Grandview Animal Hospital & Animal Rehabilitation Center

Regenerative Medicine

The future is bright for our patients with limited mobility or chronic pain. We are equipped to use platelet rich plasma (PRP) and mesenchymal stem cells as part of your pet’s recovery and treatment. Click here to watch the video, "How does PRP work?"

Platelet rich plasma or PRP is an autologous (self-derived) conditioned plasma that contains a high concentration of platelets. Platelets are hosts to numerous proteins called “growth factors” which have been shown to aid in the healing and repair of tissue. PRP is obtained through a simple blood draw, prepared and processed in our clinic and then injected into a target area to treat conditions including:

• osteoarthritis
• chronic tendinopathies
• acute soft tissue or muscle injuries
• cranial cruciate injuries
• hip or elbow dysplasia

By concentrating the platelets and injecting them into specific areas or joint spaces we send them directly where they are needed to mediate inflammation and promote healing. The injection is done under brief sedation and can be done in conjunction with stem cell therapy. This may be recommended following injury or in a patient that has a poor response to rehabilitation alone.

Not all PRP is created equal! Our system is proven to provide the “ideal” sample with a high concentration of platelets and monocytes and low concentration of neutrophils and red blood cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are progenitor cells that mature to become muscle, bone, cartilage, tendon or ligament. They are found in bone marrow or fat tissue. They are found in these tissues in very low concentrations. These MSC’s activities include anti-inflammatory properties at the injection site, growth factors and inhibition of normal degradative processes. Mesenchymal stem cells are obtained at our hospital by obtaining a small (5mL) sample of bone marrow, likely from the hip bone while your pet is sedated. We submit this sample to Regenerative Cell Specialists in Fort Collins, CO for culture and expansion. When the expanded sample is returned to us we can inject up to 50 million marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells into our target joints. A PRP injection is done to provide a matrix for the MSC and post injection rest is important to minimize damage to the newly injected cells.

Not all stem cell therapy is created equal! Many techniques start with a large sample of blood and utilize a centrifugation technique to obtain bone marrow aspirate concentrated stem cells. By utilizing MSC culture and expansion we are able to start with a sample containing up to 95% autologous mesenchymal stem cells vs. 3-4% with fat (adipose) tissue or bone marrow aspirate concentrated stem cells.