Developed by incubating a horse’s own blood under conditions that accentuate its natural therapeutic protein production, autologous conditioned serum (ACS) can aid healing when injected into diseased equine joints. | Photo: iStock

Developed by incubating a horse’s own blood under conditions that accentuate its natural therapeutic protein production, autologous conditioned serum (ACS) can aid healing when injected into diseased equine joints. It has been “hit-and-miss,” though, working in some horses and not in others, said Scandinavian researchers.

In a new ACS study, however, the scientists reveal clues that might explain why some horses are “hits” and others are “misses.” Those clues, they said, point to the kinds of proteins in a horse’s conditioned serum.

The proteins that naturally reduce inflammation and encourage growth appear to make the difference, said Patrick Marques-Smith, DVM, of the Faculty of Veterinary in the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, in Oslo. His team’s study showed that ACS with higher levels of certain biological anti-inflammatories and growth factors was more likely to result in a positive clinical response, evaluated as reduced lameness