Performance of a gravitational marrow separator, multidirectional bone marrow aspiration needle, and repeated bone marrow collections on the production of concentrated bone marrow and separation of mesenchymal stem cells in horses.

This research examined the effectiveness of innovative tools in extracting and concentrating bone marrow along with the separation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) in horses. The use of a unique gravitational marrow separator and a multidirectional needle were assessed in their capacity to collect and enhance quality of bone marrow. Furthermore, the research investigated the outcome of repeated bone marrow collections conducted a month apart.

Research Procedures and Methodology

• The study was conducted on eight healthy adult horses.
• Bone marrow collection was carried out twice, with a gap of one month in between, from the bodies of the animals using either a standard needle or a unique prototype multidirectional needle.
• The bone marrow obtained was concentrated using a gravitational marrow separator.
• Several aspects of the concentrated bone marrow were checked, including its counts of White Blood Cells (WBC) and platelets, automatic and cytomorphologic cell differential counts, and specifically MSCs, and cell viability.

Research Findings

• The bone marrow samples concentrated using the gravitational separator contained MSC, WBC, and platelet counts that were 5 to 19 times higher compared to unprocessed bone marrow samples.
• Utilization of the multidirectional needle enhanced the probability of deriving MSC-rich bone marrow.
• Repeating the bone marrow collection process after a month resulted in higher MSC numbers although there was a marginal decrease in cell viability post processing.

Conclusions and Clinical Applications

• The gravitational bone marrow separator and multidirectional needle proved effective in bone marrow extraction and enhancing quality of the concentrated bone marrow.
• Even higher or comparable amounts of bone marrow-derived MSCs were obtained when the aspiration operation was repeated a month later from the same harvesting sites.
• The gravity-based marrow separator and the multidirectional aspiration needle can provide a platform for a one-step, point-of-care, lab-independent method for acquiring concentrated bone marrow. This mixture comprises MSCs derived from bone marrow and growth factors from platelets and plasma.