Stem Cells from Fat?
Not only are there stem cells in your own fat tissue, over 1,000 veterinarians from all over the U.S. have treated over 3,000 horses and dogs with orthopedic injuries using each animals own fat tissue as the source of stem cells. Each animal is its own donor! No controversy about embryos, no controversy about religion, and no controversy about ethics. Your veterinarian can use this procedure to help your dog with arthritis or your horse with a bowed tendon. This technology has been adapted from research in human medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and UCLA. And, surprise, it is brought to the veterinary community by San Diego-based Vet-Stem in Poway. This technology is in clinical testing in the United States in humans (heart disease and reconstructive surgery) and across the world.
Another San Diego-based company called Cytori has been developing this therapy for humans, but it is still several years away from commercial approval. But Vet-Stem has been providing this service to veterinarians across the U.S. for over five years. So how does it work? Your veterinarian can get certified to do the procedure via an advanced internet course in regenerative medicine. Then they do a simple in-clinic procedure (which is not very different from procedures they do every day) to collect a small sample of fat (a few tablespoons) from under the skin. They FedEx the sample in a special box to a lab in Poway. The next day, the lab technicians at Vet-Stem extract, purify and concentrate the stem cells in the fat and return them the same day in a syringe to inject into the joint or tendon that is injured. It is totally natural, and is, in fact, the way we all heal anyway. It is just an accelerated way to enhance the natural healing of your pet’s injury. Over 70 percent of animals treated with their own stem cells have a very positive response and side effects are less than 1 percent. Let’s talk about how this applies to your pets and how this might be used in the near future for ourselves. Anyone have arthritis or an injured knee?