGF18 or microfracture + rhFGF-18 delivered on a membrane. Outcome measures included mechanical testing, weight bearing, International Cartilage Repair Society repair score, modified O'Driscoll score, qualitative histology and immunohistochemistry for types I and II collagen. In animals treated with 32μg rhFGF-18 + membrane and intra-articularly there was a statistically significant improvement in weight bearing at 2 and 4 weeks...

Research paper thumbnail of Equine referrals for two ongoing studies

The Veterinary record, Jan 15, 2003

Research paper thumbnail of Effects of insulin and insulin-like growth factors I and II on the growth of equine fetal and neonatal chondrocytes

Research paper thumbnail of Treatment of 4 cases of equine lymphoma with megavoltage radiation

Research paper thumbnail of Review article: Regenerative techniques for repair of rotator cuff tears

Journal of orthopaedic surgery (Hong Kong), 2013

The failure rate of rotator cuff repair is high. Regenerative techniques using material scaffolds... more The failure rate of rotator cuff repair is high. Regenerative techniques using material scaffolds, stem cells, and growth factors help augment repair and regenerate tissue. We reviewed the literature of various regenerative techniques in terms of (1) enhancing the repair process, (2) tissue regeneration, (3) mechanical strength, and (4) clinical outcome.

Research paper thumbnail of Peripheral Blood Derived Mononuclear Cells Enhance the Migration and Chondrogenic Differentiation of Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

Stem Cells International, 2015

A major challenge in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy ti... more A major challenge in cartilage repair is the lack of chondrogenic cells migrating from healthy tissue into damaged areas and strategies to promote this should be developed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of peripheral blood derived mononuclear cell (PBMC) stimulation on mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) derived from the infrapatellar fat pad of human OA knee. Cell migration was measured using an xCELLigence electronic migration chamber system in combination with scratch assays. Gene expression was quantified with stem cell PCR arrays and validated using quantitative real-time PCR (rtPCR). In both migration assays PBMCs increased MSC migration by comparison to control. In scratch assay the wound closure was 55% higher after 3 hours in the PBMC stimulated test group ( = 0.002), migration rate was 9 times faster ( = 0.008), and total MSC migration was 25 times higher after 24 hours ( = 0.014). Analysis of MSCs by PCR array demonstrated that PBMCs induced the upregulation of genes associated with chondrogenic differentiation over 15-fold. In conclusion, PBMCs increase both MSC migration and differentiation suggesting that they are an ideal candidate for inclusion in regenerative medicine therapies aimed at cartilage repair.

Research paper thumbnail of Alterations in sclerostin protein in lesions of equine osteochondrosis

Veterinary Record Open, 2014

Osteochondrosis (OC) is a common and clinically important joint disease that occurs in many speci... more Osteochondrosis (OC) is a common and clinically important joint disease that occurs in many species, including humans, pigs, chickens and horses. It has been described as a focal failure of endochondral ossification (EO), but no cellular/molecular mechanisms are fully described that explain the cause of this condition. Recently a Wnt signalling inhibitor, sclerostin, has been described in osteoarthritic cartilage, where it has been proposed to protect damaged cartilage from degradation. Cartilage degradation is a key event in EO, thus, abnormalities of sclerostin in growth cartilage could, potentially, lead to a failure of EO and, thus, OC. The aim of this study was to describe the distribution of sclerostin protein in normal and OC growth cartilage. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was used to localise sclerostin protein in normal and OC growth cartilage. Growth cartilage was harvested from the distal femur of horses aged between 6 and 18 months. Cartilage was classified as normal or having lesions consistent with a diagnosis of early OC. IHC was used to identify sclerostin protein in cartilage sections. Sclerostin protein distribution was semiquantified using a grading system and shown to be upregulated throughout all three zones of cartilage in lesions of OC (IHC score 8.1 compared to IHC score of 0.88). These results indicate that sclerostin may be contributing to the development of OC lesions by inhibiting extracellular matrix remodelling or may reflect the response of damaged cartilage. Clearly, further work is required to fully characterise this observation but, with antisclerostin antibodies used to treat human osteoporosis, the possibility of development of a systemic treatment of OC remains a potential goal.

Research paper thumbnail of The role of platelet rich plasma in musculoskeletal science

JRSM Short Reports, 2012

The idea of using platelet rich plasma (PRP) in medicine has been around since the 1970s. It is o... more The idea of using platelet rich plasma (PRP) in medicine has been around since the 1970s. It is only more recently that its use has been employed in the area of musculoskeletal science. Platelet rich plasma in this area has received much media attention being used by many celebrity sports athletes for musculoskeletal injuries. Therefore it is important for the musculoskeletal practitioner to be aware of the concepts surrounding its use and application. In this article we cover what platelet rich plasma is, how it is prepared and administered, its potential clinical application, and what the current literature discusses in the various areas of musculoskeletal science.

Research paper thumbnail of Repair of a Longitudinal Scapular Fracture in a Horse

Veterinary Surgery, 2007

Objective-To report repair of a longitudinal scapular fracture in a horse. Study Design-Case repo... more Objective-To report repair of a longitudinal scapular fracture in a horse. Study Design-Case report. Animals-A 2-year-old Paint Horse colt. Methods-A longitudinal scapular fracture was surgically repaired using four 4.5 mm dynamic compression plates. Results-An acute longitudinal scapular fracture repaired surgically returned the horse to soundness within 6 months. Conclusions-Internal fixation of longitudinal scapular fracture is possible with multiple 3-5 hole dynamic compression plates. Clinical Relevance-Longitudinal fractures of the scapula should be considered when there is lateral instability of the shoulder after trauma. A displaced fracture can be adequately stabilized by internal fixation with a reasonable prognosis for soundness. r

Research paper thumbnail of Evaluation of sedation for standing clinical procedures in horses using detomidine combined with buprenorphine

Veterinary Anaesthesia and Analgesia, 2014

Objectives: to examine the effect of including buprenorphine with detomidine for sedation of hors... more Objectives: to examine the effect of including buprenorphine with detomidine for sedation of horses undergoing clinical procedures.

Research paper thumbnail of Osteochondrosis lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur in four ponies

Veterinary Record, 2011

Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur (LTR) were investigated in four animal... more Lesions of the lateral trochlear ridge of the distal femur (LTR) were investigated in four animals of pony or pony-cross breeding. The animals, all male, were 6-15 months old. Lesions were bilateral in three animals and unilateral in one. Femoropatellar joint effusion and lameness were present in two animals but clinical signs were absent in the others. The proximal LTR was affected in all animals. The radiographic appearance of the lesions was a subchondral defect containing mineralised bodies. Arthroscopic and post-mortem examination findings included an osteochondral flap, a fissured or irregular articular surface and a smooth surface overlying focally thickened cartilage which extended into subchondral bone. Thickened articular cartilage was a histological feature of all the lesions. Amongst the other histological features were 2 chondronecrosis, chondrocyte clusters, phenotypically abnormal chondrocytes, horizontal fissures at the osteochondral junction and retained blood vessels. The signalment of the four animals, their clinical signs and the pathological features of their lesions were consistent with osteochondrosis of the LTR in the horse, making this the full description of the disease in the pony. The use of multiple criteria was considered to be important to making a specific diagnosis.